Displaying Driving Directions

Google Maps does more than just display maps; it can also generate driving directions from one location to another. It's a simple matter of entering two locations, and letting Google get you from point A to point B.

Generating Turn-by-Turn Directions

To generate driving directions, follow these steps:

1.	From the Google Maps main page, click the Get Directions link in the top-right corner of the page.
2.	The top of the page now changes to include two search boxes, as shown in Figure 18.14. Enter your starting location into the left Start Address box, and your ending location into the right End Address box. Figure 18.14. Entering Start and End addresses.
3.	Click the Search button.

Google also lets you generate driving directions directly from the Google Maps search box. Just enter your first location, followed by the word to, followed by the second location. For example to drive from San Francisco International Airport to the Transamerica Building in downtown San Francisco, enter SFO to 505 sansome st, san Francisco, ca, as shown in Figure 18.15.

Figure 18.15. Generating driving directions from the search box.

You can also generate driving directions to or from any location you've previously mapped. When the location is pinpointed on the map, you see an info box like the one in Figure 18.16. To generate driving directions to or from this location, click either the To Here or From Here links. The info box now changes to include a Start Address or End Address box, as shown in Figure 18.17; enter the second address, and then click the Get Directions button.

Figure 18.16. Generating driving directions from a previously mapped location.

Figure 18.17. Entering the second address from the previously mapped location.

Following Directions

However you enter the two locations, Google now generates a page of driving instructions, as shown in Figure 18.18. The step-by-step directions are listed on the left side of the page; an overview map is displayed on the right.

Figure 18.18. Driving directions and a map of your route.

It seems pretty straight ahead so far, but there's a neat little feature hidden on this page. When you click any of the numbered steps on the left, a magnified map pops up on top of the overview map, detailing that particular step, as shown in Figure 18.19. This is a great way to see those detailed directions that are easy to misunderstand.

Figure 18.19. A pop-up map that zooms into a particular piece of your route.

In addition, you have the option of displaying a standard map (as shown in Figure 18.20), a satellite image of your route (as shown in Figure 18.21), or a hybrid map with your route overlaid on a satellite image (as shown in Figure 18.22). I prefer the hybrid map, but use whichever type of map that works best for you.

Figure 18.20. Your route displayed as a standard map.

Figure 18.21. Your route displayed as a satellite image.

Figure 18.22. Your route displayed as a hybrid map/satellite image.

Getting Back Home Again

When you're driving from point A to point B, at some time you probably want to drive back to point A again. With Google Maps you don't have to re-enter your start and end locations again (in reverse order, of course); instead, you can simply click the Reverse Directions link. This displays a new route from your original end location back to your original start location. It's a snap.

Printing Your Directions

One last thing. Google Maps' driving directions are great, but they won't do you any good if they're displayed on your home PC screen while you're on the road. To take a copy of your directions with you, just click the Print link. This makes a hard copy printout of the directions page, map and all.

Commentary: Bad Directions

I've learned from experience that Google's driving directions aren't always perfect. Sometimes they provide a longer or more circuitous route than you might prefer; sometimes they include roads that are under construction or closed; and sometimes they're just plain wrong. As an example, Google recently directed my girlfriend to turn the wrong way into a one-way streetnot an ideal route!

Google recognizes this, and provides the following caution in the Google Maps help system:

Google Maps may occasionally display incorrect locations or directions. You may also find that the icon for a location you've mapped on a satellite image is off by a house or two. Please be assured that we're continually working to improve the accuracy of this service.

Like that really helps when you've just turned into a road that isn't there. While it's good to know they admit they have occasional problems, I'd rather not have to deal with bad directions from the start.

If you're served up bad directions or a faulty map, you can let Google know about it by going to maps.google.com/support/bin/request.py. This page leads to a series of web forms that let you input your complaints and criticismsincluding specific errors you encounter. Use it, but be polite.

I've also found that Google Maps sometimes offers different routes than served up by MapQuest, Yahoo! Maps, and other competing map sites. I'm not sure why this is; perhaps the different services use different algorithms to determine the shortest or most direct route. In any case, I recommend inputting your coordinates into several map sites when you're planning a longer trip; you might find a better route than the one Google Maps provides.

Then there's the matter of what Google Maps doesn't do. In particular, Google Maps doesn't let you create multiple-stop driving directions. That is, you can only create directions for getting from point A to point B. If your trip involves going from point A to point B with a stop at point C, you're out of luck.

To be fair, most online map sites are like Google Maps in this regard; they only provide point-to-point driving directions. One exception to this is the Rand McNally travel site (www.randmcnally.com). While this site's standard driving directions are point-to-point, like Google's, if you go to the Road Trip Planner page, you can create a trip with multiple stops. So if you want to drive from Las Vegas to Los Angeles to San Francisco to Portland, Rand McNally will generate driving directions for each leg of the trip. With Google Maps, you'd have to treat each leg as a separate set of directions; I give the edge to Rand McNally (a little-known site, to be sure) in this instance.