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Google Maps can now remember which route you prefer when you use the app to search for directions to a destination, instead of automatically defaulting to giving you the quickest route to where you’re trying to go. If you use Google Maps often enough and you rely on it for your directions then it’s likely that you’ve encountered having to change up the route because you generally like to go a specific way. Although in many cases users may actually want to have the fastest route so they can arrive at their destination on time, some users may prefer a different way to get places they normally travel to because it’s less traveled or it may be a scenic route. Whatever the case may be Maps will now remember your preferences, but it is worth noting that you will need to disable the preferences if you want Maps to focus on the fastest route at any point going forward.
Short of being somewhat useful to anyone who might be set in their ways, it’s also a feature that will give users more choice on how to interact with the application, and player choice is important. Initially there have been three different options that users have had the ability to toggle on or off for the preferences, allowing them to avoid highways, avoid tolls, or avoid ferries, which could also result in saving them more time depending on traffic in those areas, though Google Maps generally does a good job these days at alerting users to high traffic areas even if they’re already on a route.
Now that Maps is beginning to remember these options though if users have already toggled them on or off before, users shouldn’t have to re-enable them in the future, as once they set them following the appearance of the feature they should only have to configure things once. The only downside is perhaps that there is no indication of how long it might before this starts rolling out to all users, but it seems that the feature just started showing up recently so it might not be long before it pops up if it hasn’t already.