I use Google Maps all the time, but sometimes the route it picks as optimal between two points isn’t what I want. For example, I often like to swing by a coffee shop on my way out of town to grab a drink for the drive, but consistently Google Maps routes me down Main Street to the highway. Is there any way to tweak the driving route once it’s shown on the map?
After years of dependence on Mapquest, I have to admit that for the last few years I have been completely faithful to Google Maps, and like it so much that the page I share with friends and family about where I live includes an embedded live Google Map for them to get custom driving directions from their current location.
It’s also the case that the more you explore Google Maps, the more you realize it can do. it’s a lot more powerful than just maps + directions + street view, that’s for sure. Oh, and satellite views of famous landmarks like the White House, Walt Disney World and Santa Monica Pier are pretty darn sweet (though it’s entirely possible that Bing Maps has an edge on the satellite imagery right now. But your opinion may vary).
One of the many things you can do once you have driving or other directions shown in Google Maps is indeed to adjust or tweak your route.
To demonstrate, I’m going to get driving directions from Denver, Colorado down to the beautiful Air Force Academy visitor’s center. But I want to go via the Air Force Academy Cemetery, to pay my respects to the fallen. To start, I’ll just enter end points and get the generic route:
A straight route, easy enough, and just a bit over an hour’s drive (and well worth it).
But where’s the cemetery? To find out, I’ll zoom in on the Academy portion of the route:
The route takes us along Academy Drive, but the Cemetery is actually a bit south of there, a quick detour on Stadium Blvd.
To update the route, simply move the cursor to point directly at the blue route indicator at the point you want to “drag” your route down to change it. A small circle appears:
Now you can click and drag that little circle to your heart’s content, and as you go, the route will automatically update to ensure you’ll go through the selected point and end up at your destination. It even shows total distance and time, allowing you to ascertain whether the route modification is worth the extra transit time:
Finally, I move the reroute circle to the United States Air Force Academy Cemetery and the route has updated to ensure the optimal path that includes that location:
That’s all there is to it. You can play around and create crazy routes, or ensure you drive past your favorite drive-thru Starbucks, with ease.
Oh, and if you decide you don’t like your newly tweaked route? On the top there’s a small yellow pop-up that appears:
That’s how it works. And when the new, more social Google Maps appears (soon: I’ve already played with the beta and it’s not quite Summer 2013) I bet that rerouting directions will be done exactly the same way.
The only site that works today like MapQuest USED to seems to be http://www.bing.com/maps. (www.mappoint.com will take you to the same site.) I have given up on MapQuest and Google Maps until they get their act together and maps re-routing easy. People seem to be up in arms over MapQuest’s “new” site format and they’re not listening to the complaints, it seems: They won’t go back to their originally good format or modify/fix their new one. The recommended site is a relief from the frustration.
This doesn’t work on the Android version either. Why? Because the cursor doesn’t show up !!!
Hi Dave
This is a good tip. But doesn’t work on the phone app. Which is the way google directions are used(when out and about)
How to reroute to a specific point on the phone app google maps?
Hi Sam. I’m pretty sure you can’t reroute yourself on Google Maps on the iPhone…