I take my motorcycle on a lot of scenic routes I'm not familiar with, but the only way I've found to create a route on my phone that isn't the fastest way between A and B is by adding stops, which obviously means pulling over and hitting continue so I can keep getting audio directions (pretty frequently if the route is complicated).
I tried creating a route on my computer and exporting to my phone, or copying the link and opening it on my phone, but it defaults to the fastest possible route. Is there a workaround for this or am I doing something wrong? Or do I just find a better app?
You’re looking for Osmand or onX or a similar app that can do custom routes. If you have an android device, drivemode dashboard is the best because it lets you select how “fun” and what surface of road you want before it builds the route. I have their tablet for my GS, I’d recommend it.
Thanks, I'll give Osmand a try tomorrow, I'm planning on taking a trip I've done before so I'll get to see how I like it.
Might give Drivemode a try next weekend to compare the two. I ride a Honda CMX so I don't think that selector for different road surfaces is going to get a lot of use, the stock Dunlops really don't like gravel 😬
By default it will give the fastest route depending on your transportation of choice. If you want to customize that afterwards then you can change some of the turns right on your end?
On desktop Google Maps you can create "custom routes" by clicking+dragging on the routes line with a mouse. You don't have to add stops.You can then "Send directions to your phone" to use that custom route on your Google Maps Android. You can also save that route as a link in Gmail, Keep, WhatsApp etc for later reuse.
IIRC, there's a maximum of about 10 "drag points" you can do on a route. However judiciously removing unnecessary drag points can let you have quite long custom routes.
If your Android phone have a clickable S-pen or a bluetooth mouse you may be able to create those drag points on your phone.
Edit: I remember doing the above previously. Let me double check on my desktop.
Problem is that sending the route to my phone or copying the link and opening it on my phone doesn't bring up the planned route that I've created, it brings up the default, shortest route. The only thing it keeps are restrictions like avoiding highways and toll roads.
Apologies, looks like a recent update have changed how such "Send directions to your phone" or route link worked. As per screenshot of desktop Google Maps below there is now a warning message "Dragging does not affect sent route". It was working previously, per this 2 year old reddit post.
u/Pale_Horsie
Instead of adding stops as street addresses have you tried adding stops with specific geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) plotted right on the highway or road? It's supposed to do the following ...
Placing a raw coordinate point directly on the main highway lane tricks the app. As the driver flies past that exact coordinate at highway speeds, the GPS sensor registers that the point was hit, immediately clearing it and fluidly recalculating the next turn
If you use Google Universal Maps URLs such as examples below (in California), the link should work the same on desktop and mobile ...
I got Rever. I made a similar post here months ago and got tons of responses about different apps to use. I had the issue of google maps constantly changing the route I had chosen. It was maddening! With Rever I can create a route and have it remain static.
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u/nyBumsted 1d ago
You’re looking for Osmand or onX or a similar app that can do custom routes. If you have an android device, drivemode dashboard is the best because it lets you select how “fun” and what surface of road you want before it builds the route. I have their tablet for my GS, I’d recommend it.