10. Use Starred Addresses Instead of Your Memory

It’s a subtle little thing, but clicking the star icon next to a location listing in Google Maps is a real time saver. On Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Symbian phones—and, presumably, iPhones in some future update—you can pulled up “Starred Items” when you’re plugging in the address you’re getting directions to. It’s a lot faster than thumb typing, and if you’re assembling a temporary list of places to go, starred items can be a disposable checklist.

9. Show a “You Are Here” Marker

It’s easy to miss, between the four-point navigation tool and the zoom slider. But click that little button while using Firefox or Google Chrome and, through the magic of the geolocation standard, Maps will use nearby Wi-Fi and IP data to pin down a (rough) approximation of where you’re at. It’s convenient when you’re in a foreign place with only a loose sense of direction—or if, like some Lifehacker editors, you seem to have inherited no sense of direction in general.

8. Create Multi-Day Walking Itineraries

Want to get around a new city without having to pull out a smartphone or big folding map at every other intersection? Google City Tours pieces together a multi-stop itinerary for you with easy walking directions, formatted for easy printing. The tool has that Google-y quality of knowing what you’re looking for after typing the vaguest search, but you can also move your destination pins to any specific address. If nothing else, it’s a paper-saver: one map and set of directions, as opposed to 10 print-outs.

7. Fine-Tune or Report A Bad Location

Maps doesn’t get everything right every time. If Maps has a marker that’s off, a wrong number, or a dead web site listed, you can sometimes fix it yourself. Click the pin for an address, hit the link for “More,” and select “Edit Details.” It won’t work on businesses that have “claimed” their listing through the Local Business Center, and there are limits on what you can move, but if you know a pointer is just fundamentally wrong, there’s a fix for that. You can also simply report a problem if you’re unable to actually edit the wrong information.

6. Map Out a Great Bike Route

Google Maps’ biking directions do more than just estimate how long it would take a very slow car to get from one point to another. Google takes traffic into account, sure, but also hills, routes that an area or cycling group has deemed as bike-friendly, designated bike lanes, and other cycle-specific data into account. Bicycle routes that normally wouldn’t be shown in seeking car directions also appear on the map, in a green color that stands out, and the tool as a whole is a cyclist’s best friend in visiting a new area, or looking to vary up their excursions.” (via lifehacker.com )

Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here to read more of Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know Google Maps Could Do

After inserting the date and time of your trip together with the request for directions, within the directions portion of Google Maps, the temperature along the route is listed as well as possible rainstorms, snowstorms, icing, etc…

The roadtrip section on WeatherUnderground.com can be found at wunderground.com/roadtrip ” (via consumertraveler.com) by CHARLIE LEOCHA

Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here for the rest of WeatherUnderground and Google maps mashup provides directions and weather for roadtrips