How to Create a Route On Google Maps: Step-by-Step Guide for Desktop & Mobile

From creating a route plan to getting navigation instructions, Google Maps is all you need when you are on the go. If you are a business owner or delivery driver, you may need Google Maps on a regular basis to sort out route planning chaos. 

Travelers and delivery drivers usually use the popular navigation app to get step-by-step driving instructions to reach the destination.

It doesn’t matter if you are a first-time user or have less experience in accessing Google Maps, leave things up to us as we bring a guide for all users.

But is it really easy to build custom routes, or will it be a time-consuming task? Let’s understand how to create a route on Google Maps.

Route Mapping With Google Maps

Google Maps is the most preferred navigation app to create custom routes. But, at the same time, you need to deal with its certain limitations. Organizing a route plan is completely fine if you are a traveler. Whereas, in case you are using it for a multi-stop delivery business, you should look out for other suitable options. 

The Google Maps route planner is not made for multiple delivery operations because;

• It allows limited additional stops,
• No option to optimize a route plan,
• It doesn’t have electronic proof of delivery (ePOD) feature,
• No records of past deliveries,
• Drivers have no idea of dispatch status.

Moving forward, let’s find out how to generate a custom map via Google Maps.

How to Create A Google Map on a Web Browser?

Step 1: Open Google Maps in a web Browser

To start creating a map, open a new google maps window in a desktop browser and go to your places > maps. Then, click “create map” button to get an untitled map. At this point, you will get the option to open a Google My Maps in a new tab or automatically be redirected to My Maps.

Step 2: Add New Layer

As soon as you tap on the “create map” button, it will ask you to add new directions layer. At the same time, you can rename the layer by giving it a new name. Also, during this process, you can edit the layer, apply a different color code or add new location markers.

Step 3: Generating Route Plan

At this stage, you need to enter the start and endpoint so that it can quickly find the best routes. Then, if required you can include additional stops one by one. Google Maps also allows you to directly import CSV file to fetch stops details.

Step 4: Customize Routes

When you explore a new route plan, you can also customize it by rearranging stops as per requirements. Here, even you can edit or delete additional stops and change their name of them. Later, double-check the routes if you have added all the stops or not. It allows you to make changes in the routes at any point.

Step 5: Download Map on Phone

Reviewing the map, download the map on your smartphone by following these steps.

• Access Google Maps App,
• Sign in with your account,
• Go to the options menu & select ‘more’,
• Then, select MAPS to get a custom map,
• Get your pre-generated route map.

To do so, Even you get offline Google Maps if you have maps.me app installed on your device. It will allow you to access routes.

Step 6: Share The Route Plan

Now you’re ready to navigate! Just click the share icon to send the entire route plan to your friends or travel partners. Sharing access to the route map means that your partners won’t spend time searching routes. Instead, they can simply follow the pre-planned routes.

How to Find Customize Routes on Google Maps Mobile App?

In this section, we will cover how users can plan their routes using Google Maps app. So, let’s understand it by following the steps given below.

Step 1: Download the Google Maps Route Planner App

The first step is to go and download the app. The Google route planner app is free for both platforms.

Step 2: Open the App

Open up the app. You’ll see this screen.

Step 3: Click the Directions Button

On the lower right corner, there is a blue button. This button starts the process of adding multiple locations. So go ahead and click it!

If this is the case, go ahead and tap the car icon, and you’ll see the image below.

Step 4: (Optional step) Select “car” Icon

We assume users will plan a route by car or truck. Therefore, if you have another option selected, such as the bus in the example below.

Step 5: Add Starting and Destination Address

Now it’s time to start planning. One thing to note is that the app will begin with your current location as a default starting location. If this is not the location you wish to start your route, then go ahead and change that one. If not, you can go ahead and modify your destination.

The first step is to tap the address you wish to add. You can do this in two ways:

1 – Search bar

The search bar allows you to type in your destination. As you can see in the example below, Google has predictive text and will give you suggestions based on your geolocation and search history. When you see your address, select it!

2 – Select from recent addresses

An alternate way to add is to select it from the recent addresses. So, for example, if you’ve recently used one of the destination addresses, you have an option to choose it from the recent list.

Step 6: Add Multiple Stops

If you want to add multiple locations, you need to select the three-line menu in the top right. Go ahead and tap it.

Once you do, you’ll see a dropdown menu appear that gives you a few options. The option you want to select is “Add Stop.”

Go ahead and tap “add stop.”

Step 7: Add More Stops

Once you’ve selected “add stop,” go ahead and choose a new address using the same process as in step 5. Once you’ve added this, you can continue adding more. As you can see below, the maximum number of stops is 10.

Step 8: Reorganize Your Route

Once you have added all your destinations, you can reorganize their order. To do so, simply select the three lines on the right-hand side of the stop.

Once you do this, you’ll see that you’ll be able to drag and drop the locations into the preferred order.

Step 9: Tap “Done”

Since you’re done with the mapping routes, simply tap “done,” and the app will take you to the navigation screen. 

Note: This method works for both android users as well as iPhone users.

Can You Customize Routes on Google Maps?

Google Maps allows users to add a custom marker, lines, and shapes in the generated Google map. Here is what you can edit after generating a custom map.

1. The user can include additional stops on routes by adding location makers. For that, select the ‘Add layer’ button from the pop-up displayed in the upper left corner.
2. Now, mention a new address in the pop-up window box and hit the ‘save’ button to confirm the pin name.
3. Since the new location is added to your route plan, you can change the font, icon, or even add photos/videos to it.
4. Also, you can place a line or shape by tapping on the ‘drawing’ icon. Then, select ‘add line or shape’ from the pull-down menu.
5. Then, select the location which you want to customize and drag it to another pin location. Double-tap outside it to save changes.

The moment you are done with the editing part, it will store the map in the Google drive. Therefore, it would be easier to access it from a mobile device.

Conclusion: Creating a Custom Route on Google Maps

Following the detailed study of how to create custom routes on Google Maps, now you would find it easier to customize the routes on a Google Map. These steps will help you create routes on desktop or mobile and later, you can customize them as per your requirements.  

While using Google tools, you must keep in mind that you can only add limited stops to the routes. So, if you are into the delivery business and want to add more stops, you should get the delivery route planner to utilize more features.

If you are unsure how a delivery route planner is feature-rich in comparison to Google Maps, Book a demo at Upper and try route optimization by yourself.