Logistics planners use a circuity factor to estimate realistic driving miles when only zip code coordinates are known. A high circuity ratio indicates a route with geographic obstacles, mandatory detours, or inefficient road networks. Calculating this accurately ensures that freight rates and estimated transit times reflect the true cost of the trip rather than a simple point-to-point line.
Heard on the job
The circuity on that mountain route is almost 1.4, so we need to charge the customer for the extra fuel.
Insider tip
A standard rule of thumb in US freight routing is to multiply air miles by 1.15 to estimate actual road miles, though this fails in mountainous regions.
Also heard as
- circuity factor
- route circuity