What Google Maps does with several addresses
Google Maps finds a quick road from one stop to the next, following the order of your list. It does not shuffle the list to make the whole trip shorter.
This matters more than it seems. Addresses typed in a random order can send you back and forth across town, even though every single leg looks fine on its own.
The tool also caps how many stops one route can hold. If your day is long, read Add more than 10 stops in Google Maps for ways around that cap.
Steps to add several stops
- Open Google Maps and search for your first destination.
- Tap Directions and choose the driving mode.
- Open the three-dot menu beside the route fields and choose Add stop.
- Type the next address and confirm it.
- Repeat until every stop is in the list.
- Drag the stops by the handle beside each one to change the order.
- Start navigation when the order looks right.
After every change, look at the total distance and time shown. They tell you whether the new order is shorter or longer than the one before.
Order the stops yourself: habits that work
If you plan by hand, a few habits cut a lot of needless driving:
- Write the addresses in a list and group the ones that sit close together.
- Finish one area before you move to the next, instead of crossing it twice.
- Go out along one side of an area and come back along the other.
- Treat the farthest stop as a turning point, then work back toward your end.
- Check one-way streets, gated areas and narrow roads that make a near stop slow to reach.
After reordering, compare the total time with your first attempt. If it dropped, keep the new order. If not, go back and try another grouping.
Pick the start and the end first
Fix where you begin and where you must finish before ordering anything in between. A route that ends at your depot or at home is a different puzzle from one that ends at the last customer.
When the shortest route is not the right one
Distance is only one thing a driver cares about. Some stops simply cannot wait for their turn in a tidy loop:
- A customer who is only in during a set window.
- A shop that closes at 17:00.
- A heavy or fragile parcel you want to hand over first.
- A pickup that must happen before its delivery.
Place those stops where they fit, then order the rest around them. Google Maps follows your list, so build these needs in before you start driving. A slightly longer route that meets every window beats a short one with a missed door.
When manual ordering stops working
With a handful of stops, your eye and your local knowledge are enough. As the list grows, the number of possible orders grows very quickly, and it becomes hard to see a short one by eye.
Signs that it is time for another approach:
- Your list is longer than Google Maps can take in one route.
- Addresses arrive or change during the day.
- You spend more time planning than driving.
- You re-enter the same addresses again and again.
For the basics of planning an order in Google Maps, see Google Maps with multiple stops.
Let a route planner order the stops
A route planner takes your list of addresses and puts them in an optimized order before you leave. GetWay works this way: you add stops by typing, pasting, or importing a list or a file, and the app orders them into a route.
Then it hands each stop to the navigation app you already use, such as Waze, Google Maps or Apple Maps. You keep the turn-by-turn guidance you know, and you mark stops as done as the day goes.
This fits couriers and multi-drop drivers especially well. Read more in Route planner for couriers and multi-drop delivery.
You can find the app in the App Store or on Google Play.