No matter how hard I try, I’m just not a natural with directions. I so admire those of you with a sixth sense about knowing where something is. And ever since Google maps came into my life, it seems as though my sense of direction has completely left my brain.
I’m so reliant on GPS that I decided to do a little research to find out if there is a way to use Google maps when traveling abroad without a phone signal. And by golly, I think I found a FREE way to do it!:)
The first part of this post is a tutorial on how to create a custom Google map/itinerary. I don’t think creating one of these maps is overly intuitive, so I thought it’d be helpful to do a step-by-step post with all the details. The second part of this post is how to use it offline.
I hope I don’t bore you too much today, but this is definitely something you can bookmark to come back to when you’re planning your future trips!
Let’s get started, shall we?!
Creating a Google Maps Itinerary
Step 1
On your computer (not your phone), go to google.com/mymaps and select “create a new map.”
Step 2
Type your destination in the search box.
Step 3
I like to enter my home base first, usually my hotel or work location. Once you type in your location you will see a green pin appear on the screen. Click on it and select “add to map.” If you’ve successfully added it, the location will appear on the left side of the map and the pin will turn red.
Step 4
Add your other destinations (restaurants, coffee shops, monuments, parks, museums, shopping, etc.) using the instructions in step 3. If you’re super anal organized, you may want to make a different map for each day of travel.
*This step is helpful when planning your trip as it creates a nice visual to decide what activities to do each day based on their proximity to each other.
Step 5
Once all of your destinations are entered, you can have fun getting a little nerdy with the map! You can color code the destinations so your map is organized and easy to decipher. If you hover over each destination listed on the left side a paint bucket will appear. Click on it to find lots of options to change the color or the icon type. You can select a bed icon for your hotel, a purse for shopping, a fork and knife for restaurants, etc.
Step 6
If you click on the destination a grey box will appear with the address and phone number. In the bottom right corner is a pencil icon. If you click on that you can make notes for yourself or even add a picture of the destination. If you decide to make notes you can view the information in list form by clicking the three vertical dots in the grey row (see picture above) and select “open data table.” You can edit your notes in this view as well.
Step 7
To get directions from one destination to the next, hold your shift key down and click on the starting pin and then on the ending pin. Once both pins are selected, click on the add direction icon (It’s near the top and looks like an arrow going in two different directions).
Step 9
Once you’re done adding destinations, save and bookmark your map so it’s easy to pull up later. If you are traveling with others you can share the map through email (click on the share button that looks like a person with a plus sign).
How to use this offline
The custom Google map is great when you’re traveling local and have a phone signal, but it isn’t overly helpful if you’re abroad and traveling offline.
After doing a little online research I learned about a “new” to me app called Maps.ME. The app is FREE and seems to be pretty awesome! I haven’t actually used it on a trip yet, but I’ve tried it out offline and everything seems to work great.
Here’s what you need to do to use your custom Google Map offline:
This Post Has 60 Comments
Emily
4 Aug 2015Wow I absolutely LOVE this post. It’s super helpful!! I do a lot of international travels and I often add on a data plan so that I’m able to use Google Map. Most of the time I run out of data right away, so having this offline option will save me lots of money!! I love how organize you can get with it too. THANK YOU FOR SHARING!!!
xoxo Emily
http://www.ditchtheheels.com
Traveling Chic
5 Aug 2015Thanks, Emily!! I know it’s a bit of a dense post, but glad it was helpful! Agreed about the phone data – they really get you when it’s overseas!
Karen
27 Aug 2015Wow you saved me from a gigantic headache – I had been researching our trip to Iceland for 7 months, pinning things to a personal google “my map” – only to find now that it is 2 weeks away that it doesn’t offer any way to download or print it?!? I’ve been searching the support page and group without luck, I’m SOOO thankful I found your page, thank you for sharing!!
Traveling Chic
28 Aug 2015Hi Karen! You’re welcome! Have fun in Iceland! Also – your profile pic is adorable! I have a Berner too! Xo
Betty Feregrino Guerra
22 Sep 2015this is just ah-mah-zing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! million thank you’s!!!!!!!!!
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Roger
23 May 2016Excellent but I have a challenge that I hope you can help with. I will be travelling in Portugal from one point to another but stopping at several other places on the way. I want to plan a route that also includes non-toll roads. How do I specifically input certain roads that I wish to use?
