Making a bicycling route on Google Maps is a great way to get active and spend more time on your bike. This simple guide will teach you how to create a bicycling route with Google Maps in no time. Learn to create your route and get going! Before You Start Using Google Maps on your cell phone can be different than on your computer. Using Google Maps on your cell will be more convenient, but the app offers less customizability on your route. Using your computer will allow you to modify your path by dragging and dropping. Google Maps on a computer also makes it easier to see the elevation of your path. Be Safe Before you ride, make sure you obey the rules of bike safety. Let a friend know you’re going on a ride, and wear your helmet for safety in case anything should happen. Bring some water so you can stay hydrated on your trip. Make sure that you fully charge your phone since using the map feature can draw a lot of battery power. If you use e-bikes, you’ll also want to make sure your battery is fully charged. Our mini e-bike battery works seamlessly with our e-bike conversion kits. This powerful 48-volt mini battery is perfect for all your charging needs. If you need a new battery for your e-bike, invest in one with Ebike Essentials today! Select a Destination Open your Google Maps app on your phone or computer and type in your destination of choice. If you know a good destination that’s about half of the distance you want to travel, put that destination in. Otherwise, choose just one destination along the path you’d like to travel to start. Select Your Mode of Transportation If you use your Google Maps feature for driving, you’ll want to switch your mode of transportation to biking. This will give you access to different routes and locations that the normal car feature won’t allow. You can access dedicated bike trails, streets with cycling lanes, and a variety of trails and roads that are bike friendly. If you’re accessing Google Maps on a cell phone, once you’ve selected one of your destinations and your mode of transportation, click “Directions.” If you’re using a computer, you can add stops right away. Add a Stop To add a stop on the Google Maps mobile app, simply click the three dots that will appear to the right of your destination. You can then click “Add stop” to add a new location to your route. If you’re on a computer, the “Add stop” feature should show up right away. You can add up to nine locations to your route. To modify the order the locations appear, simply click and drag each location to its correct place. Choosing Destinations When you choose your destinations, you have a lot of options. You can add scenic stops like a local park or lake to your path to spend some time in nature. Add a local sandwich shop if you want to stop for some sustenance. Consider adding stops that can make your route look less like a line and more like a circle. If you don’t know the exact locations you want to go to, you can select “Choose on map” to drop pins where you want to go, like along your favorite bike path. Just zoom in until you’re sure you have the pin in the right place and click “Okay.” The possibilities for your route are endless. Add up to nine stops to get your route perfect, and click “Done.” Adjusting Your Route Unfortunately, adjusting your route is only easily manageable on a computer. The mobile app won’t allow you to adjust your route, so if you are using your phone, you can skip this step. On your computer, you can click and drag any portion of your route to drag it to a trail or road you prefer. Click and drag until you have the route you want, and Google will recalculate your distance and elevation accordingly. Once you’ve selected the appropriate route, you can easily send the directions from your computer directly to your mobile phone. Preview Your Steps and Turns Once you’ve selected the stops for your route and clicked “Done,” you can swipe up on your phone screen between the “Steps” and “Start” buttons to preview each section of your route and its directions. If you’re working on a computer, you can simply click “Steps.” From here, you can click to the street view for each location to familiarize yourself with your route. Street View is a great tool to help you prepare for where to make your turns. Enable Voice Directions Using voice directions will read your directions aloud as you travel on your journey. Voice directions are a helpful way to get step-by-step cues for each direction in real time. Voice directions can help you be safer on the road. If you wear headphones, be sure to keep one ear open so you can be as aware of any safety risks as they arise. Keep in Mind Google catalogs new streets with shocking accuracy, but it can’t always determine when these streets are bike safe with the speed and accuracy you need. Some unmarked streets are perfectly fine to ride on your bike. Some streets on your route may be higher-speed roads, and you should avoid them when possible. Google is a great tool, but it doesn’t have every street cataloged perfectly. It’s important to double-check the streets you’re riding on to make sure they’re safe. Google Maps Isn’t Perfect Google Maps isn’t always the perfect tool for creating a bike route. Sometimes, it can select dangerous roads when they are the shortest distance between locations. It may not always choose bike paths if they’re not the shortest option from points A to B. Working on a computer is a great way to customize your route by clicking and dragging it to where you want it to be. If you are working from a mobile phone, add enough stops to your route, and you should be able to customize your path in the way you want. You can also try popular apps like Strava or Bikemap to plan and map your routes, but Google is usually up to date on all the bike paths and routes. Now that you know how to create a bicycling route with Google Maps, it’s time to get biking!
