Google Maps Now Does Interactive Re-Routing

An anonymous reader writes "Remember how cool it was the first time you used MapQuest or Google Maps or Google Earth? You'll feel like it's the first time again, when you use interactive dragging of routes on Google Maps. Some of the folks from the development team have even whipped up a handy video to explain the concept."

Re:Nice, Yes, But It's Not Amazing

[Anonymous Coward]

Streets and Trips has been able to do this for a while now.

This was already done!

[slashgmg]

check this link http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/.
A great tool that i have been using for long time.

Re:I Almost Died. Thanks A Lot, Google

[SCHecklerX]

http://www.mapmyride.com/ [mapmyride.com] will show you elevation profiles. I use this to plan my own cycling routes.

Re:excellent feature

[Shewmaker]

I visited Santa Cruz, CA last month and discovered that Google Maps, my rental car's GPS, and every other
system evidently gives the wrong directions the the UCSC Inn. Right street, wrong end of it out in the
middle of the woods.

Re:I'd like to see

[Zonk (troll)]

Well, if you're a AAA member you can get this now. For example, I just did a 1,300 mile drive and used AAA's website to get the directions. You set the starting location and the destination and then you can add things like construction information, restaurants, hotels, gas stations, etc. You can add multiple stops, force it to take certain routes, etc. It ends up with an overview similar to what MapQuest and Google Maps do, but then it also gives around 30 pages with detailed maps of every intersection and major area, alternatives, etc. It's really nice.

This is why I don't bother with Google Maps or Mapquest any more. They're very primitive by comparison. Though, I do use Google Maps when I'm familiar with an area and am just not sure exactly where something is.

Re:I'd like to see

[OverlordQ]

However, I would like maybe to see the 3 or 4 major turns in the trip, or a close-up view of some smaller, complicated streets that don't really resolve in the map of the entire trip.

See that number beside each point . . . try clicking it.

Re:excellent feature

[jadin]

Suggest corrections. I did that (they had directions to my local airport incorrect) and they fixed it after relatively soon. I also contacted the airport itself and told them _they_ should contact google to expedite the process. Pretty sure they are actively trying to improve it based on my own experience.

Re:Another Way Cool Google Feature--Yawn

[tomstdenis]

Um, I bookmark google maps all the time. Maybe you're stupid? Cuz when you look up a location it goes in the URL bar which if you add as a bookmark will go to that location.

Sorry, but you're just stupid. All of the people I know use google maps to route trips or find places. Works just fine.

Re:Another Way Cool Google Feature--Yawn

[Anonymous Coward]

Look at the top-right of the page. See the "Saved Locations" link?

Re:Nice, Yes, But It's Not Amazing

[MillionthMonkey]

It makes too many points. You have to be really careful with your clicking and dragging behavior because it thinks every place you drag to is a destination and it isn't obvious how to delete the points in the UI once you've created them. I managed to delete one but I forgot how to get to the menu afterwards. You can delete them in the right hand search field but what a pain. It had me making a wrong turn up a street and back down the street to get out, as if I wanted to visit a friend on that street on my way to work. I tried to drag it out of there and it interpreted the drag as another desire to run back up and down this street like an idiot. I tried to drag the points back onto the main route and ended up with a rat's nest of unwanted points that looked like the path of a drunk lost in a bad neighborhood. It was pretty funny actually. I bet if this algorithm is ever used to actually route traffic and drive cars around, we're going to see a lot of people driving up and down the street like stalkers.

Re:Still ways to go...

[hawaiian717]

3. Route via streets only - no highways. Some competitors allow this.

I just noticed that Google Maps has this now. For example, here's a highway-less map with directions from Orange County Airport to Burbank Airport (note that Pacific Coast Highway isn't a highway in the sense of an access-controlled freeway, which is what you're probably trying to avoid).

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&sad dr=SNA&daddr=BUR&mra=cc&dirflg=h&sll=33.94289,-118 .091775&sspn=1.069757,1.160431&ie=UTF8&z=10&om=1 [google.com]

Re:excellent feature

[timeOday]

My experience with my Garmin GPS is that you cannot rely on precise locations - especially of addresses, though also offramps at times. The best strategy I've found is to get the basic route (such as "now head east on US 89") from the GPS, but then use the signs on the road to do that, rather than looking too closely at the GPS.