Re-purposing Google maps visualisation for teaching logistics systems

Routing is the process of selecting appropriate paths and ordering waypoints in a network. It plays an important part in logistics and supply chain management as choosing the optimal route can minimise distribution costs. Routing optimisation, however, is a difficult problem to solve and computer software is often used to determine the best route. In an Australian postgraduate course on logistics systems, Logware, a dated software packaged with a textbook was used for teaching routing. A need was felt to replace the software with a more modern tool with an ad-vanced graphical user interface and a high level of visualisation capabilities for a more engaging student experience and better learning outcomes.