Drive by Dragging (my custom route on google maps)
July 28, 2022 6:40 PM   Subscribe

you know how you can drag a route on google maps to adjust it? How can i make the blue dot on google maps follow that specified route of my choosing when i am driving on my road trip? is there a non-google maps map that i should be using?

I also used regular google maps and dragged the route around, basically taking the Merittt Parkway to new haven, heading up on an interstate91/84, and then taking route 20 through much of mass, basically from sturgbridge to outer boston. Dragging around the route works great and shows me an estimated time, about an hour longer, Clocking in at 5h27m. but when i go to share the link there is a little alert saying that dragging won't be visible on the sent link, and opening it on the phone results in the standard 4 hour 22 minute route. (it just takes me on a default interstate heavy route, if i choose the option to avoid highways, i get a MUCH longer longer route like 9h27 mins that avoids interstates entirely)

I want to take a particular scenic route which i have mapped here using Google My Maps. i added all sorts of places that i am not stopping at to make sure it takes me over on 15, up on 91/84, and then over on 20 through massachusetts. I can't seem to pull this map up on my phone to drive with though???

TL;DR I just want to plot out a specific series of road directions, and have the turn-by-turn come up on my apple carplay. Is there any tool that does this well?
posted by wowenthusiast to Travel & Transportation (4 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Response by poster: woops the paragraphs pasted funny, but hopefully you get the idea that I tried both google methods i could think of for that same route but had no success getting either of them to start my desired route with the blue dot.
posted by wowenthusiast at 6:47 PM on July 28, 2022


If you want turn-by-turn directions for a custom-made route in the Google Maps mobile app, I think you'd have to do something similar to what you did in your example -- add multiple stops to create the exact route that you want. The Google Maps app for iOS allows up to 9 stops on a route.

To add a stop in the iOS app, after you've set the starting point and destination tap the three little dots to the right of the "starting point" field. A pop-up menu will appear with one of the options being "Add stop". Do this as many times as necessary. If you don't have addresses to use for the stops, you can choose to select points on the map. You can also rearrange the order of the stops by dragging them, just as you would in the desktop version of Google Maps.
posted by theory at 7:50 PM on July 28, 2022 [1 favorite]


Google Nav assumes you want to get there quickly so it will dynamically reroute you if it detected a slowdown ahead, but you can choose to ignore that.

If you MUST pass a certain point on your trip, add that as a part of your destinations.
posted by kschang at 12:54 AM on July 29, 2022


If you can remember which route you want to take, Google will eventually follow along, though not without some prompting for U-turns for a while. Or as suggested above you can add a destination that will cause you to take your desired route. Sometimes it only takes one carefully placed diversion to lock in the route you want.
posted by wnissen at 11:33 AM on July 29, 2022


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