How to Measure Distances, Surfaces and Routes in Google Maps

Google Maps is one of those programs that has a lot of cool features and is constantly improving as it receives regular updates.

Usually this application is used to tell us where we need to go when we go somewhere on foot or by car.

There is no doubt that for this task it is one of the best applications on the market at present, not only because of its ability to show us the way, but also because of the way it does it.

But in addition to this facet, it has other less used and more unknown features that give it extremely interesting possibilities.

Although few people know about it, with this application you can measure distances, both in the version for phones with the Android operating system and for phones with IOS. But this is not only limited to smartphones, as this type of measurement can also be done on the web version of Google Maps.

We will see how we can measure straight lines, curves, and even areas thanks to this application of the great G.

Measurement via web browser

As we mentioned above, we can use a web browser so that Google Maps can measure different types of distances.

The steps we have to follow are the following:

• We open cards in our browser favorite site.
• If we do right click at the starting point we will see how they appear multiple choice.
• Of all of them we must choose measure distance.
• Now we are celebrating Destination by clicking anywhere on the map.
• The distance is measured in a straight line, and the total value is displayed at the destination and in a pop-up window. We can move the start and end points at will by simply clicking on any of them and then dragging them to a new position.

We’ll also be able to double-click and drag anywhere between the start and end of the line to draw more complex paths.

It might help us make more realistic trajectories maintaining accuracy but taking them on courses that would be more realistic. Obviously the total distance is adjusted automatically and you can also see the distance between the selected points.

If we have confused the point, we just need to remove it, the action that is performed pressing on a certain pointwhich will make it disappear, automatically joining the previous and next.

In order to get it to tell you the road distance between two points, it must be done the way we used it when we are driving, i.e. says origin and destinationso that the system calculates, even providing us with graphics similar to those found in Google Earth.

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Measurements in the application for Android and iOS

We are talking about the same measurement system that we used in the previous case, but with some differences caused mainly by the different input method in this type of device, since we are talking about touch screens and not a mouse cursor, as we saw earlier. .

Either way, it’s easier than you might have imagined at first, as you only need to follow these steps in the Google app:

• Opening Google Maps on our Android device or iPhone.
• We touch and hold home location until a red marker appears. Now we will see a popup at the bottom of the screen.
• Now we’ll slide this popup to see more options appear.
• Press measure distance.
• We will see how he red marker is replaced by a white dot surrounded by a cross.
• We click and drag anywhere on the screen to move crosshair to destination. The total distance between the points will appear in the lower left corner of the screen.
• If we want to make a more difficult route, we must touch the blue + button at each turn to set a new waypoint. Obviously, the distance adapts to all these changes.

As you’ll see on the mobile version, you can’t drag an existing line or point you’ve added to the map, which forces you to track your route as you go with the + button.

We will be able to delete the point by clicking on the cancel arrow in the upper right corner of the screen.

Measure area on Google Maps

We have seen that the calculation of distances in Google Maps It’s very simple, but this program will also allow us to measure the area of ​​a location in both square meters and square feet, even seeing it in the same way as in Google Earth.

If you’re wondering what this app add-on is Googleyou only have to think that in this way we can find out the approximate size of the property that is displayed in the application, which will save us what it would cost to hire a professional to measure it.

To perform this type of measurement, you need to do the following:

• Opening the Google Maps website in computer.
• We do right click start point and select Measure distance.
• Add points around the border of the property to close the shape by clicking the start point.
• The Google Maps area calculator will then automatically process the values ​​in the way we created.
• the total area and distance will appear in the box at the bottom from our screen.

You should know that once we have closed the figure, it can be dragged again to another location if we make a mistakecausing an automatic change in the area calculation.

As you may have read, there are several ways to calculate distance and area in Google Maps, two abilities that many people don’t know about, but which could be extremely interesting if we ever need them.

This kind of versatility is one of the big advantages of this application from the Mountain View company, as the number of options that Google Maps gives us is far greater than any of the applications currently in existence to compete with it.