Ravi
3 Jun 2016Very nice. But one doubt. Is it possible to see custom icons in maps.me
jan
19 Jun 2016Hi, did not work for me. Both .kml and .kmz file from Google My Maps (with custom icons) imported in MAPS.ME as plain, identical red dots. Jan
Isabel Leong
18 Jun 2016Love this guide of yours. What a genius! Thanks for this, life saver!
jan
19 Jun 2016Hi, cool, thanks, works (android 6), you need to choose what layer to download as .kml from Google My Maps, that layer will be added as “points” in Maps.me onto offline region you downloaded previously thru tha app. cheers from czech republic! jan
claudia
22 Jun 2016Thanksss!!!! 😀
brent
8 Jul 2016I tried this, but sadly only 5 pins from two layers were visible. Most of my places from the custom maps on other layers do not show up. I tried it using both KML and KMZ, and also creating separate files for each layer.
Puja
28 Sep 2016This is a super helpful post!!
Thank you so much for taking out the time to write about it!
arae
4 Oct 2016will i be able to see map on my phone after?
Aaron
22 Oct 2016Wow. Extremely helpful. Nice work.
Ana
22 Oct 2016We have to sum up a big ping to Google team in order to solve this thing! (It’s possible to send comments from MyMaps > Help page).
After hours of work out on “My maps” I think it deserves to have an offline option as one of the main features!
Thank you for your post anyway 🙂
Kristina
5 Nov 2016Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I’ve been using the maps.me app for a few years now for international travel, and never knew that I could import my custom google maps bookmarks! You just saved me so much hassle trying to figure out a way to access those bookmarks offline on my upcoming trip.
ghost123uk
13 Nov 2016Thanks for the heads up on this. Very useful for me.
I can’t find a way to search for a specific pin though, but I can work around that.
Thanks for your time posting this info
Emily S.
17 Nov 2016This works like a charm and is SO helpful! Thank you for taking the time to post, and for making the instructions so straightforward.
BJ Lantz
14 Jan 2017Thanks so much for this. The Map.me app worked for me (I tried in airplane mode). Also found another app called Map Plus which will save the location marked balloons in their different assigned colors, however not with the icons themselves.
Traveling Chic
22 Jan 2017Great – glad this was helpful! Thanks for the tip on Map Plus!
sharon
24 Jan 2017You are a lifesaver. I have tried so hard to save My Maps (generated in googlemaps) to use offline abroad. I followed your instructions for emailing them to myself and downloading them onto my iPhone Maps.me I can put on airplane mode, open the map in maps.me and see the pins, and can tap on a pin to open its name, but I don’t see any driving directions or any way to check that I will get driving directions to that pin. Am I doing something wrong or missing something? Please help. I don’t want to find out when I’m abroad. Thank you so much.
sharon
12 Feb 2017Please help. I’ve made and saved a map in My Maps in Googlemaps on laptop. I see the 3 red dots, and the option to Export to KML. After that things stop working. No matter what I choose – “Entire Map”, or “name of a layer,” or if I check or uncheck the box “Export to a KML File” – I get something that downloads. I email it to myself from my downloads folder, and when I open it on my phone – there is no option to open it in Maps.me. It opens as a bunch of text that is unreadable. Have you got any idea what I am doing wrong?
sharon
12 Feb 20172 Sharons, but 2 different people
Arun
6 Jun 2017Hi, Great post. Is there a need to use the Map.me app? If I great a map with My Maps, will it not be accessible offline to Google Maps App?
Sharyn
29 Oct 2017Hi
I have been trying to do just this and can’t seem to open my Google my maps offline despite having the area.. re you able to?
Lindsay
28 Mar 2017I’m having the same issue! Leaving for Rome in 3 days and feeling a little desperate!
Acacia
26 Sep 2018I am having the same problem as Sharon. Any help?
pupito
5 Apr 2017same problem, sharon! what a shit!
Foivos
5 Apr 2017You are a little GOD and I believe in you! THANKS A LOT!!!
sarah
24 May 2017Thank you!!
Valerio
25 Jun 2017this was super useful! thanks for the heads up
Deb
1 Aug 2017You definitely saved my day! (AND my travel project!)
Thank you 😉
TIffany
1 Aug 2017THANK YOU! I just came across your post and it’s saving me such a hassle! Yay maps!
david
2 Aug 2017well done, good job!!
regards from italy
meg
8 Aug 2017Thank you so much for writing this post! I would have been so lost as I wandered through Stockholm!
Josh
25 Aug 2017THANK YOU A MILLION TIMES OVER!! I USE BOTH APPS AND THIS IS A LIFESAVER
Allie
27 Aug 2017Like the others who commented before me, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Despite using the app before, I had forgotten to start off using maps.me from the beginning and had gone deep in Google mapping only to realize I might never have my map offline! This post was a total lifesaver.
