Google Maps has long usurped satellite navigation providers to become one of the best mapping apps and travel planners for mobile and desktop devices, rivaling Apple Maps and Bing Maps along the way.
You can use it to find a place you know, but if you’re trying to find the address of a place you see on Google Maps, you can put a pin on it. This will download the relevant location information and also help you find directions, view photos, and more.
Here’s how to add a pin to Google Maps on Android, iOS, and desktop devices.
How to place a Pin in Google Maps on Android devices
While you can view your location history on Google Maps to find a place you’ve visited before, it won’t help you if you’re trying to find out about a place you’ve never visited before. A good way to do this in Google Maps mobile apps and on a computer is to put a pin on this Google Maps location.
If you’re an Android user, here’s how to add a pin to Google Maps using the Android app.
- Open the app and use the search bar to move the map to the desired location. You can also do it manually using your finger.
- As soon as the map view is in place, click on the place on the map for a couple of seconds – a red pin will appear. An icon will automatically appear next to the places you are looking for in the search bar. When you click on a pin, the location information is loaded in the app.
- Click the Directions button to get a route to a thrown pin. Click Save to save the location for future use, Placemark to add it to a category (such as work), and Share to share the location of the dropped pin via email, messaging, or social media.
- You can also view the exact location information (including address and coordinates on a map). Depending on the location of the pin, you can also view reviews, photos, and business news by clicking the Updates, Reviews, or Photos tabs.
- If you’re done, go back to the map view and click once – the icon should disappear unless you’ve saved it as a location in your account. You can also press X in the search bar to close the pin display.
How to Pin Google Maps on iOS
If you have an iOS device such as an iPhone or iPad, you shouldn’t expect any difficulty in repeating the steps above to add a pin to Google Maps, as the interface for Google Maps is almost identical on iOS as it is on Android devices.
Here’s what you need to do to add a pin to Google Maps on iOS devices.
- First you need to download and install Google Maps from the iOS App Store. To manually throw a pin, press and hold the card to discard it. If you’re looking for a specific location, Google Maps will automatically place an icon on it. Once the pin appears on the map, click on it to download more information about that location.
- Like Google Maps on Android, Google Maps on iOS allows you to search for directions to your pin by clicking Directions, add a tag such as work or home using tags, or share the pin with others by clicking Share “. A place. Additional information such as map coordinates or street address will also be displayed here, as well as location overviews and photos using the various tabs at the top of the menu.
- To remove a timestamp (for example, an unsaved location) from the map, press once in the map view or press the X button in the search bar at the top.
- pin to Google Maps on your desktop device, go to the Google Maps site. The process is very similar to mobile devices: you can find a location to automatically place a pin, or manually tap a location in the Google Maps viewer to place a pin yourself.
- In the web version of Google Maps, if you don’t select an existing icon (such as an address marker), any icon you reset will appear as a small gray icon. When you click on it, the marker turns blue, which will allow you to search for other places (for example, restaurants) nearby or get directions to them. A small information window will appear at the bottom (with coordinates and link to photos) – click here on the name of the place to display more information in the menu on the left.
- As with mobile apps, you can click Directions to find routes to that pin from your current location (or a specified alternative location). You can share it with others by clicking Share, or add it as a saved location by clicking Save. Click Add Shortcut to add a shortcut (such as a work one) to the Pin.
- You can also send a pin code from the web version of Google Maps to the mobile device associated with your Google account. To do this, click “Send to Phone”.
- You can choose to send directly to the Google Maps app or send the location of the pin via text SMS or email. Click on one of these options to continue.
How to Pin Google Maps on Desktop
Many of the features found in the Google Maps Android and iOS apps have found their way into the desktop version of Google Maps. It is a web version of Google Maps that you can access in any modern web browser on any operating system, including Windows, macOS, and Linux.
While you don’t need a Google account to use Google Maps, you will need to sign in if you want to save placemarks or locations to your account for later use.
Plan trips with Google Maps
Once you know how to add a pin to Google Maps, you can start using it to plan your travels. If you want to make the most of Google Maps, take advantage of it to share with your local community through Local Guides for Google Maps, which rewards you for reviews, photos, and replies about the places you visit.
If you’re worried about your friends and family, you can ask them to share their location using Google Maps when they run into trouble – and so can you! Share with us your tips and ideas for using Google Maps in the comments below.
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