If I've never driven somewhere, I doubt I'd take the time to pre-plan it. This is along the lines of the question Darren posed, "If you don't know the area I'm not sure why you would want to dictate the route!?" Why would I think I can pick a better route if I have no idea about what traffic patters or streets are like in the areas I'm likely to transit?

There was a time long ago when I spent hours devouring maps trying to plan a route, both to places known and unknown. I still know how to read a map, but concur with AlanoftheBerg that there's uncertain value in 'forced routing', a phrase which seems a bit oxymoronic.

Cybrosys wrote:"Where I do agree is that it would be nice to have an online "pre-plan" feature with the possibility to set waypoints or even plug in a set of waypoints and let waze determine the best route AND order!"

That's sort of what I've been trying to suggest. Depending on how many waypoints you use you can have a 100% pre-planned route because there is only one way for Waze to plot a route through them, or you can put out fewer waypoints and let Waze determine the best route and order; as you said.

There is, sorta, kinda, half-assed, support for this, but it's a real pain and it doesn't automate going from point to point, but this does work with the current client.

What you can do is scroll around the map on the client and drop location pins in the reverse order you wish to drive them and save the location without giving it a name.

At that point you can select the top saved location, have Waze route to it, and once you get there, or very near, delete the top saved location and route to the new top saved location. I've used this method to fill in my edit area where there has been small gaps and it works well enough, but the setup is a pain.

Well, since you failed to come up with a reason yourself why this feature would be helpful, let me give you one.

One of the reasons I would like the feature is that I might not know how to drive to a specific destination, because I haven't driven there before. Thus I want to be able to plan/plot where and how I want to drive to reach my destination online, instead of being at the whim of the Waze path finding algorithm, and save those presets so I can access them on my phone.

And while we're on the topic of custom routes. Google Navigation offers a way to drag & drop the planned route so that the driver can customize which path he/she takes to reach their destination.

"Where I do agree is that it would be nice to have an online "pre-plan" feature with the possibility to set waypoints or even plug in a set of waypoints and let waze determine the best route AND order!"

That's sort of what I've been trying to suggest. Depending on how many waypoints you use you can have a 100% pre-planned route because there is only one way for Waze to plot a route through them, or you can put out fewer waypoints and let Waze determine the best route and order; as you said.

@AlanOfTheBerg: I've already answered that question in my post above, even Darren came up with a better feature/functionality along the same routes.

Just because you haven't driven in an area doesn't mean that you don't know the area, from a pedestrian standpoint, or places that you'd like to avoid or prefer driving through. How about driving through another area of the city to avoid a construction site? Or that you want to take the highway around the city but you want to exit the freeway at a certain point. There are countless of examples where the ability to put out waypoints are beneficial.

So just drive along those roads then!?
The whole point of waze is that once it learns the lay of the land in your area that it woks out the best way. I actually don't see the benefit of defining your route and not accepting alternative suggestions.

As for "training it", it will learn just with you having the app open without a route plugged in. It only takes a few users in your area for this to become quite useful quite quickly!

If you know the route then just use it, after a while waze will accept that as your preferred route.

If you don't know the area I'm not sure why you would want to dictate the route!?

Where I do agree is that it would be nice to have an online "pre-plan" feature with the possibility to set waypoints or even plug in a set of waypoints and let waze determine the best route AND order!

dmcconachie wrote:So just drive along those roads then!?
The whole point of waze is that once it learns the lay of the land in your area that it woks out the best way. I actually don't see the benefit of defining your route and not accepting alternative suggestions.

As for "training it", it will learn just with you having the app open without a route plugged in. It only takes a few users in your area for this to become quite useful quite quickly!

What you stated above makes sense for "most use cases" but not all... For instance I ride a motorcycle.
I would love for there to be a way for me to map a custom route on the live map and "save" it for later use on my device. During the navigation of this "custom route" Waze should just direct you along your path and not try to redirect you, or maybe ask you first if you want to stray from your custom route.

This would be a VERY NICE feature because even Google Voice does not support this yet. For instance if I wanted to go to Western Mass but take Rt2 rather than I90 I could create the custom route and save it for later use on my device. All along I don't know where I am yet I was able to hit all of the twisties in the back roads.