Jinkssick
1 Oct 2017I wanted to ditto the above. What a lifesaver. If you have saved bookmarks on google when you get to destined countryand no data and voila, vanishes. Now with maps.me i can actually see what i spent time writing. Xxxxxxx
Corey
7 Oct 2017Awesome! Very helpful as I explore areas in my state that I don’t have cell service in.
alex
24 Oct 2017this works. you are amazing. thank you!
Lizzie
23 Nov 2017Thanks so much! Great to have a way to use my google mymaps offline!!
Brian Grover
6 Jun 2018Google Maps Offline Mode is a much welcomed feature but still it’s fairly limited. It works throughout Europe and North America but in much of Asia it’s useless. It works in Taiwan but, bizarrely, not in either Japan or South Korea. In the later the data quality is so poor Google Maps is mostly useless even when online. Use Naver Maps instead. There are problems with Naver’s offline mode as well, at least as far as iOS goes, but the new English Language version really opens the country up. To create maps in Google My Maps on a PC and still get some offline use throughout the world, export your maps as KMZ and then import to Map Plus on your favourite device. The free version is adequate for viewing but MP has advanced native editing capabilities as well though you’ll have to pay for those.
Nikita
12 Jun 2018Thank you so much! Really helpful!
Jenny Dolphin
12 Jun 2018Of course! Happy to help!:)
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Megan
3 Aug 2018Thank you for sharing this! I can’t wait to use it on my holiday next week 🙂
Jenny Dolphin
3 Aug 2018Hi Megan! Glad it helped! Have a great holiday!
Nathan
12 Aug 2018Wow, this is awesome. Last trip I took screen shots of the map I made in google maps and had to toggle between that and my saved offline GPS map. This will definitely be much easier for the trip I’m planning now! Thank you for this post!
Jenny Dolphin
12 Aug 2018Glad this is helpful, Nathan!
Flip Baldwin
29 Aug 2018Your tutorial on creating Google Maps for use when off line was exactly what I needed. Thanks very much. I had never hear of Maps.me until I read your article. Taking a long trip with probable loss of cellular and I was feeling nervous. Thanks again.
Allan Collins
25 Nov 2018Hi. I have been trying to solve this issue for ages and eventually reached this very one…I create a route (up to 10 waypoints on My Maps – only 3 on Maps.me). (On a reply email I got from maps.me they told me that was all their users needed ?). Export as KMZ or KML (which is best?). Downloaded those files to my device (Galaxy S8). But, when I click any of the files I just get a popup “Unable to open file. You do not have any apps that can open this type of file. You can search for one on Playstore. (I have Google Maps, My Maps, Google Earth, Maps.me….all can open KMZ or KML). Have you encountered this? If so, please how did you address it? Any help would be greatly appreciated. TIA
Syed Abid Raza
24 Dec 2018I don;t understand how to complete step3.
Jared Woods
2 Feb 2019This worked perfectly, thank you!
Betina
12 Feb 2019I did it all. But those steps: Step 6
Open the email on your phone. Select the KML file attachment and scroll through the open options until you see the Maps.ME app.
Step 7
Open the file in the Maps.ME app
doesn’t work to me!. I mean I go to the file, said open with mapps.me and notihing appears. I don’t know where to look it at maps.me. Can you help me please?
Amanda
13 Mar 2019You are a life saver!!! Thank you, thank you, a million times thank you for this. I was spazzing out about my forthcoming trip to Italy and trying to go off the grid while I’m there, but, like you, my sense of direction isn’t stellar. Because of your very thorough tutorial, I was able to download the custom maps that I had already made on Google maps with all of my destinations in advance of my trip. I feel like I can concur all of Italy now without using any cellular data. Thanks again!
bandar slot
8 Nov 2019An outstanding share! I have just forwarded this onto a co-worker who was conducting a little homework on this.
And he actually bought me lunch due to the fact that I
found it for him… lol. So allow me to reword this….
Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending some
time to discuss this topic here on your web site.
Paras Arora
1 May 2020This is such an informative article. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Sean McKenzie-Mardelli
31 Jul 2020THANK YOU SO MUCH OMG I spent so many hours over the last several years messing with Google Earth as a workaround or downloading offline maps within google and prepping the layer before hitting the road but these are both crap solutions because the apps automatically force quit after a long period of background activity and make you lose everything. I did not know maps.me had this functionality and you just improved all my trips for the foreseeable future