Google Maps directions
Get directions and use the Google Maps route planner suitable for: driving, cycling, public transport & more.
Search and get the fastest or shortest directions
Planning your trip in or to the USA, Europe and more? Find local businesses, view maps and get directions in Google Maps.
Worldwide
Real-time navigation in over 220 countries and territories.
Reliable
Most complete for both free off- and online navigation.
Traffic information
Up-to-date overview of traffic jams and road works.
Google Maps US Map
Use the Google Maps route finder & journey planner to search and get the fastest or shortest directions to your destination. Enter multiple addresses to create stopovers in your travel plan.
Save important places or routes? Create and share your own maps including photos and driving routes with the free Google My Maps service.
Google Maps driving directions
Did you already know that Google Maps was developed by a small Australian start-up that sold this mapping service to Google in 2004? After launching the platform in the United States and Canada, several countries in Europe followed in April 2006.
Meanwhile, this online mapping service can be used on almost every cell phone, tablet and desktop. By using satellite images, aerial photography and 360° panoramic images, Google Maps can show almost any place on earth. For example, you can see from behind your screen what parks and streets can be seen in Los Angeles, Tokyo or Cape Town.
The possibilities of Google Maps
If you want to travel from one location to another, you can use Google Maps to create a route. You can enter all the addresses where you want to stop along the way and the program will show you several routes. Often you can choose the fastest or shortest route.
The journey planner or driving directions that you map out for your car, bike or public transport becomes even more interesting because you will also see on the way whether you will encounter toll roads, where there are restaurants and where you can park at the destination. With Google Maps directions you can safely travel to your destination hassle-free.
How to use Google Maps?
By connecting all the information from the search engine and other applications, Google can offer you a very complete route planner. Even so comprehensive that Google Maps has a Street View feature to offer you. These are 360-degree shots of roads and cities taken with special camera cars. So you can easily check before departure or upon arrival whether you have arrived at the right place.
Like any route planner, Google Maps has a menu for your route where you can enter the places of departure and arrival. Additional information about hotels, stores and other facilities in the place you are looking for are easy to click.
If you like to use a personalized custom map, Google My Maps gives you the option to do so. You can add points and amenities that are important to you and even include shapes on such a map. Photos and videos can also be added.
How much data does Google Maps use?
Google Maps is free to use as a platform, and you don’t have to pay a membership fee either if you create an account. So what are the costs of navigating with Google Maps?
You will have to pay for the MB that Google Maps uses to download the maps. Depending on where you are, a map of a busy city with many roads will cost more MB than one of a small village with only a few streets.
On average, Google Maps uses about 35 MB to show your route. It depends on your provider how much you pay per MB and whether or not you are abroad. Even there, creating a route with Google Maps is easy to do.
Most popular route planner
Google Maps is now such a big player in the field of free travel planners, route planning software and road maps that many other apps use Google’s technology as the basis for their own mapping software.
With many ground-breaking and innovative features, such as Street View, Google Maps is a real powerhouse and an invaluable resource for millions of people around the world.