Choosing a GIS which imports a list of stage addresses, calculates the route, allows to modify and export it

Question

I'm new to GISs. I'm searching for a GIS to meet following requirements.

I have a list of street addresses [A,B,C,D,E,...], with additional information associated (basically which orders to deliver at each address and to which customer), available in a DB table (DBMS: DB2 for i Series) or .xls file.

I need to show these addresses on a map and calculate the route among them. Not the global best route, but the route that touches each point maintaining the order given for them. Then the user should modify this order if necessary (e.g. [A,E,C,B,D,...]) and the route should be recalculated.

As output I need to write the points in the new order on a DB table (also with customer info etc. for each record). I also need to print a PDF with the map and route instructions for the truck driver.

I considered MapPoint, but counld't succedd with automatic route calculation for the imported addresses (to calculate a route I have to manually add each point). Google Maps API seems promising, but I don't know how to do many of the operations above.

Any hint on which GIS could fit? Both web-based or desktop applications are welcome. Many thanks!

Answer 1

Finally I found this solution:

• I prepare list of addresses and their additional information as an .xls file
• I wrote an add-in for Microsoft MapPoint (it's easy using Visual Studio*) that
  • imports the .xls and puts the addresses on the map
  • calculate the route among them
  • give some additional instruments to the user for changing stops order
  • when user is ready, exports the list of stops to the DB, with arrival and departure times for every stop in the route it just calculated

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*Creating an addin for MapPoint (some names could be incorrect, I've guessed them, because my Visual Studio is not in English ;D):

• launch Visual Studio (as administrator) > View > Tools
• right click on Tools > Choose elements... > COM components > check "Microsoft MapPoint Control x.x" > OK
• right click on Tools > Show all > General > now you should find "Microsoft MapPoint Control x.x"
• File > New > Project... > look for something like "Shared add-in" > give a name to the project > OK > check only on "Microsoft MapPoint" > straight on to the end
• Esplore solutions > right click on References > Add reference... > "Microsoft MapPoint x.x Object Library (Europe)" > OK
• Esplore solutions > open Connect.cs and write addin source code; the best place to put code that need to be executed on addin loading is OnConnection
• build (MapPoint must be closed) and test (2 alternatives):
  • launch MapPoint
  • right click on setup project > Install > straight on to the end > launch MapPoint