If our map is not able to properly route to a place - whether entered manually or added from our categories - the trip routing will sometimes fail, causing the trip to no longer update with new directions and trip information (distance, fuel cost, drive time). There are two reasons this can happen.
- Routing through a body of water
We are unable to provide a route between two points if they are separated by a body of water (e.g. routing to an island or a country separated by an ocean). If you wish to add an island that requires a ferry to access it, we recommend using the address for the ferry as the waypoint on your trip.
This is the error you will see when attempting to route through a body of water:
- Routing where there are no drivable routes
Additionally, some places do not have a drivable route to their location (e.g. state and national park centers, some small towns, campsites). You can usually work around this by dragging your route to a nearby road.
This is the error you will see if there are no drivable roads:
For ways to correct these routing errors, please keep reading our troubleshooting steps below.
Troubleshooting Steps
If your trip isn't routing or saving, the best way to fix it is to look at each waypoint on your trip in order to identify the problematic waypoint. If a waypoint appears to be pretty far from the closest road, remove it from the trip. If trip stats and the route are still missing, re-add it. Continue to do this until removing the waypoint causes the trip stats and route to return. Once they return, note which waypoint you last removed. This is the problematic waypoint.
After removing the problematic waypoint, look for an alternative location for the place you are trying to add. If you typed the place manually, try finding it in our categories or search for the place's name in the search bar at the top of the site.
If you can't find it there, either suggest it to us or try finding another building or street address for the place. An example would be typing in the visitor's lodge for a state park, or the office building for a cabin rental site.
If you aren't sure which alternative is best, please submit a request and let us know what place it is, as well as the trip it is affecting.
Note About Islands
Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about islands at this time. If you wish to add an island that requires a ferry to access it, we recommend typing in the address for the ferry into your trip and using that to represent your island.