Once you are happy with the route shown on the map you will need to copy the written directions.

Therefore, if you have a long route or it is particularly complex you may have to break it into parts and save each one separately. Please note that there is a limit to the number of drag points you can use on any single route. It may be that you will have to repeat this process several times at different points along the route in order to get your ideal route. (Essential you are telling Google Maps that the route MUST go to the point where the white circle is.) Drag the circle around until you are happy with the route then release the mouse button to drop the circle.

If you hover the circle at any point on the map, after a couple of seconds you will see that the route line changes to show you what the route would look like if you were to drop the circle there. If you grab the circle (by left clicking and holding the button down) you can drag it around the map. If you hover your mouse cursor over the route line you will note that a small white circle appears with the words ‘Drag to change route’ (see Route Creation Two above). With a bit of practice this is very easy. It is likely that you will want to make some adjustments to the route though. You should now have a route with the correct start and finish points and a close match to your preferred route between them. Now repeat the above process to adjust the finish position. Zoom out on the map using the mouse roller or the zoom scroll bar on the screen until you can see the finish ‘B’ flag. In the example diagrams below, Route Creation Two shows a route from Plymouth to Ivybridge NOT avoiding highways (and in miles) whereas Route Creation Three depicts the suggested route avoiding highways (and in km). The latter can be very useful if you do not want to cycle on any major roads. Here you can select whether your route is shown in miles or kilometres and you can choose to avoid highways. You can now Click on the ‘show options’ link near the ‘Get Directions’ button. A suggested route will appear within a couple of seconds, depending on the speed of your computer. The more precise you can be the less fiddling you will have later. Type in your starting location in box A and your destination location in box B (see Route Creation Two). On the next screen click on ‘Get Directions. The first step is to open your web browser and go to Once the site has opened click on the ‘Maps’ link (see Route Creation One).

Create a custom map google maps