google maps dillemma

[colby12cb]

heres what i'm thinking i want to be able to do is create a map online with Google maps, and be able to load it into the navigator on my phone.

basically what i'm doing is setting up a few different routes for riding on my motorcycle and i just want to be able to create a shortcut for the route on one of my homescreens.

has anyone had any experience with this?

The route's will be a round-a-bout way like travel to my destination then back home...

 

[JessiesGirl]

heres what i'm thinking i want to be able to do is create a map online with Google maps, and be able to load it into the navigator on my phone.

basically what i'm doing is setting up a few different routes for riding on my motorcycle and i just want to be able to create a shortcut for the route on one of my homescreens.

has anyone had any experience with this?

The route's will be a round-a-bout way like travel to my destination then back home...

I don't know how to do that with Google Maps, although someone else may.

There is a free app called MyTracks that will document any route that you take (as you take it) and then save it if you want it to save it.

 

[Pueo]

Colby12cb, take a look at this link Viamici - Mobile Navigation Using Paper and Ad Hoc Maps I've been in contact via e-mail and am satisfied that it will do what I need; it may not be what you're after but it opens up a lot of possibilities.

 

[Erich_F]

heres what i'm thinking i want to be able to do is create a map online with Google maps, and be able to load it into the navigator on my phone.

basically what i'm doing is setting up a few different routes for riding on my motorcycle and i just want to be able to create a shortcut for the route on one of my homescreens.

has anyone had any experience with this?

The route's will be a round-a-bout way like travel to my destination then back home...

If you install the Google MY Maps Editor, you can create and save various wayoints either on the PC or the Droid. You can also draw routes using the line editor included in My Maps. It's easier to do it ahead of time on the PC, and then save to your My Maps on Google Maps.

Below is an example, using the My Maps editor's "Draw Line Along Roads" feature. It's pretty neat and intuitive:

 

[griz8791]

So Erich, does Google Maps on your Droid load up the maps you saved from "My Maps?" Mine won't load "My Maps" and I understand from browsing around that I'm not the only one. What are you doing to get it to load up on your Droid?

 

[Erich_F]

Actually, writing about this has been a great exercise in my learning about My Maps. If desired, I might build a small Power Point or PDF about making routes in My Maps Editor and saving them. I just did it with a closed route, and it even generated the turn by turn directions. Then I saved it to My Maps, and then pulled it up as a layer on the Droid Maps...absolutely beautiful!

This thing just never ceased to amaze me.

 

[Erich_F]

So Erich, does Google Maps on your Droid load up the maps you saved from "My Maps?" Mine won't load "My Maps" and I understand from browsing around that I'm not the only one. What are you doing to get it to load up on your Droid?

YES! It pulls them up as a Layer. Open your Maps App. Tap Menu. Tap Layers. Tap More Layers at the bottom. Select MY Maps. Then, select the saved map name you wish to load. You can any number of them saved, for different purposes/destinations.

Again, I think you have to have the Google My Maps Editor app installed. When your Map is loaded, you get a few more softkeys at the bottom of your Map. At the lower left is an icon that looks like a Tablet. Tap that to get a listing of all your saved waypoints, aka "Places". If you haven't made any places yet, it will be blank. If you have saved a route like the ones I made above, the Route name will be displayed in the list as the name you gave it when you saved it in My Maps. In the case of the last route above, I see it listed as "Mobile Ops Route 1" on my Droid. I tap that, and I get the usual dialog asking what I want to do, Show on Map, Get Directions, Navigate, etc...I hit "Show on Map", and it draws the route as above on the Map on my Droid.

If you guys want, I could even make a short video of all this, if it would help.

Erich

 

[griz8791]

I can't get it to work the way you describe, Erich.

I installed Google My Maps Editor on my Droid. And I can indeed pull up in Google My Maps Editor on the Droid the one map I created and saved in My Maps last night. That map is a highway route with several intervening waypoints. What comes up in My Maps Editor is only the waypoints with a straight-line route between them, not the highway route.

And when I try to pull it up in Maps as you describe, I go to Layers > More Layers > My Maps and then it says "could not load my maps."

This whole exercise is necessary because the shortest route between my town and my firm's main office is 168 miles of 2-lane road. Yet the sort of person who programs GPS navigators and apparently also Google maps believes that the average user would rather be on the road an extra 2 hours in order to be on the interstate the whole way. Genius. I can eventually get my way by asking for an alternative route but only when I am actually moving, so I would like to store it somehow and quit worrying about being told to go 2 hours out of my way just to stay on the interstate.

 

[Erich_F]

Well, that's odd. I can't explain why you are getting the "could not load My Maps" message. I even set my Maps to private, and it still pulled it up. Try creating a new Map on My Maps with the PC and see.

Maybe your My Maps is not saving against the same account that your Gmail account is linked to? Try logging into Google with same account on your Droid and make another Map on My Maps.

 

[stevenfstein]

Loaded the map editor and it brought over the custom route I created on the PC. The problem is that I can't get the Navigator to use the custom route. If I click on the directions tab I can enter the end point but it takes me a totally different way than what I want. If I click on the route list it shows every stop and turn but once I click on the end destination again, the Navigation launches and calculates the route, ignoring what I created. One of the other forums is monitored by a developer for Android and he said that right now the Nav app cannot pull in and use the custom route.
Regards.... Steve

 

[Erich_F]

I was wondering about that. Thanks for reporting on this, as I was wondering if the Nav would do the route as drawn. Maybe something to look forward to in the future. In practice, though, you can follow along the route as you drive it. The drawn route is pretty obvious. It just takes a bit more heads down time than if just listening for voice prompts.