Descartes Integration for European Road Freight

What this page is, and what it is not

This is the page for shippers and 3PLs who run Descartes and want European road execution data flowing alongside it. TrucksOnTheMap connects over REST or EDI; there is no certified connector and none is claimed.

If your question is the other one, whether to replace a Descartes module rather than connect to it, that comparison lives on the Descartes alternative page. Both cases are real and plenty of operations are in the first one while evaluating the second.

What crosses the boundary

How it connects

Two channels, chosen per flow rather than per system. REST with JSON where a live event is needed, and EDIFACT, typically IFTMIN inbound and IFTSTA outbound, where your existing message flows already carry that content. Both land in the same internal event model, so the choice is an implementation detail rather than an architecture decision.

Because the message set is standard rather than proprietary, the mapping work is the same conversation as any EDI partner: which segment carries your reference, and what counts as arrival. That detail sits on the EDI integration page.

What actually determines whether it works

Not this interface. The variable is how much of your European carrier base reports position at all, which is a coverage problem rather than an integration problem, and which is solved by connecting to carriers’ telematics providers rather than to each haulier. That argument is set out on telematics integration.

The seven weeks

GO LIVE is guaranteed in seven weeks, and the schedule is the same on every integration because the platform side never changes. What varies is how quickly your side can supply a test system and a named contact.

1. Weeks 1–2, scoping. We agree the field list, the direction of each field and which system is authoritative for it. This is the meeting that decides whether the project is easy, and skipping it is why integrations drift.
2. Weeks 3–4, connection. Credentials, endpoints and a first message moving in a test environment. Nothing is mapped yet, we are proving the pipe.
3. Week 5, mapping and events. Your fields onto our event model, including the definition of arrival, which is the single most disputed one.
4. Week 6, parallel run. Both systems live, event counts compared daily. Any gap is a mapping bug found before anybody depends on it.
5. Week 7, cutover and handover. Downstream consumers switch, monitoring is handed to your team with the reconciliation report that tells you when a feed goes quiet.

Data residency, GDPR and ISO 27001

Freight data is operational data about identifiable drivers and vehicles, so it falls under GDPR whichever way it reaches us. Three things are usually asked in a European security review, and the answers do not change per integration.

• Where the data sits. Processing and storage stay within the EU.
• Who can see it. Your freight data stays inside your trusted carrier network. A carrier sees the loads they are assigned, not your wider network.
• How it is governed. TrucksOnTheMap is ISO 27001 certified, and the controls that matter to a transport integration are access control, retention and the audit trail on every event.

Position data has a retention question of its own. Decide up front how long raw pings are kept as against derived events, because the derived events are what your KPIs need and the raw trace is what a works council will ask about.

Common questions

How does TrucksOnTheMap connect to Descartes?

Over REST with JSON where a live event is needed, and over EDIFACT, typically IFTMIN inbound and IFTSTA outbound, where existing message flows already carry that content. The channel is chosen per flow and both land in the same internal event model. There is no certified connector and none is claimed.

Is this a replacement for Descartes?

Not on this page. Here TrucksOnTheMap supplies European road execution data alongside a Descartes environment you keep running. The separate question of replacing a module is covered on the Descartes alternative page, and many operations are connecting today while evaluating that separately.

What data flows in each direction?

Transport instructions come in from your environment. Booking confirmation, live position and ETA per drop, status and milestone events, the ePOD or eCMR document and the final delivery confirmation go back out.

What determines whether the integration actually delivers visibility?

Carrier coverage rather than the interface. The variable is what share of your European carrier base reports position at all, which is solved by connecting to carriers’ telematics providers rather than to each haulier individually.

How long does it take to go live?

Seven weeks on the standard schedule: two weeks scoping the field list, two weeks proving the connection, one week mapping, one week in parallel with daily event-count comparison, and one week for cutover and handover.

See it on one of your lanes

Bring a lane where you already run Descartes. We will show what the road execution layer adds to it, and where it does not add anything.