Defense Table of Official Distances (DTOD) — Complete Reference

The Defense Table of Official Distances (DTOD) is the Department of Defense's single authoritative source for point-to-point vehicular land distances — the official mileage used to compute transportation costs and to plan surface movement across the department. Given an origin and a destination, DTOD returns the official road distance, route, and driving directions over a worldwide highway network, and that one number becomes the basis for freight rating, household-goods charges, and permanent-change-of-station (PCS) and temporary-duty (TDY) mileage allowances. DTOD is operated by the Surface Deployment and Distribution Command Transportation Engineering Agency (SDDC TEA) — the Army component of U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) — and reached through the authenticated dtod.transport.mil application. The same distance engine is fielded commercially as Trimble (formerly ALK) PC*MILER. This page is the canonical reference for what DTOD is, why DoD mandates a single official distance, how it works, where it is used, and how to get access.

What it is

DTOD is a distance-determination system. It does not book carriers, generate bills of lading, or move cargo — it answers one authoritative question: what is the official distance between these two points? That answer is the input to nearly every transportation cost in DoD, because freight rates and mileage allowances are computed as a rate multiplied by a distance.

For an origin-destination pair, DTOD generates:

• The official point-to-point distance over the truck-usable road network — the headline output that feeds a rate or allowance calculation.
• The route the distance is measured along, with road-segment and cumulative distances.
• Driving directions and a map for the computed route.

Locations can be specified the way logisticians and travelers actually have them — by city, by ZIP code, and by recognized installations and transportation facilities — and DTOD resolves each to a point on the highway network before computing the distance.

DTOD is also notable for what it standardizes: it can compute more than one kind of route — for example a shortest route versus a practical route — and DoD policy, not the user's preference, governs which route type applies to a given shipment. That policy linkage is what makes DTOD an official table rather than just another mapping tool.

Why it exists

Almost every transportation charge in DoD is a rate times a distance. A household-goods move, a freight shipment, a PCS drive in a privately owned vehicle — each is priced by multiplying an agreed rate by the distance between the authorized points. The moment two parties disagree on the distance, they disagree on the dollars.

Before DTOD, DoD computed those distances from commercial mileage guides — and different programs, carriers, and auditors could reach for different products and get different numbers for the same move. That made payment disputes hard to resolve and audits hard to defend: there was no single distance that everyone was contractually bound to.

DTOD exists to impose one official distance per origin-destination pair. With a single authoritative table, the shipper computing an estimate, the carrier submitting an invoice, and the auditor reviewing payment all start from the same number, so the resulting cost is consistent and defensible. That is why DoD designated DTOD as the mandatory distance source for transportation payment and audit — and why commercial carriers handling DoD freight or personal property are required to use the current DTOD distances for billing.

It is, by design, a reference and computation tool, not a transaction system. DTOD tells you the official distance; the procurement, booking, payment, and audit systems act on it.

History and lineage

DTOD's story is a transition from a patchwork of commercial mileage guides to a single DoD-official distance source, formalized through the rulemaking process in the late 1990s.

• The pre-DTOD products. DoD previously computed transportation distances using commercial mileage guides — the Rand McNally / TDM Milemaker mileage system and the Household Goods Carriers' Bureau Mileage Guide among them. Each was a credible commercial product, but using several of them across programs produced inconsistent official distances.

• Federal Register implementation (1997–1999). DoD phased DTOD in as the single official distance source through a series of Federal Register notices: an initial transition notice in 1997, proposed implementations in 1998 for the personal property program, the freight movements program, and passenger/travel services, and final implementation notices that set effective dates around 1999 (international shipments ahead of domestic). The Program Director at the time was the Military Traffic Management Command (MTMC), the predecessor of today's SDDC.

• The commercial engine: ALK / Trimble PC*MILER. Since 1999, DoD has fielded the DTOD distances from a commercial routing product: PC*MILER, made by ALK Technologies (later acquired by Trimble), selected as the best available commercial product for DTOD. The DTOD data is produced on an annual release cycle, and commercial PC*MILER editions are marketed as compliant with the current DTOD for approved freight rating and billing.

