NextBillion.ai Monthly Product Bytes — August 2023

In August 2023, NextBillion.ai introduced three new products: the Flutter Maps SDK, the Flutter Navigation SDK and the iOS Maps SDK to enhance mapping and navigation experiences. 

Alongside these product launches, we rolled out significant updates, including new Route Optimization features. We also extended API security features, introduced Samsara Integration and expanded our documentation resources. 

Let’s explore each of these developments in detail.

New Products

Elevate map functionality with Flutter Maps SDK

In August 2023, NextBillion.ai unveiled its brand-new Flutter Maps SDK, a solution designed to help developers with cutting-edge mapping capabilities for their Flutter applications. Here’s a concise overview of what users can now do with this API and the associated business benefits:

You can:

• Easily incorporate dynamic and interactive maps into your Flutter apps.
• Enhance your maps with custom markers, lines, circles and polygons to highlight points of interest, routes and geographical boundaries.
• Access a suite of location-based services, including geocoding, reverse geocoding, and route computations.
• Improve live tracking capability by factoring in real-time data updates to display dynamic location information.
• Ensure that your map-based applications run smoothly across various devices and screen sizes with a responsive and adaptive design.

Business Benefits:

• Offer users an interactive, visually appealing map experience that keeps them engaged.
• With the addition of location services and real-time data support, create apps with superior functionality.
• Expand your application’s reach and accessibility with responsive and adaptive design.
• Ensure the accuracy and relevance of displayed data with real-time location information.

Delve into the detailed technical functionalities outlined in NextBillion.ai’s Flutter Maps SDK documentation. 

Real-time traffic optimization with Flutter Navigation SDK

We introduced Flutter Navigation SDK to streamline navigation within Flutter applications. This versatile toolkit offers an array of features, empowering developers to create enhanced navigation experiences. 

You can:

• Easily request routes and access for different travel modes like driving, walking and cycling.
• Personalize your application’s navigation view to align with your brand’s look and feel. 
• Utilize user location data to incorporate location-based functionalities into your app effortlessly.
• Integrate dynamic and interactive maps with navigation functionalities.
• Optimize routes and provide users with accurate arrival times with real-time traffic information.
• Offer users the flexibility to choose from multiple route options.

Business Benefits:

• Increase customer retention by implementing advanced navigation features in your applications.
• Ensure a consistent and visually appealing user experience, reinforcing brand identity.
• Provide users with relevant information based on their current location, enhancing the app experience.
• Improve the efficiency of navigation in apps with real-time location data.
• Make navigation more user-centric and tailored to individual preferences.

Delve into the detailed technical functionalities outlined in NextBillion.ai’s Flutter Navigation SDK documentation. 

Enhance mapping capabilities with iOS Maps SDK

Last month, we also unveiled the iOS Maps SDK, which equips iOS developers with essential tools to enhance their mapping capabilities. 

This SDK offers accurate mapping data, customization options and optimized performance, allowing developers to create user-friendly location-based apps.

You can:

• Easily integrate mapping and location-based services into your iOS apps.
• Access accurate and up-to-date global mapping data, including street maps, points of interest and geocoding information.
• Customize maps with your own data layers, such as custom markers and polygons.
• Implement advanced features like real-time routing, turn-by-turn navigation and geospatial analytics.
• Experience smooth and efficient mapping with fast rendering, smooth zooming and efficient caching mechanisms.

Business Benefits:

• Offer users a more immersive and feature-rich mapping experience to attract and retain users.
• Reinforce your brand identity and foster user trust with customized maps
• Provide precise and reliable location-based services within your applications for personalized user experiences.
• Save valuable development time and effort by addressing any technical challenges with the help of a strong and dedicated support team.

Delve into the detailed technical functionalities outlined in NextBillion.ai’s iOS Maps SDK documentation. 

New Product Features

Better cost management and job planning features in the Route Optimization V2

Our Route Optimization API V2 has been enhanced with three new features: Custom Objective, Per Hour Vehicle Cost and Job Setup Time Duration.

You can:

• Custom Objective – Besides the travel cost minimization objectives, you can now set specialized optimization objectives. For example,  minimize the number of vehicles used in the solution or the total time taken to complete all tasks.
• Per Hour Vehicle Cost: Define the cost for one hour of travel time for a vehicle with this vehicle cost feature.
• Job Setup Time Duration: Specify the set-up time duration for a job in seconds.

