# Glossary This is a dictionary of commonly used terms and abbrevations at Simacan and on the Developer Portal. > The easiest way to search for a term is Ctrl+F (or Command+F on a mac), type the term you're searching for. ## Carrier Also known in Dutch as "transporteur". A carrier is a company that moves goods from A to B using [vehicle](#vehicle)s. Most [shipper](#shipper)s hire carriers to do the actual transportation work. ## Control Tower Our main product. The Control Tower is where customers see their planned trips and the actual and completed state of their trips, and where they can update trips and inform drivers or other parties when necessary. ## CT See [Control Tower](#control-tower). ## DC Distribution Center. A [location](#location) from which goods are distributed to stores or other locations. A single DC distributes goods to many different locations. ## Drop The action of dropping off a [shipment](#shipment) at a [stop](#stop). Our [Control Tower](#control-tower) trips used to have a hierarchy of [trip](#trip) -> [stops](#stop) -> [drops](#drop) but because that forced us to deal with "drops" that were actually pick-up actions, [Control Tower](#control-tower) drop entities have been changed to the more generic [shipment](#shipment)s. ## Estimated Time of Arrival Basically, an ETA for a [vehicle](#vehicle) that is currently driving to a [stop](#stop) is the current time plus the calculated [travel time](#travel-time). When we calculate ETAs, we have to basic approaches: profile-based ETAs and actual data-based ETAs. Profile-based ETAs are calculated using historical statistics: the average travel time on each road segment along the route for that time of day. Actual data-based ETAs are calculated using the current state of the roads, taking into account delays caused by traffic jams and unexpected roadworks. Since actual data-based ETAs get less reliable the further in the future we try to predict, we use these mostly for current [leg](#leg)s while we use profile-based ETAs for future [leg](#leg)s of [trip](#trip)s. ## ETA See [Estimated Time of Arrival](#estimated-time-of-arrival). ## Fleet Management System An FMS is used by [carrier](#carrier)s to keep track of their fleet of [vehicle](#vehicle)s. They give us access to their FMS data so we can receive [realisation](#realisation) data for their vehicles. ## FMS See [Fleet Management System](#fleet-management-system). ## Form of Way An official European categorisation of the "type" of road, given to each road segment. Includes things such as "freeway", "single carriage way", "roundabout" and "pedestrian zone". ## FOW See [Form of Way](#form-of-way). ## FRC See [Functional Road Class](#functional-road-class). ## Functional Road Class An official European classification of roads by "importance". The most important roads are often highways, while lower class roads are provincial roads, city roads, and finally local access roads. ## Geocoding Given a postal address such as "Valutaboulevard 16, Amersfoort", convert this to a geographical location, with latitude and longtitude: "52.193770, 5.408867". We do this automatically but our geocoder doesn't know all addresses, so for some manual geocoding is required. This can be done by users in Masterdata. ## Geofence A figure (such as a box or a circle) drawn around a [location](#location) on the map. Once a geofence is drawn, we can track when a vehicle enters or exits it. This is important because we [geocode](#geocoding) locations as a single point, while in reality they may be large buildings with multiple access routes. Geofences for locations help our stop detection. On top of that, by calculating how long vehicles spend in certain geofences we can do things such as calculating their average waiting time, which we can use to improve our future predictions. ## HD See [Home Delivery](#home-delivery). ## Home Delivery A logistics operation aimed at delivering goods to people at home. These deliveries are often done in vans instead of trucks, and the delivery locations are new for every trip. For some of our customers we have both Home Delivery and [Supply Chain](#supply-chain) operations, in which case both Simacan and the customer usually treats them as separate operations, each with their own [Control Tower](#control-tower) instance. ## iVRI Intelligent [VRI](#vri)s. Internet-connected Traffic Lights that not only send their state (which lights are currently green etc.) to the internet but also can receive priority requests from authorized parties to give a certain direction a green first, e.g. for an emergency transport. ## Leg A part of a [trip](#trip), the movement from one [stop](#stop) to the next. Legs are the sections of a trip for which we calculate [route](#route)s. ## Location A specific place or address that is relevant for a trip. Locations include [DC](#dc)s, stores, and delivery addresses. Locations need to be [geocoded](#geocoding) before they are used in trips. We have locations that are used many times (DCs and stores of our customers) and locations that are used only for a single trip (delivery addresses for [Home Delivery](#home-delivery) customers) ## Open Trip Model A communication standard first invented by Simacan for transmitting [trip](#trip)-related data such as [planning](#planning)s, [projection](#projection)s and [realisation](#realisation)s between APIs of different companies. OTM is now officially maintained by the "Stichting Uniforme Transport Code" (SUTC) but Simacan still plays a large role in the further development of the standard. The first public version of OTM was OTM 4. Recently (October 2019), a new major version, OTM 5 was released. More information on https://www.opentripmodel.org/ ## OTM See [Open Trip Model](#open-trip-model). ## Planning For us, [trips](#trip) usually start as a planning. A trip planning consists of a list of ordered [stop](#stop)s which each may have [shipment](#shipment)s associated