ALK Technologies is committed to continuously enhancing our user's routing experiences.
Through mid-release updates, extensive routing and map data improvements are integrated into
the database and made available to users.
If you are a Premium and Premium-Worldwide User (see section 1.1), you have the choice of
upgrading the North American routing dataset to access mid-release updates or staying with the
base version release dataset instead.
Depending on how you are using the interface, you may prefer to remain on the base North
American version dataset. For example, if you have a contract with a customer that states a
specific version of PC*MILER mileage is to be used, it would be best to access the base version
dataset (e.g. V27's dataset instead of the V27.02 release). For users who are routing vehicles with
PC*MILER's truck-specific directions, we recommend accessing the most recent mid-release
dataset. As a Premium User, you can access both datasets; the choice is yours and you will need
to determine which option best fits your business model.
To access mid-release datasets for routing and map in your interface, a simple field value change
is needed. The DataVer field determines whether the base version dataset or the mid-release
dataset will be accessed.
When ALK releases a new version, all users are automatically updated to that version, unless
you set the DataVer field to a specific version of your choice.
If the DataVer field is left blank,
o for Premium and Premium-Worldwide Users, the current North American midrelease
dataset will be accessed;
o for all other users, the base version dataset will be accessed.
To access the most recent North American mid-release dataset, populate the DataVer
field with "current".
To access a base version dataset, populate the DataVer field with the number of the
version (for example, “26” or “27”).
To access the North American mid-release dataset for the prior quarter, populate the
DataVer field with “LQ” or “lastquarter”; this will also transcend versions, so when
version 28 is released, LQ will return Version 27, Q4 data.
To access a specific active North American mid-release update, populate the DataVer
field with "VVQ#" where VV represents the version of PC*MILER and # represents the
quarter of data (1-4). For instance, to access the PC*MILER 27 2nd Quarter data release,
the string would be "27Q2". The active quarters of data are "current" and one prior.
When the third quarter update of a specific version has been released, the "base" (Q1)
version of the data is also active in addition to the current and one prior, and will remain
so until the next base version release.