Business benefits:

• Fine-tune route optimization for specific goals such as minimizing the number of vehicles used, reducing completion time, evenly distributing tasks or maintaining consistent travel costs. 
• Account for vehicle expenses more accurately and make informed decisions about route optimization.
• Better allocate resources and ensure time required for job prep work is accounted for, allowing for precise planning of tasks and optimizing job completion.

Explore the technical details of these new features in NextBillion.ai Route Optimization API V2 documentation.

Discover enhanced functionality in Route Optimization API V1

We continually strive to provide valuable tools to our users. In line with this, we have integrated several V2 advanced features into V1, ensuring that both versions can cater to diverse optimization needs.

You can:

• Truck Weight and Truck Size Truck Parameters: Optimize routes based on vehicle weight and dimensions. 
• Traffic Timestamp: Plan the best route and estimate when you’ll arrive based on a specific time when you want your job to happen.
• Cost Matrix: Customize how much it costs to go from one place to another. You can set different costs for different routes.
• Approaches:  Indicate how drivers should approach specific locations. You can specify whether they should approach the curb or another side.
• Speed Factor: Adjust how fast or slow a vehicle travels on routes. A higher factor means quicker travel, while a lower factor means slower travel. 
• Air Distance Travel Cost: Optimize routes and travel costs based on aerial distance, not road distance, by calculating the straight-line distance between two points. 
• Per Hour Vehicle Cost:  Define the cost for one hour of travel time of a vehicle.

Business benefits:

• Boost efficiency for truck fleets, reduce delivery times and minimize fuel costs.
• Enhance delivery precision with real-time traffic data and ensure on-time arrivals.
• Tailor costs to specific routes for improved budget control, resource allocation and logistics efficiency.
• Improve route clarity, minimize deviations and enhance delivery accuracy for drivers.
• Fine-tune travel speeds, optimize long-distance routes and decrease mileage. 
• Efficiently manage transportation costs by controlling hourly expenses, improving budget oversight and cost-effectiveness.

Explore the technical details of these new features in NextBillion.ai Route Optimization API V1 documentation.

Other Important Updates

NextBillion.ai Cloud Console’s API security features

With the new security features of our customer portal, users can proactively safeguard their API access. It offers users greater control and protection over their API usage.

You can: 

• Allow specific IP addresses or websites, ensuring that API calls can only be initiated from authorized sources.
• Specify which APIs are accessible via the NextBillion.ai API key.

Business benefits:

• Prevent unauthorized usage.
• Optimize API management.
• Restrict access to only selected APIs.

The features help curb unwanted API usage and reduce associated costs, providing users with a secure and cost-effective experience.

Route optimization interactive notebooks

We released three technical notebooks designed to provide users with interactive experiences and insights into our Route Optimization API’s versatile capabilities. 

• Route Optimization Minimizing Vehicles Use Case: Address the challenge of minimizing transportation costs while efficiently serving customer demands.
• Route Optimization Seating Preference Use Case: Enhance passenger satisfaction and comfort by accommodating specific seating preferences in route planning.
• Route Optimization Waste Collection Use Case: Explore NextBillion.ai’s Waste Collection Route Optimization solution, combining the Route Optimization API with interactive maps for efficient waste management.

Guide on integrating NextBillion with Samsara – The Connected Operations Cloud

This integration guide covers two essential aspects of streamlining your operations.

Firstly, it guides you through the seamless integration of Samsara Telematics with NextBillion.ai’s Route Optimization API, facilitating the generation of optimized routes. Secondly, it provides step-by-step instructions on dispatching these optimized routes to your Samsara Telematics platform. 

Explore the guide to harness the full potential of this powerful integration.

Explore the Android Maps SDK documentation

We released our Android Maps SDK documentation. This documentation is your comprehensive guide to creating visually appealing and feature-rich maps that enhance the user experience and provide valuable location-based services on the Android platform. 

In The Pipeline

The team is busy working on the following:

• Live Tracking API version 1.0, equipped with speed and idle alert capabilities. It will enable users to receive real-time alerts when their assets or vehicles exceed speed limits or remain stationary.

Stay tuned for the September 2023 product launches, feature updates and technical resources, all geared toward enhancing your business operations.