Using the Geoservices API

Overview of the Geoservices API and location management in Skedulo.

Skedulo utilizes different map service providers to provide map-based information about geographical locations, including the estimated travel time, distance between locations, and location details. These help in route planning and scheduling efficiencies. Skedulo’s Geoservices API provides a standard way for clients to communicate with these different map service providers.

The Geoservices API includes the following endpoints:

Endpoint Service provider Description
/geoservices/geocode Google For a list of addresses provided, it returns a list of geocoded LatLng, or errors. Learn more.
/geoservices/place Google For a given Place ID, it returns detailed information for that place. Learn more.
/geoservices/autocomplete Google For a given input string, it returns a list of address suggestions, or errors. Learn more.
/geoservices/timezone Google Given a location and timestamp, it returns the timezone and any DST offset. Learn more.
/geoservices/directions GraphHopper (default) or Google Estimates the travel time and distance between two locations, optionally including waypoints and features to avoid between the two. Learn more.
/geoservices/distanceMatrix GraphHopper (default) or Google Calculates the travel distance and time for all combinations of origin and destination locations provided. Learn more.

Locations in Skedulo

Each default contact and account record has an address field. Skedulo uses geolocation and tracking with the Address as well as the Job Address or concept of stored addresses with locations to increase accuracy.

An account can have multiple addresses that represent branches or outlets without the need to create duplicate account records. A location is a Skedulo-specific address for an account. Utilizing locations accelerates the process of creating work items within Skedulo, because you don’t have to enter the customer’s address. As the addresses are pre-existing data records held within Skedulo, you can easily pre-populate them on work items with more accuracy with some advanced configurations. These configurations include modifying the Job Type template and/or by automating the job creation process via a script. These configurations can easily allow you to pre-populate the address field on job (or not pre-populate for that matter) for a specific job type as per your requirement.

For more information, see Create and update work.

Account and Location Resource Scores

You can create your own set of Account and Location Resource Scores in Salesforce. The Salesforce account and location resource scores can be set on the Resource records under Account Resource Scores and Location Resource Scores. These resource scores determine if resources should be allocated to a job associated with a specified account or location. Salesforce uses the concept of whitelist (Inclusion) to include and blacklist (Exclusion) to exclude resources at either an account or location level for a job.

  • Inclusion: Only those resources marked whitelisted in Salesforce are considered available while allocating a job to location/account. For example, if a client prefers to continue the service of a particular care provider, then the feature of Inclusion list can be used.

  • Exclusion: The resources marked blacklisted in Salesforce are excluded while allocating a job to the account/location. For example, if a client prefers to not consider a particular care provider for some reason, then the feature of Exclusion list can be used.