by Michael Skinner

Created on: July 18, 2009   Last Updated: July 02, 2011

Google It

Tune your browser to www.google.com. In the upper left hand corner of the screen click on the hyperlink that says maps. Type the following in the Google Maps text box "Orlando,FL to Atlanta, GA" and push the Search Maps button. Google maps a path along I-75 North. Let's say we had friends to visit in Daytona and Jacksonville Florida. I-75 would be the wrong path for us. We want to take I-95 North instead. Hover over the map line near say Ocala Florida, click and hold the left mouse button and drag the map line over to Daytona. Notice that the driving directions and distance on the left hand side of the screen have all been updated to account for the new path. Notice that the map line, as soon as it hits I-10 around Jacksonville makes a bee line back to the remainder of the I-75 path to Atlanta.

If you change your mind you can drag the map line back to the original path. Notice that Google now lists both the I-75 path and the I-95 paths on the left hand side of the screen so that you can compare travel times of the suggested routes. The path that is not active is now a hyperlink and you can switch back and forth between the two paths so that the display will change by alternately clicking on the I-75 or I-95 hyperlinks.

If you scroll down on the left hand side you can see a button that allows you save the map you have just made so that you may recall it and review it later.

Road Map

Let's say that after visiting your relatives in Atlanta, you would like to go on a site seeing trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Tennessee. Use the map tool in the upper left hand corner of the map to change view of the map and look for points north. The tool looks like a circle with a hand in the middle and four arrows that point to the four compass directions. If you decide you want to check out Key West to the south then push on the arrow that points down/south. If you double click on Key West the map will expand that area so that you can see the details.

Just below the map view tool is another tool that looks like a slide ruler. Drag the hyphen toward the minus sign on the bottom to zoom out and look at Florida or even the United States as a whole. Drag the zoom tool hyphen toward the plus sign to zoom in and look at a street map of Orlando if you wish.

Grab The Man

At the top of the zoom tool is a icon of a little man. Grab the little man by hovering over him and clicking and holding down the left mouse button. Drag him to any point on your map path and you will see what a driver would see on that portion of the road.

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