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Original post by HAM If you know the Route is safe, then you know the route, therefore the AI will not have a pathing problem.

Unfortunately, this isn't true. How YOU navigate and how the AI navigate are totally separate. I've seen with Eden that AI might get stuck in these places:
-Time based obstacles like doors that close periodically (malfunctioning, for example)
-Elevators / lifts
-When characters are of a different size
-Race conditions where one character tries to step on the same spot as the other, then has to move out of the way (making the pathing information even more obsolete)
-Any obstacle that requires dexterity (a duck then roll, for example)

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How often or dense will 'jump locations' be? Where are they located?

This is impossible to say at the moment. At least one per level I'd think, or maybe as an automatic feature of any large room.

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How can you tell where they are NEEDED. If you can determine where they are needed then you can fix any pathing problem.

I think this misses the point: You WON'T know, because you won't have been able to stress every permutation. So it's something of a failsafe.

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If you cannot determine where they are needed, then you solution is incomplete as there very well may a geometery that causes a pathing problem without having a 'jump out'.

Okay, consider a multilevel base made of 5 levels. There is a point at the entrance, and in at least one room of every level which you have access to as soon as you can secure it.

Now, with a perfect map and no AI stupidity, you won't need any of them, they're just a convenience option when you clear a certain room. You could, instead, tell guys to drop defenses, equipment and supplies wherever, and they'd run around the level doing it.

But if it's taking too long for them to shuttle back and forth, or for some reason they keep getting stuck on terrain (a fallen beam bridging a chasm, for instance), then there's no point in making the player wait.