• MTMC → SDDC → ARTRANS. The operating command was renamed from MTMC to the Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC) effective 1 January 2004, reflecting its expanded global deployment-and-distribution mission. SDDC is the Army Service component command of USTRANSCOM. The command was subsequently renamed again to U.S. Army Transportation Command (ARTRANS) in 2025, with the Transportation Engineering Agency correspondingly becoming ARTRANS TEA.

• TEA's move to Scott AFB. The Transportation Engineering Agency, historically in Newport News, Virginia, was directed to relocate to Scott Air Force Base, Illinois under the 2005 BRAC round and completed the move in 2007, co-locating with USTRANSCOM.

The throughline: the official-distance mission is stable, while the command name, the host location, and the access portal have all changed — which is the practical reason old DTOD logins and bookmarks break even though the system keeps running.

How it works

DTOD sits on top of a digital highway network and computes road distances over it.

The distance engine

DTOD's distances are generated from a commercial routing engine — PC*MILER, built on the provider's proprietary computer representation of the North American and worldwide highway systems. The network data is refreshed on an annual cycle, and each yearly DTOD release reflects the current road data. This is why DTOD distances can change slightly from one release to the next: roads are added, realigned, or reclassified, and the official table tracks the current network.

Origin and destination resolution

A query starts with two locations. DTOD accepts common location forms — city, ZIP code, and recognized installations / transportation facilities — and resolves each to a point on the highway network. It then computes the road-segment and cumulative distances along the selected route and returns the official total along with the route, directions, and a map.

Route type: shortest vs. practical

DTOD can compute distinct route types, and DoD policy selects which applies to a given shipment:

• Shortest — the route minimizing total distance while remaining truck-navigable. DoD has historically used shortest miles for general freight and for the HAZMAT routing module governing munitions and certain radioactive shipments.
• Practical — a route weighted toward realistic, efficient highways. DoD has historically used practical miles for over-dimensional and overweight shipments.

Because the route-type rule is policy-bound, the same origin-destination pair can carry different official distances depending on the shipment type — and that is by design, not an inconsistency.

Worldwide coverage

DTOD's network is worldwide, spanning hundreds of countries, so it supports OCONUS and cross-border moves as well as domestic CONUS shipments. The exact country count is a property of the underlying commercial dataset and has grown across releases.

Public vs authenticated access

DTOD is an authenticated DoD application, not an open public lookup. Unlike catalog tools that historically offered a no-login query, reaching the live DTOD distance engine at dtod.transport.mil requires an account.

• Authenticated (the normal path). Signing in to DTOD requires an active TEAMS account with DTOD access; government users authenticate with the PIV certificate on their CAC. This is the path for shippers, transportation officers, carriers, and analysts who query official distances directly.
• Indirect/embedded use. Many users consume DTOD without ever logging in to it, because it is built into downstream systems — most visibly the Defense Travel System (DTS), which applies the DTOD distance automatically when computing PCS/TDY mileage on a voucher.

The practical takeaway: assume you need a TEAMS account to query DTOD directly, and expect to consume DTOD indirectly through travel and transportation systems for routine work.

How to get access

For direct DTOD access, the path runs through the TEAMS single-sign-on portal, which replaced the legacy ETA portal:

1. Go to the TEAMS portal. Navigate to the transport.mil TEAMS site (eta-teams.transport.mil) and select Register — do not rely on an old ETA login or a bookmarked legacy DTOD URL.
2. Authenticate with your CAC. Government users activate the PIV certificate on their CAC during registration.
3. Provide an individual email. Credentials are sent to the email you supply, so an individual (not shared) address is required.
4. Request the DTOD application as part of your TEAMS access request.
5. Wait for SRC approval. The request routes to the SDDC Systems Response Center (SRC) for approval; allow several business days for processing.

If your access stops working, the most common cause is the ETA-to-TEAMS migration or a changed portal — re-establish access through the current TEAMS portal and contact the SDDC SRC rather than assuming DTOD is offline.

