How to Create a Route Planner App in 2022: Features, Tech Stack and Development Cost

5 min readJul 22, 2022

Route planning apps are the type of apps with the widest audience. In addition to high commercial benefits, such an application is quite suitable for ordinary users.

What should be in such an application, what functions are required in it and what difficulties can be in the development process.

Route Planning Apps Market Overview

The global market for navigation applications exceeds $100 million. And it is expected that by 2028 it will increase by 10.8%. This is influenced by many factors, including the demand for navigation in international waters and the development of the economy.

In addition, the needs of the marketing industry and the development of tourism attract investment in the development of a variety of commercial applications for navigation.

What Are the Types of Route Planner Apps?

Such applications are actively used in various industries. Depending on where exactly such applications are used, they can be divided into several groups:

Tracking (object or own movement).
Cartography (mapping the area).
Time (accurate measurement of time).
Location (automatic detection).
Navigation (building routes of movement).

Other uses for such applications include agriculture, military operations, and fisheries.

Top Examples of Route Planning and Optimization Apps

Let us consider some of the most successful implementations of route planning apps.

Upper Route Planner

Helps you plan a route with multiple stops and for multiple drivers at the same time. It also allows you to import addresses using Excel and view analytics and reports.

Route4Me

It allows you to track your movements in real time, and also has a huge database of maps and routes in almost all countries of the world. The route planner app also has voice navigation.

TourSolver

The application allows you to track mileage and helps in personnel management. It also provides a routing function.

How to Create a Route Optimization App?

Developing route optimization app has some generalized steps. Additional steps are optional.

1. Market research

Only with a clear understanding can you give your client something that will solve his problems. It is also a guaranteed competitiveness that you will be able to provide. The job of a business analyst is extremely important. You will also get an understanding of what audience will use the product and how to address it.

2. Think of a list of features

This will become the basis for understanding how long the development will take and what budget it will require. This will also help determine who will be involved in the development. Regardless of whether it is internal resources or an outsourcing company.

3. Consider design

In such applications, simplicity and conciseness are valued, each additional element distracts from its intended use. Your design is subject to all UI/UX rules.

4. Development stage

At this stage, the development itself takes place according to the previously selected technological stack. Most often, they start with the development of an MVP or prototype for logistics app development, after which they move on to the development of the final product.

5. Product testing

Before being released to the market, the product must pass all types of testing. this ensures that there are no problems with the reputation and the product.

Route Planning and Optimization: MVP Features

Despite the various types of customization of such software, the main ones can be distinguished in it:

building a route in a different format;
designation on the map of important places (cafes, gas stations, banks);
arrival times.

Route Planning App: Advanced Features

Among the features that can be added as an additional bonus for the user are the following:

various gamification functions (accumulation of points, communication with platform participants);
voice prompts (thanks to this, search and navigation become safer and more enjoyable);
adding the ability to build routes for different ways of moving;
adding cards of information about various objects to the map.

The route app cost always depends on many factors: the country and form of cooperation, the level of complexity of the application, and much more. In our experience, we often meet a request for the initial development of an MVP with a budget of $15–20 thousand, and then move on to full development.

So, how much does it cost to create an application? As for the amount of the full application, it is usually about $50–80 thousand.

Route Planning and Optimization App Technology Stack

Consider the main technical stack that can be used for development.

For the application itself, this could be:

Swift
CoreLocation
mapkit
Highly Custom UI
AWS SDK
Xcode

For the SDK apply:

Pure Swift designed as a framework
Google API
Foursquare API
Modular architecture
FMDB.

Much depends on what features you want to see in your product and what technologies the outsourcing development company you contacted works with.

Route Planning App Monetization Strategies

Among the most frequent monetization options for such transportation app development are:

· additional and extended cards;

· the ability to download maps offline;

· paid subscriptions for additional features or services;

· we prefer accounts with additional discounts for affiliate programs.

TopDevs’ Expertise in Route Optimization Development

We at TopDevs have experience of app development for route planning. We are talking about the GoG application — this is a product that collects data about the end customers of various businesses: their habits, location, mobility, tastes.

The application is based on GPS tracking. It also helps in predicting and anticipating customer needs, which leads to increased sales and increased customer loyalty.

You can read more about the case here.

Conclusions

A properly designed route planning app is always a successful idea. Despite the great popularity of apps like Google maps, alternatives are still finding their audience. You can reduce supply chain app cost and route planner cost working with the right company.

Such a product is popular for both business and ordinary users. We recommend that you contact only trusted development companies in order to get a high-quality working product.