Ultimate Google Maps Guide For Beginners in 2024

Google Maps is one of the most popular services offered by Google that is used by millions of people daily. 

Many people use Google maps  for a variety of reasons, including:

1. Getting Directions
2. Planning Journeys
3. Searching Addresses

In this article, we will be showing you how to get the most out of Google Maps by shedding light on some features that you may not be aware of.

How to Drop Multiple Pins on Google Maps?

Google Maps allows users to mark more than one location on the map, this is done through a list of locations.

To drop multiple pins on Google Maps (or mark multiple locations) at the same time, please follow the below steps:

1. Log in to your Google account and go to Maps
2. Click on the “menu” button (3 horizontal lines) on the top left part of the screen
3. Go to “Your places”

“Your Places” Section

4. Create a new list by clicking on the “New list” button
5. Name your new list (For example, “My Favorite Places”)
6. Click on “Edit list” next to the newly created list

LISTS Section

7. Click on “ADD A PLACE”, and type in the place name to add it to your list
8. You can choose to show or hide the locations on the list by pressing the “Show on your map” or “Hide in your map” option next to the list name

Add A Place

Once you add a location to your list, it will automatically be displayed on the map. Furthermore, you can create multiple lists with different locations depending on why or what you need to mark multiple locations for.

How Many Stops Can You Add to Google Maps?

One of the most used features of Google Maps is to get directions to and from any location on the map. However, what most people don’t know is that you can add more than one stop to get directions. For example, you can get the direction for a journey that has multiple stops or locations.

In total, you can add 9 stops for a journey on the map.

To add more than one stop on Google Maps please follow the below steps:

1. Log in to your Google account and go to Maps
2. Right-click your starting point on the map and click on “Directions from here”
   1. Alternatively, you can click on the “Directions” button to bring up the directions panel, and then select your starting point

Direction Button

3. A panel will appear on the left-hand side showing your starting location
4. To choose your second location you can either:
   1. Click on the map
   2. Type the address in the search bar
5. Once you have added the second location, another option (“Add destination”) will appear, click on this to add a third location

Add Multiple Stops 

6. Repeat steps 4 to 5 to add more locations

With the above steps, you can add multiple locations on Google Maps, and get directions to each location in order of how the locations are numbered.

How to Plot Multiple Points on Google Maps

Users are also able to plot multiple points on Google Maps to measure the distance between each point.

To plot multiple points, please follow the below steps:

1. Log in to your Google account and go to Maps
2. Right-click your starting point on the map and click on “Measure direction” to mark the first point

Measure Distance

3. Click on other locations on the map to place a point and measure the distance between each subsequent point

Measured Distance Between Six Points

With this feature, you can measure the distance between two, or more points, which can be useful if you are planning a long trip.

How to Display Multiple Locations on Google Maps

To display multiple locations on Google’s map, you will need to create a list of places and select the option to display all your locations on the map.

Please refer to the “How to Drop Multiple Pins on Google Maps” section in this article to learn how to create a list of places.

Once the list of places is created, simply click on the list to display all the locations in that list on the map.

How to Mark Multiple Locations on Google Maps

Google Maps allows users to mark more than one location on the map, this is done through a list of locations.

To mark multiple locations, please follow the below steps:

1. Log in to your Google account and go to Google’s map
2. Click on the “menu” button (3 horizontal lines) on the top left part of the screen
3. Go to “Your places”

“Your Places” Section

4. Create a new list by clicking on the “New list” button
5. Create a new list (For example, “Places to go”)
6. Click on “Edit list” next to the newly created list

LISTS Section

7. Click on “ADD A PLACE”, and type in the place name to add it to your list
8. Once locations have been added, click on the list title to display all the locations in that list
9. You can choose to show or hide the locations on the list by pressing the “Show on your map” or “Hide in your map” option next to the list name

Add A Place

Once you add a location to your list, it will automatically be displayed on Google Maps. Furthermore, you can create multiple lists with different locations depending on why or what you need to mark multiple locations for.

Place Markers on Google Maps

To place a single marker on the map, please follow the below instructions:

1. Firstly, log in to your Google account and go to Maps
2. Right-click on the maps, and choose “ What’s here”

Place a Marker

A single marker will appear when you click on the map.

How to Create Your Own Google Map with Multiple Locations

To create your own personal Google map with multiple locations with your own choice of multiple locations, please follow the below steps:

1. Log in to your Google account and go to Google’s map
2. Click on the “menu” button (3 horizontal lines) on the top left part of the screen
3. Go to “Your places”
4. Go to “MAPS”, and click on “CREATE MAP”

MAPS Section

5. Click on “Add Layer” to add a new layer to the map 
6. Name your new map, and add places by importing a CSV, Spreadsheet, or KML file

Add Locations to your Map

Once you are done your newly created map will be available in the “MAPS” tab in “Your places”. Furthermore, you can even share the map by using the “Share” button

Advanced Google Maps

Google Maps has many useful features in its base form. However, if you need more features, you can install the Advanced Google Maps plugin for WordPress.

Advanced Google Maps is a plugin for WordPress that allows you to do the following on:

1. Create and display locations on the map
2. Filter Locations
3. Create beautiful listings 
4. Create beautiful info windows
5. Draw interactive shapes
6. Display marker clusters
7. Add multiple maps of your website
8. Customize map display
9. And much more

With Advanced Google Maps you will be able to take the functions of Google’s map to the next level.

Final Words

That concludes our guide to some of the lesser-known, yet useful, features of Google Maps.

We hope that this article helps you to use this application more effectively and efficiently.