Common tasks

DTOD supports a small set of high-frequency tasks. The canonical step-by-step procedures are presented on this page as structured HowTo workflows; the prose below frames when and why you run each.

Looking up an official distance

The core task. You have an origin and a destination — installations, cities, or ZIP codes — and you need the official distance to feed a rate or allowance. Sign in, enter the two locations, select the route type your shipment policy requires, and read the returned official distance, route, and directions. The single distance number is what carries downstream.

Registering for access

Before you can query directly, you need a TEAMS account with DTOD access, established through the TEAMS portal with CAC PIV authentication and approved by the SDDC SRC. This is a one-time provisioning task; budget several business days.

Applying a distance to a cost or allowance

DTOD gives the distance; you apply the rate or mileage allowance. Confirm the route type matches the policy for the shipment or travel type, multiply the applicable rate (per the Defense Transportation Regulation) or the mileage allowance (per the Joint Travel Regulations) by the official distance, and retain the DTOD distance as the auditable basis for the charge or allowance.

Common gotchas

• DTOD is gated — plan for a TEAMS account. Unlike open catalog lookups, DTOD requires a TEAMS account and CAC PIV authentication, and access approval through the SDDC SRC takes business days. Don't assume a quick anonymous query.
• The route type changes the official distance. The same origin-destination pair can yield different official distances under shortest versus practical routing, and DoD policy — not your preference — sets which applies to your shipment type. Using the wrong route type produces a defensible-looking but incorrect cost.
• DTOD distances change with the annual release. The network is refreshed yearly, so a distance can shift slightly between releases. Carriers and auditors are required to use the current DTOD; computing against an old release invites payment exceptions.
• An old ETA login or DTOD bookmark is your enemy. The portal moved to TEAMS and the command has been renamed; a broken login usually means a migration or URL change, not a dead system. Re-enter through the current TEAMS portal.
• The traveler usually doesn't query DTOD directly. For PCS/TDY, DTS applies the DTOD distance automatically as of the voucher-approval date. Manually computing a different distance and arguing it against the system's DTOD figure is a losing proposition — the official distance is the one DTS pulled.
• "PC*MILER distance" is not automatically the official distance. Commercial PC*MILER can be configured many ways; only the DTOD-compliant setting against the current release matches the official DoD distance. Confirm the product and version are aligned to the current DTOD before treating a commercial mileage as official.

When to use this vs alternatives

DTOD is narrowly and specifically the official-distance tool. It is frequently adjacent to — but not a substitute for — the routing, rate, and movement systems around it.

• Use DTOD when you need the official point-to-point distance to compute or audit a transportation cost or a PCS/TDY mileage allowance. That is its single job, and for that job it is authoritative.
• For PCS/TDY mileage on a voucher, work in the Defense Travel System (DTS), which has DTOD built in and applies the official distance automatically. You generally do not query DTOD by hand for routine travel claims.
• For the policy that governs how a distance is applied, consult the Defense Transportation Regulation (DTR) for freight and cargo and the Joint Travel Regulations (JTR) for PCS/TDY allowances. DTOD supplies the number; the DTR and JTR supply the rules.
• For deployment and distribution movement visibility and planning — as opposed to a single official distance — work in USTRANSCOM's command-and-control and analysis systems such as the USTRANSCOM Integrated Data Environment / Global Transportation Network Convergence (IGC). DTOD answers "how far"; IGC and related systems answer "where is it and how does it move."
• For commercial routing and mileage outside the official-distance use case, the commercial PC*MILER product is the same engine, but only its DTOD-compliant configuration matches the official table.

In short: reach for DTOD to get the one official distance, and reach for DTS, the DTR/JTR, and the movement-management systems to apply, govern, and execute the move that distance prices.

