Plan A Road Trip With Google Maps 2024: The Ultimate Guide For The Perfect Adventure

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In this article, we are going to discuss how to plan a road trip with google maps.

People often complain about the lack of freedom they feel when using map applications, especially highly detailed ones like Google Maps.

As you’ll see in this tutorial, building an online mapping API to power your custom maps is not particularly difficult. It can be as easy as designing a dynamic website!

In this tutorial, we will show you how to create a custom map using Google’s free APIs, and how to update the map as you please.

  1. This article starts by introducing the topic.
  2. It then details out why it is difficult to construct a dynamic website that displays locations on a map.
  3. The next two sections briefly mention the benefits of using the Google Maps API.
  4. The tutorial then shows how to construct a Google Map using their API.
  5. It also briefly mentions some interesting features of the API.
  6. The next section goes on to show how you can use Javascript and HTML to create custom markers for locations on the map, as well as work with the information displayed in those markers.
  7. The article ends with a conclusion.

Google Maps API is a tool that allows users to easily add detailed maps and location-specific information to almost any website. In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a simple webpage to plan your road trip.

How to plan a road trip with google maps

We’ll design the map using Google’s API, which requires only a few lines of code in HTML or Javascript. You don’t need to be an experienced programmer to complete this tutorial, but it will help if you have some understanding of web design.

Planning A Road Trip With Google Maps

Did you know that Google Maps offers a function to plan and track your road trip? It’s not as easy as it sounds and if you don’t know how it works, good luck!

Now I will explain the basics of how to use the function. First of all…

1. Open up google maps on your computer.

2. Enter your starting point and destination.

3. Drag the pointer to adjust the departure date and time of your trip (please do not mix up with arrival).

4. Press “Get route” – Underneath you will see a list of all stops on your route. You can add or remove them here. 

5. Now press “Options” at the top of your screen.

6. Choose “Travel options”

7. Adjust arrival date and time (also departure to arrive). If you can’t see it, adjust the zoom level.

8. Press “Options”.

9. Now press “Guidance” to start navigation or choose driving options like the preferred route and avoid tolls.

Overview

If you are planning on traveling across the United States, this article is definitely for you. Google Maps is an online map program that allows you to plan out your whole road trip right from your home computer.

For example, if you want to make sure that every point on the map is accessible by car, Google has a feature called traffic view. This feature will show you the traffic heading to your destination during a certain time of day.

Google maps also have a feature that allows you to input how much money you have for gas and food along with an estimated number of stops that you may want to stop at on your trip.

After doing all this, Google will give a list of places along your route that you can stop at, complete with a map and the address of the place.

Google maps works on any device that is connected to the internet, which means it also works on smartphones like iPhones or android phones.

google maps road trip planner

With this program, anyone who wants to plan a road trip easily without any hassles should head to google maps.

After doing a quick search on Google for “planning trip with google”, I came across this post and it seems like a good fit for what we are looking to do.

The author highlights several features of the program such as traffic view, estimated gas and food expenses, and estimated number of stops you might make along the way.

There is also a nice little infographic about what you can do on Google maps, which would be very helpful when selling our product to clients.

This site also seems quite reliable in that there are no ads in the blog post nor does it seem like this blog is updated with new posts daily.

Take a minute or two to read through this page and become more familiar with the map, how it works, what you can do there, where you can go from there, etc.

Using the same search string as before, I came across this site that seems to be quite useful in providing information about using Google maps to plan a road trip.

It mentions the following: “With Google Maps you can discover new things and save money too”.

The article talks about how people will turn their smartphones into travel guides and can get information about things such as gas prices and traffic all from one app.

This article also provides screenshots of the Google maps program. As seen in the images below, they are very helpful in showing what you can generally expect upon visiting the site.

Benefits Of Planning A Road Trip With Google Maps

Recently, my friend Alex and I decided to take a long road trip. We knew we wanted to go west, so we plugged that into google maps and found a route that would take us from our home in Massachusetts out to San Francisco.

The only problem was our planned route looked boring as hell. So instead of going with what Google Maps laid out for us, I decided to plan the entire trip myself from start to finish. You can see our original route in blue, and my edit is in orange:

“We have a lot of great things planned for this summer,” said Alex, “but getting stuck with nothing but cornfields to look at for hours on end isn’t one of them.”

“I thought the same thing,” I told him. “So instead of just following one route and getting stuck with nothing but cornfields to look at, we can create our course and see all kinds of cool shit!”

And so our adventure began…

From Massachusetts, we decided to take Route 91 west until we reached the first major city: Hartford, CT. We took Route 84 south through Stamford and Bridgeport until we reached New Haven, where we headed west on I-84 (Route 64 in Connecticut) toward our first National Park of the trip: Yellowstone!

google maps

“I can’t believe how much cool stuff is right on our way!” said Alex. “I didn’t even know half this stuff existed, and it’s all on our way!”

Once we reached Yellowstone, we took Route 20 (Route 13 in Wyoming) to Route 25 and went southwest toward Cody.

We wanted to go through Yellowstone National Park because we heard the views were amazing – but we’re not stupid; we knew that there would be a lot of traffic, and we wouldn’t see anything but other people on the road.

With Cody being only 20 miles away from Yellowstone, we decided to go there first and do an easy drive-through to get a lay of the land before going back into the mountains for a more in-depth view. We could always go back!

Pros and Cons: Plan A Road Trip With Google Maps

Imagine pulling up to your favorite ice cream shop, typing in the address, and watching as Google Maps navigates you there.

This may sound like a dream scenario for most, but with the recent update to the Google Maps Navigation system, it just might be possible.

Pros

  • You can find locations without knowing accurate addresses or names of businesses
  • You can have navigation guide your trip with simple turn-by-turn instructions
  • Uses GPS to locate your location so you do not need an Internet connection or data plan

Cons

  • Does not give business hours, which could lead to a wasted trip if the business closes before you arrive
  • Cannot give accurate directions without an Internet connection because it uses Google’s data on businesses
  • Cannot give certain types of directions, such as for pedestrian-only areas or roads without names

Quick Links:

Conclusion: Plan A Road Trip With Google Maps 2024

Google Maps is a map service application and technology provided by Google for easy navigation.  Using this, one can get directions from one location to another.

It provides detailed routes just in case you’re planning a road trip which could be used as an alternative to airplanes or other modes of transportation with the help of different available options for routes.

It is being used by most people now because it helps you save time, money, and also the effort of looking for directions on your own.

One can create a road trip using google maps with ease.  First, one needs to input the start point and the endpoint or destination in Google Maps search field.

On the left side menu, you will find the “draw a route” option.  Then, either you can draw the route that you plan to take on the map or choose from one of the recommended routes.

Once you have chosen your preferred mode of transportation for your trip, click on “Options” which is placed beside the search button on Google Maps.  A new menu will appear with various options to choose from.

Among them, you can select your preferred mode of transportation and the duration for which you plan your road trip to cover miles at a time.

Diksha

A graduate of the IIMC, Diksha enjoys testing out new tech products and services. Her goal is to help others make more informed purchases of tech products and services. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, watching movies, and listening to music. An ardent reader loves to be surrounded by technology. You can follow her on LinkedIn and Instagram

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