How to plan a route with multiple stops
Updated · Reviewed by Israel Margulies, founder and CEO of High Point GPS
To plan a route with multiple stops, list the addresses, fix where the day starts and ends, mark the stops with time windows, and put them in order before the truck leaves. Google Maps draws a route through up to 9 stops in the order you type them. Past that, or when you want the tool to pick the order, you need a route optimizer or dispatch software.
Possible stop orders
n! (n × (n − 1) × … × 1, where n is the number of stops)
With a fixed start, 8 stops can be visited in 8! = 40,320 different orders. At 12 stops the count passes 479 million.
Google Maps route planner with multiple stops
Google Maps is the free route planner most people already have. On a computer you click Directions, enter a start and a first destination, then click Add destination for each extra stop. Google’s help page caps it at 9 stops, and that count includes the final destination. You can drag a stop up or down the list to change the order, and Options lets you avoid tolls or highways.
Google Maps uses the order you typed. Put the hardware store before the job site and it routes you that way, even if the job site sits on the way. Two other limits matter for work routes. Google’s help page says the Depart at and Arrive by times only work for routes with one destination, so a multi-stop route can’t show you tomorrow’s 7 a.m. traffic. Driving routes are also built for cars, which matters if you drive a tractor-trailer or a truck with a tall load. Google Maps suits a handful of stops, one driver and no delivery windows.
- Drag a stop up or down the list to reorder it
- Send the finished route to your phone and navigate from there
- Past nine stops, start a second route from the ninth
Why the order of stops matters more than the map
Finding the shortest loop through a list of stops is the traveling salesman problem, a classic in computer science. NIST’s algorithm dictionary defines it as finding the lowest-cost path that visits every point once. The count of possible orders grows as a factorial: 5 stops have 120 orders, 8 have 40,320, and 12 have more than 479 million. You can eyeball 5. Past 8 or so, your gut misses shortcuts you’d spot only on paper.
Time windows make it harder. The nearest next stop is often the wrong one when a customer down the road can only take a delivery before 9. A planner that ignores windows gives you the shortest route and a driver who arrives at the 9-to-10 drop-off at 11:30.
A manual method that works for about a dozen stops
If you plan by hand, work in this order. It takes ten minutes with a map and a pen, and it beats typing addresses in the order the calls came in.
- Fix the start and the end. A driver who must finish at the yard plans differently from one who goes home from the last stop.
- Place the stops with time windows first, then fit the others around them.
- Group the rest by area so you clear one side of town before crossing to the other.
- Add the time spent at each stop. Unloading a pallet takes minutes; setting up a machine on a site can take an hour.
- Load the truck in reverse order, so the first drop comes off first.
- Leave slack in the afternoon. One long stop in the morning pushes every later arrival back.
Free route planner options and where they stop
Free tools fall into three groups. Consumer map apps such as Google Maps draw a route through your order and give turn-by-turn directions. Free tiers of route optimizers do reorder your stops, but they cap the stops per route, the routes per month, or both, and they change those caps often, so read the vendor’s current plan page before you build a routine around it. Map layers like Google My Maps let you pin hundreds of addresses to see the clusters, though you still choose the order yourself.
For one person running errands or a few service calls, a free route planner is enough. The trouble starts when you plan for other people. A free tool has no way to hand a route to a driver, tell you the driver is running late, or record that the delivery happened.
When a paid route planner app earns its cost
Paid route optimization works from the same road data as the maps you use, with more inputs. Google’s own Route Optimization API, which many developers build on, accepts time windows, vehicle capacity, driver work hours and breaks, and returns a stop sequence and an estimated arrival for each visit. Paid planners and dispatch tools add the parts around the plan: a driver app, live position, customer messages and proof of delivery.
- You plan for two or more drivers and have to split the stops between them
- Customers give you time windows and hold you to them
- Stops get added after the trucks leave and you re-plan mid-day
- Customers call to ask where the truck is
- You need a signature or photo to settle a dispute about a delivery
What to have ready before you plan
Collect the stop details before you open any tool, because a missing gate code costs the driver a call to the office from outside the fence. For each stop you need the full street address (or a dropped pin for sites with no address), the time window, the expected time on site, a contact name and phone number, and access notes such as a gate code or a low entrance.
For trucks, add what the vehicle can carry and where it can go. A pickup with a trailer and a lowboy with an excavator on the deck should not get the same route, even when the stops match. Write the vehicle’s weight, height and length limits on the plan if your tool doesn’t hold them.
Planning multi-stop equipment routes in FleetZap
FleetZap’s dispatch module plans routes for equipment moves: deliveries, pickups, yard transfers and shop runs. You book each move with a pickup and a drop-off, from a saved location or any address, with a time window if the customer gave one. The board has a lane per driver. Press Optimize on a driver and FleetZap tries different orders and keeps the one that finishes soonest with the fewest late drop-offs, using Google Maps drive times, loading and unloading time, and your windows. Moves already under way stay put, and the board shows the time saved.
Auto-plan hands out the day’s unassigned moves across your drivers and shows each driver’s day before and after. Nothing changes until you apply it, and drivers get notified of their new runs. Drivers follow their run in the driver app, tap Directions to navigate in Google Maps, and record meters, a signature and photos at drop-off. FleetZap doesn’t do turn-by-turn navigation itself. Try it in the live demo or start a free trial.
Key takeaways
- If a day has more than about eight stops or any delivery windows, stop ordering by hand and let an optimizer pick the sequence.
- Check your total time on site before checking drive time: ten 30-minute stops already fill five hours of an eight-hour shift.
- Test any planner with last week's real stop list, then compare its finish time with what your driver actually did.
- Once you plan for a second driver, you need a way to hand each driver their run and see when they're late, which free map apps don't offer.
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Frequently asked questions
How many stops can you add on Google Maps?
Google Maps on a computer lets you add up to 9 stops, and that count includes the final destination. The phone app works the same way. If you need more, plan a second route that starts from the last stop of the first one, or move to a route planner that accepts longer lists and sorts the order for you.
Can Google Maps optimize a route with multiple stops?
The Google Maps app does not reorder your stops. It routes you through them in the order you enter, and you can drag stops to change it. Google sells route optimization to developers as the Route Optimization API, and many paid planners use it or similar engines to choose the order, respect time windows and estimate arrivals.
What is the best free multi stop route planner?
For a few stops, Google Maps is enough and costs nothing. For longer lists, free tiers of route optimizers will reorder stops but cap stops per route or routes per month, and those caps change. Pick by your real day: count your stops, check whether you have time windows, and test the tool with last week’s addresses.
What is the difference between a route planner and route optimization?
A route planner draws directions through the stops in the order you give it. Route optimization chooses the order for you, looking for the sequence that takes the least time or distance while keeping constraints such as delivery windows and vehicle capacity. For one driver with five nearby stops the difference is small; for a full day it adds up.
How do I plan a route with multiple stops for a truck?
Start with the same steps as any route: fixed start and end, time windows first, stops grouped by area. Then check the vehicle. Consumer map routes are built for cars, so for a tall or heavy truck use a truck GPS for the actual navigation, and keep weight, height and length limits on the plan your driver gets.