Mapping the time. Method for logistics management software: Application in Spain

The usual form to represent a point in a map is based in its geographical coordinates, establishing their relationship with other points in terms of distances and angles, usually azimuths. However, sometimes, the distance is not the most crucial factor when we want to represent certain relations. Thus, it may be important to represent jointly the travel time between two cities and the distances between them. In this representation greater distances are not always associated with longer times to drive. These maps, which also represents the time as a pseudo distance, would be useful for decision-making related to logistics management. This occurs in distribution logistics, where companies must meet delivery times, making prompt deliveries and timely deliveries. A software to perform comparative mapping from a source to a destination of distances and times between different geographical areas for road, rail and flight transport, would be useful for making decisions about what transport type should be used in order to minimize travel time between two points. This article shows method for joint representation of both magnitudes, which has been implemented in CHRONAS-MAP an initial version of software that implements this method in Spain.