Hi there,
I’ve been trying to reliably create multi stop routes for touring on a pc or iPad then send them to my phone for use in car.
The obvious choice is Google maps … which does allow that functionality. You can even share it to friends so you can follow the same route.
Couple of big restrictions though I’ve found is that you can’t really save the map for later use or modification ?
The other is that if you modify the route by dragging a proposed road in a preferred direction, then the route sent to the phone reverts back to the default route based solely on your designated stops. Again less than ideal !
Waze is only single stop , so that’s no good. And Apple Maps was worse than google !
In short I want to build up a bank of driving routes , share them to friends, send them to my phone and be able to modify them later.
Any suggestions ? Is there another app… or do I get the old AA Road atlas out ? Assuming I can find a place for it in my ND !!
Don’t know about the on-line Apps but my standalone Garmin will do just that and will save the route to the SD card. Not sure if that can be saved to another application, I think that there was a web site, possibly in the USA ,which I can no longer find thqt enabled you do do exactly what you are looking for using POI data and also enabled saving in a number of different formats but probably not for Goole Maps or Waze althoug it may have been updated…
Just wondering if something like Strava would do what you want although I don’t think it can be used as a sat nav. Maybe someone else can clarify?
Your plan to use Google maps as a route planner is exaclty what i do and it works brilliantly.
I create the route on my phone, plotting the route using “add destination points”. When the planned route changes along a route I do not want to use I add another destination point in a location that I want to route to pass through.
You can change the order of the destination points as required.
Once happy with the route I then save it to my phones home screen.
When I click on the route from the home screen the complete planned route appears.
Press start and away you go. If you have Android Auto, you get the route on the car screen.
As you follow the route you reach a destination point and then just click “continue to next destination” and so on.
The only draw back I have found is when you stop for a coffee or whatever, when you restart the route, it takes you back to the beginning. My resolve then is to just delete the destination points I have already passed through.
discussed this at the rally at the weekend! Whilst most apps and sat navs you can used waypoints I don’t know of anything that will fix a route to a specific road and route. Every system seems to have some level of dynamic rerouting once in use. Google maps I suspect may have a restriction on number of way points, and whilst I have been quite successful using my old Garmin to plan a fixed route using multiple way points if you get one of those slightly out at say at critical junction, and when you get near you don’t actually drive through it then you have to go on a tell it to skip to get to the next point
So what we all need is something where you can draw a line on a map which snaps to roads, that can then be saved as that exact route, without having to mess about with way points and the risk of some sort of diversion by the sat nav between those way points.
And it has to be easy to use as well! there are some things you can use on a PC, garmin basecamp, being one I think I have tried but have found them really clunky to use, and have given up, and I still think its way point based.
“if you get one of those slightly out at say at critical junction, and when you get near you don’t actually drive through it then you have to go on a tell it to skip to get to the next point”
That happens with Google maps too, e.g. selecting a way point on the wrong side of a dual carriageway.
Thanks for everyone’s replies … at least I now know I’m using Google maps to the best of its abilities even though it falls tantalising short in a few areas. But it’s brilliant in others so will stick with it. The lack of ability to to save routes etc. must be a commercial restriction, because it would probably be simple to implement. I also think the iOS apple version has a few less options than the native android version (I wonder why !) So I’ll give some of the tips above a go for next weekends run and report back …
Indeed that’s a good tool (Google maps/ my maps) to plan a route on a pc, but unless I’m mistaken it does not enable “send to phone” which is kind of ridiculous!.. but I’d love to be proved wrong…
I think you’re right, but I haven’t played with it enough to give tips. I have just done some route maps with it but you’d need a road atlas/satnav to complement them for navigation.
We shall be driving to Italy again soon and we will have an actual road atlas with us! Long distance navigation, when you want to use specific routes and you might have to adapt them due to traffic/road closures etc., takes a bit more effort, not to say persistence, than shorter trips especially when there is an alp in the way.
For sat nav I tend to use Google maps on the phone. I use the MX-5’s MZD to display a map ‘north up’ to get at a glance where we are and what direction we are going in. If that combination doesn’t work, then my boon companion has to look at the atlas and we really are in trouble.
We are spoilt, is the truth. Having a map, on a screen, that also shows me exactly where I am, still seems miraculous to me.
One big tip for google maps - once you know where you are going, and before you set off, download all the map areas you need for offline use.
google’s “my maps” is a pretty good resource for planning trips, as you can save maps with locations, routes etc, and then share those maps with others. I’ve used it to for European trips to pre-plan as well as record all the places across the continent we’ve visited and driven. You can then view those maps overlaid into google maps app on your phone, but so far as I know you can’t use those as active navigation but I am wondering of you can add a route on “my maps” which comes up as a blue line, and then view that blue line on your phone. It won’t give you directions but it would be possible to just follow the line. I need to experiment a bit with that!
When using Google maps on a PC, I always see the option to Send directions to your phone:
If I click the Email option, an email arrives in my Inbox which I can label and store away.
Opening the email later and clicking the link opens up Google Maps with the route stops loaded. I can then change the order, add/remove stops on the phone or PC.
If on a PC, I can also drag the route and then send the modified route once again to my email etc.
Is this not what you are after?
Yes indeed you can send a route to your phone from the pc Google maps HOWEVER, if have modified that route in anyway (like changing a road by drag/drop) the phone then receives the original version as defined by the stops/way points … all the modifications are dropped. So I guess the the solution is to define the route by waypoints only … it’s probably workable if you work with that restriction…
Being a big fan of routes less well travelled I often use Waze and Google with the route avoiding Motorway / Highway enabled.
Last year I mapped out a west coast route from Lands End to John O’Groats in G Map and was, as like others, disappointed to find there was no way to transfer it to my phone.
Best I could do was enter several weigh points and then take unplanned detours whenever an interesting looking one presented itself.
Has anyone tried 3 words, we keep being threatened with that for work but the introduction date keeps being put back.
What3Words is absolutely brilliant for locating a precise point, but not - AFAIK - for multiple-waypoint route planning. I have used it extensively and it is the best for finding a defined location.
What was wrong with a good old fashioned 6 digit Ordanace Survey map referance? This new fangled system seems to be just ‘marketing fluff’ to promote something we don’t actually need.
Old age brings problems!!!
That would be my preferred method too , but occasionally without the luxury of someone in the passenger seat to navigate it makes for a long journey with stops to check the map en route. In that scenario satnav is a god send, with a map as backup …
