Google Power Tools Bible

Google loves telling you where to go. You can get driving directions in a number of Google services, so it only makes sense to get directions through SMS when you’re on the go. Format your driving directions by first typing your starting location, the word to, and then your destination. It should look like this:

starting location to destination

The start location or destination can include the following (but don’t type the + sign):

• Street address + ZIP code

• Street address + city + state

• City + state

• City

• State

• ZIP code

• Three-letter airport code

Here are some examples of queries:

• 123 main milwaukee wi to 225 oak st paul mn (very specific query)

• milwaukee wi to st paul mn (less specific)

• california to new york (This works, but there are too many directions to fit in the seven-message limit. See Figure 29.2.)

  Figure 29.2: Your driving directions may exceed the seven-message limit.

• 90250 to 90210

• lax to sfo

The detailed driving directions include the total number of steps necessary to arrive at your destination, the estimated distance, and the estimated travel time. Each step is numbered and includes the distance you must travel along each route. When directions or turns are included, they are abbreviated to shorten the message. You can find a list of the driving direction abbreviations used by Google in Table 29.1.