Plan and optimize routes
On mobile, a tech taps My Day in the map's Route view to get their day as an optimized street route with turn-by-turn navigation to the next stop (ZenGrow and up). On the web, the Planner tab shows every tech's route for a day in their color; lock hard appointment times, then optimize all routes at once (ZenAI). Optimization respects locked times and warns when the schedule is too tight to drive.
The route tools are part of the Scheduling Map, which is rolling out now. If you do not see Map in your sidebar yet, it has not reached your account.
There are two route problems in a field service day, and WorkZen treats them separately: a tech wants their own day in the best order, and a dispatcher wants everyone's day to make sense together.
Techs: My Day on mobile
In the mobile app, open the map and switch to the Route view, then tap My Day. WorkZen loads today's visits, keeps their scheduled times as fixed points, and draws the best street route through them. Each stop shows its drive time, and stops the schedule cannot honor carry a Late risk badge.
Navigate to next stop opens turn-by-turn directions to the first unfinished visit, in Google Maps on Android and Apple Maps on iPhone. Finish a visit, tap again, and the next stop is queued. My Day is included with ZenGrow and up.
Dispatchers: the Planner on web
Open Map and choose the Planner tab, then pick a date. Every tech with visits that day appears as a group, each stop listed with its scheduled time, and each tech's route drawn on the map in their scheduler color. Seeing two colors cross the same corridor twice is how you find the day's wasted kilometers. The team member dropdown narrows the view, and unassigned visits are called out separately, assign them first so they can be planned.
Lock what is promised
Some appointment times are promises. Click the lock icon on those stops before optimizing. Locked stops keep their chronological order; the optimizer arranges everything else around them. This matters more than it sounds: most tools either ignore your timed appointments or refuse to optimize around them at all.
Optimize and read the result
Optimize routes computes every selected tech's route in one click. The map redraws with real street geometry, and each leg carries a label like "3 → 4, 54.0 km, 46 min" pinned to the road itself. In the list, each stop shows the drive from the previous one.
Deliberately absent: predicted arrival clocks. On-site time varies too much for those to be honest. Instead the planner flags what is provably wrong:
- Tight: the drive between two appointments is longer than the gap between their times.
- Out of order: a stop is scheduled earlier than one the route visits before it.
- Late risk: a locked appointment the route cannot reach in time.
The Planner and the History tab, which replays any tech's actual route for a past day, are part of ZenAI.
Step by step
- 1
Techs: tap My Day (mobile)
In the mobile app's map, Route view, My Day loads today's visits as an optimized street route; Navigate to next stop opens turn-by-turn directions.
- 2
Dispatchers: open Map > Planner (web)
Pick a date. Every tech's visits appear grouped, with each stop's scheduled time, and their route draws on the map in their color.
- 3
Lock hard appointments
Click the lock icon on any stop with a promised time. Locked stops keep their chronological order; everything else optimizes around them.
- 4
Optimize the routes
One click optimizes every selected tech's route. Real street routes draw on the map with distance and drive time labels between stops.
- 5
Watch the warnings
The planner flags a stop when the drive is longer than the gap between appointments, or when the optimized order contradicts the booked times.
Frequently Asked Questions
This article answers:
- How do I optimize my route in WorkZen?
- Can WorkZen plan routes for my whole team?
- Does route optimization respect appointment times?
- How do techs navigate between jobs?
- Why does the planner warn about a tight schedule?