Blind leading the blind.

So where do we go
When everyone knows that we’re nowhere?
And we’re not even nowhere,
They say you can get there from here.
– Firewater, Too Many Angels

So, in preparing for Andre and Leigh’s wedding next weekend, I decide to GoogleMap my trip. The results are, well, a bit stupid (applicable stupid area). Why in the flying fuck would I want to drive up to Austin and then down to Kyle, TX when I can just continue on I-10 and the go north to Kyle? So I can drive a longer distance at a slower speed on TX71? It can be much simpler/faster!

This brings me to a feature request (and I’ll make it when I find the proper place to do so) of GoogleMaps. When you pull up the main maps page, you can enter a single address like: 900 Scott Street Kyle, Texas 78640, or you can enter two for directions: New Orleans, LA to 900 Scott Street Kyle, Texas 78640. The key operator / delimiter here is the to. I’m asking for an extension of the first, or a second, new, delimiter.

Either accomplish the same thing, allowing the user to specify “hops”, or intermediate points between the start and the end. The new delimiter, via, would allow me to re-route my path through Luling, TX instead of Austin, Tx. Example: New Orleans, LA to Kyle, TX via Luling, TX. Similarly, the “multiple to” extension would look like this: New Orleans, LA to Luling, TX to Kyle, TX. Both would tell GoogleMaps to route me first to Luling, TX using whatever mapping logic they use, then proceeding to Kyle, TX. There could be a theoretical limit to the number of hops, but I guess there really is no point to that.

Maybe via would best be used as a road/street/highway/etc definition. So I could enter New Orleans, LA to Luling, TX to Kyle, TX via I-10. I think I like this use of via better. Maybe at this point it could be reduced to New Orleans, LA to Kyle, TX via I-10, if the mapping logic used I-10 as a preference to TX71. And no, I’m not going to go back and re-edit the above.

Ok, now that I have figured out which way I want to go, it’s time for me to find a feature request / bug submission area for Google.