Training and authoritative references

DTOD itself is simple to operate, but the rules that make a distance official live in formal regulation. The governing references are the Defense Transportation Regulation (DoD 4500.9-R), published by USTRANSCOM, which sets DoD transportation policy for cargo and freight movement and the distance rules that apply to it; and the Joint Travel Regulations (JTR), which establish the PCS/TDY mileage allowances computed on DTOD distances. DTOD's status as the DoD official distance source was established through the Federal Register rulemaking notices of the late 1990s, which document the transition from the prior commercial mileage guides. The program is operated by the SDDC Transportation Engineering Agency (TEA) at Scott AFB. The commercial engine behind the distances is Trimble (formerly ALK Technologies) PC*MILER, whose annual DTOD release notes document each year's network data. Links to these are in the references list on this page.

FAQ

The structured FAQ for this page is provided in the page metadata (FAQPage schema) and is rendered above. It covers what DTOD is, who operates it, why DoD mandates a single official distance, the PC*MILER relationship, shortest-versus-practical routing, PCS/TDY mileage, access, and lineage.

Interesting context

DTOD is one of those pieces of logistics infrastructure that is invisible until money is on the line. Most service members encounter it without ever knowing its name: when a PCS voucher computes a mileage allowance, or a household-goods estimate quotes a number, the distance underneath came from DTOD. The reason it exists at all is a very human problem dressed up as a technical one — when the distance is debatable, the payment is debatable, and a department that moves billions of dollars of freight and tens of thousands of families a year cannot afford to argue every move's mileage. Designating one official table turned an endless series of disputes into a single agreed number.

There is a nice irony in how DoD got that number: the "official" distances are produced by a commercial product, PC*MILER, the same routing software a trucking company uses to plan a haul. DoD's contribution is not a separate distance engine but the discipline of designation — picking one product, freezing it as the annual official release, and binding everyone to it by regulation. The vendor's own marketing now runs the other direction, advertising commercial PC*MILER editions as "DTOD-compliant," because matching the Defense Table is itself a selling point to carriers who bill the government.

The operator's own history is a map of post-9/11 logistics reorganization in miniature: MTMC became SDDC in 2004 to capture a broader deployment-and-distribution mission, the Transportation Engineering Agency moved from Newport News to Scott Air Force Base under BRAC to sit beside USTRANSCOM, and in 2025 the command was renamed again to ARTRANS. Through three command names and a cross-country move, the table has kept doing the one quiet thing it was built to do: give every shipper, carrier, traveler, and auditor in the Department of Defense the same honest answer to the question how far is it?

Last verified

This page was last reviewed on 2026-06-21 and is a draft prepared for subject-matter-expert review against live SDDC/USTRANSCOM and Federal Register sources. The DTOD mission, operator chain (SDDC/ARTRANS TEA under USTRANSCOM), PC*MILER/ALK-Trimble lineage since 1999, the MTMC→SDDC (2004)→ARTRANS (2025) renamings, the TEA move to Scott AFB (2007), the late-1990s Federal Register implementation, and the TEAMS access path are corroborated across SDDC/ARTRANS, USTRANSCOM, army.mil, Federal Register/govinfo, and Trimble/ALK sources. A 2026-06-21 source-verification pass resolved the prior open items: access_type was corrected from cac_required to account_required (a TEAMS account is the universal gate and DTOD eligibility explicitly includes vendor-authorized DoD commercial carriers; CAC PIV is the government-user sub-path, not a universal requirement); the Federal Register personal-property effective dates (1 Apr 1999 international, 1 May 1999 domestic; MTMC) are confirmed from primary text; the shortest-vs-practical assignment is confirmed against the SDDC Rounding and Mileage Carrier Advisory; the worldwide country count is confirmed version-dependent (224→227 across releases) and intentionally left unfixed; the SRC processing window is confirmed as 5–7 business days through the (now) ARTRANS SRC; and the DTR designation (DoD 4500.9-R), Part II Cargo Movement and Part IV Personal Property are confirmed current. Residual softer items — the complete enumerated DTOD input/output field list on the live CAC/TEAMS-gated result screen, and the freight/passenger (vs personal-property) Federal Register effective dates — were not individually primary-sourced and remain appropriately hedged; confirm against the live dtod.transport.mil application and current DTR/JTR. To suggest a correction, use the site's correction path.