How to Make an Alternate Route in Google Maps
The first method involves making your own route:
How to Choose One of Google Maps’ Suggested Routes
If you’d rather use one of the routes suggested by Google, follow these steps: The estimated drive time and distance change as you adjust the route, which is helpful if you’re trying to stay within a certain time frame. Monitor these changes as you make an alternative route and adjust your plan accordingly. This is a powerful tool for adjusting a Google Maps route, but it’s easy to overdo it. If you find that you’ve changed your route too much or have paths going ways you didn’t intend, use the back arrow in the browser to undo the damage or restart with a new Google Maps page. Google Maps changes the highlight color to blue to show that it’s now the new preferred route, without removing the other possible routes.
How to Add Multiple Destinations to a Route
Another way to plan an alternate route on Google Maps is to add multiple destinations to a suggested route. Fine-tuning the routes that Google Maps offers is possible through the Options button in the route panel. Use it to avoid highways, tolls, and ferries. Depending on the route you choose, it may experience heavy traffic or delays, in which case you can select an alternate route to reach your destination faster. Turn on live traffic indicators in Google Maps with the three-lined stacked menu at the upper-left corner of the page. If you’re using the mobile app, change the route options using the menu in the upper-right corner of the app. Toggling live traffic on and off is available through the layers button hovering over the map.
Google Maps on Mobile Devices
Selecting an alternate route on mobile devices works the same way as it does on a computer, only instead of clicking the alternate route, you tap it to highlight it. However, you can’t click and drag on a route to edit it on a mobile device. If you need to add a destination, tap the menu button at the top of the screen and choose Add stop. Arranging the route order works by dragging stops up and down on the list. Another minor difference between the mobile app and web version is that alternate routes only show the time to get there should you accept that route. You can’t see the distance until you tap the route.