with them. The planning also contains planned times for which the [vehicle](#vehicle) should be at each stop. Customers generally use third-party planning software to generate these plannings. Some planning software vendors improve the accuracy of their planning by making use of our TD-matrix. We consider a trip that has not started yet to be in the planning state. ## Projection When a [trip](#trip) is started, we can look into the future and see if it will still arrive on time. We do this by calculating [ETA](#eta)s. This data forms a projection of how the trip will proceed. ## Realisation Realisation is when a planned trip actually takes place. While a trip is on-going we receive *realisation data* from the [tracking device](#tracking-device) on board the vehicle. This data consists of live updates of the vehicle's current location, which we then use to recalculate [ETA](#eta)s and do stop detection. ## Retailer See [shipper](#shipper). ## Route The actual route over the roads a [vehicle](#vehicle) takes to get from A to B. We calculate routes using Marathon routing. Using information on what type of vehicle a customer users, we predict which route they will take and base our [ETA](#eta) calculation on that. The routes we calculate are not sent to on-board devices, and drivers are free to take another route, in which case we recalculate based on their position. ## SC See [Supply Chain](#supply-chain). ## SCT Simacan [Control Tower](#control-tower). ## Shipment Goods that are being moved from one [stop](#stop) to another in a [trip](#trip). Depending on the customer, a shipment can be a small bag of groceries, or a large dolly full of goods or anything else. In the [Control Tower](#control-tower), stops have one or more shipments associated with them, either as a pick-up or a drop-off action. In the [Control Tower](#control-tower), we have a hierarchy of [trip](#trip) -> [stops](#stop) -> [shipments](#shipment). ## Shipper We use the term "retailer" or in Dutch "verlader" to mean shipper. A shipper is a company that wants goods moved from A to B. They plan their logistics process using a [TMS](#tms) and then hire [carrier](#carrier)s to do the actual transportation, while they use the [Control Tower](#control-tower) to follow and manage the progress of their operation. > The term shipper is sometimes used in the UK as synonym for carrier. When talking to people in the UK, please make sure you use the same definition for these words. ## Stop A planned place and time where the [vehicle](#vehicle) stops. Stops exist between [leg](#leg)s on a [trip](#trip) and are most commonly used to either pick up or drop off [shipment](#shipment)s. The first location of a trip, such as a [DC](#dc) where the vehicle is loaded, is considered a [stop](#stop) as well, even if this is where the trip actually starts. ## Supply Chain A logistics operation aimed at supplying stores and other locations managed by the customer with goods. Supply Chain operations often start trips at [DC](#dc)s and have a set of locations that only change if the customer opens or closes stores. The other common kind of operation is [Home Delivery](#home-delivery). ## Talking Traffic Talking Traffic is a partnership doing research on smart traffic solutions such as vehicles communicating with traffic lights. When we talk about it, we usually talk about the Talking Traffic software chain run by Simacan. We provide Talking Traffic with information on the route ahead of connected vehicles, and also about connected traffic lights ([iVRI](#i-vri)s). ## TMS Transport Management System. A system often used by [shipper](#shipper)s to plan their logistiscs operation. We often get [planning](#planning) data from a shipper's TMS. ## Tracking Device A device on board a [vehicle](#vehicle) that can be used to track the vehicle's location real-time. Some tracking devices are dedicated devices, which are often integrated with vehicle sensor data such as internal temperature. In other cases, drivers install an app on their cellphone which allows the cellphone to be used as a tracking device. For Simacan, it is important that we can couple a tracking device to a planned [trip](#trip) so [realisation](#realisation) data goes to the right trip and we can calculate [ETA](#eta)s correctly. ## Tractor The part of a truck that contains the engine. A tractor pulls [trailer](#trailer)s. For some trucks, the [tracking device](#tracking-device) is in the tractor. For others, it is in the trailer (or both). ## Trailer The part of a truck that contains the cargo. A trailer is pulled by a [tractor](#tractor). We consider both semi-trailers ("opleggers") and full trailers ("aanhangwagens") to be trailers. For some trucks, the [tracking device](#tracking-device) is in the tractor. For others, it is in the trailer (or both). ## Travel Time The time it takes to travel from one [stop](#stop) to the next. We distinguish planned (see [planning](#planning)), projected (see [projection](#projection)) and realized (see [realisation](#realisation)) travel times. For projected travel times, see also [ETA](#eta). ## Trip A trip is the movement of a [vehicle](#vehicle) from [stop](#stop) to [stop](#stop). Most trips we deal with consist of multiple [legs](#leg) and more than two [stop](#stop)s. Trips can be in different states: planned (see [planning](#planning)), on-going and realised (see [realisation](#realisation)). ## Vehicle A machine that transports goods. Most of the vehicles we follow are trucks (see [tractor](#tractor) and [trailer](#traier)), and vans. Other types of vehicles are river barges and deep sea vessels. Since we need to be able to get live updates about vehicles, we require them to have [tracking device](#tracking-device)s on board. ## VRI Verkeersregelinstallatie. Traffic Control Signals. We use the term VRI when referring to the whole set of traffic lights and the traffic light control mechanism at an intersection.