trakki
Route planning with Google Maps: multiple stops and limits
By Manuel Ober · · 5 min read
How to plan a route with multiple stops in Google Maps
In the Google Maps app on an iPhone or an Android phone, it takes four steps:
- Find the destination. Search for your first customer or tap them on the map. Then tap “Directions” at the bottom left.
- Add the stops. At the top right, open the menu with the three dots and choose “Edit stops”. Add your other customers there.
- Drag them into order. Hold the icon with three lines (“Reorder”) next to a stop and drag it to where you want it.
- Tap “Done”. Google Maps then adds the stops to your route.
On a computer, the button in the directions panel is called “Add destination”. You can have up to nine stops, including the final destination, for driving, cycling and walking, not for public transport (Google Maps Help, retrieved 8 October 2026).
What Google Maps can do in field sales
Google Maps can do more than most people use. Three things help you in field sales.
Several stops in one route. Up to nine stops including the destination, in the order you choose.
Your own maps (Google My Maps). At mymaps.google.com you upload a spreadsheet and every address becomes a point on the map. The points can be coloured by a column, for example by customer class. That way you see your territory as a whole for the first time. What the list has to look like is in the guide Get your Excel customer list onto a map.
Setting a departure time. You can choose a date and time, and Google then factors in traffic. But that only works for routes with a single destination, not for your tour with six stops.
Where Google Maps stops
Google Maps is a navigation app, not a planning app. Five things are missing.
It does not know who is due. In field sales the question is not “how do I get to these six customers quickly” but “which six are they”. Due dates, visit cycle and last visit do not exist in Google Maps.
It calculates the drive, not the day. Time at the customer is missing, and so are the lunch break and the search for a parking space. If parking and getting in take seven minutes at each of six visits, that is 42 minutes by evening. Why that happens is in the guide Drive times in field sales.
It does not reliably know your customers' opening hours. For a restaurant Google shows them. Whether your customer's practice is closed on Wednesday afternoons is often not there. If you do not know it yourself, you drive there for nothing.
It has an upper limit. For one day that is usually enough. For an overview of a whole week it is not.
It does not rearrange anything when someone cancels. You can change the route, but the rest of the day does not sort itself out.
The point where it tips
Google Maps is enough as long as you can keep three things in your head: who you want to visit, when they have time and how long you stay. With 20 customers that works. With 300 customers on three different visit cycles it does not.
A simple test: if on Sunday evening you spend longer deciding which customers go into the week than deciding what order to drive them in, Google Maps is not helping with the bigger part of the job.
Two tools for two jobs
Many people do well when they separate planning from driving.
- Planning in a list or an app: who is due, what fits together, roughly what the day looks like.
- Driving in a map service: Google Maps, Apple Maps or Waze, with voice guidance and current traffic.
That is exactly why trakki has no navigation of its own. For driving, those services are better than a small app will ever be.
How trakki does it
trakki takes the first part and hands the second to your map service. The map shows who is overdue, due soon or still fine. The day plan calculates with road drive times, opening hours and your visit length. It does not know about rush-hour traffic. If a customer cancels, they stay due, and trakki suggests customers nearby for the free slot.
To set off, trakki opens Google Maps, Apple Maps or Waze. You choose which one in the settings. In the browser you can try trakki with sample customers. More on the home page.
Frequently asked questions
How do I plan a route with multiple stops in Google Maps?
In the app you search for the first destination, tap “Directions” and add more stops through the three-dot menu and “Edit stops”. On a computer, the button is called “Add destination”. You change the order by dragging a stop to another position.
How many stops can Google Maps plan at once?
Up to nine stops, including the destination. With the starting point that makes ten places. This applies to driving, cycling and walking, not to public transport.
Can I load my Excel customer list into Google Maps?
Yes, through Google My Maps. The list needs separate columns for street, postcode and town, and then each row becomes a point. For planning it is still only a view: My Maps does not work out due dates or the length of the day.
Is Google Maps free for field sales?
For normal use, yes, My Maps included. Costs only arise when a company builds Google's interfaces into its own software. That concerns developers, not you in the car.