Google Maps now remembers recent directions and places

Google Maps will now recall directions to or from your most recently searched-for places when you are logged into your Google account, irrespective of the device you use.

The My Places feature will come in handy for people who want to search now and plan later or for those who find themselves looking up directions to the same place time and time again. "This historical archive of directions results makes it quicker and easier to continue planning later," says Google Maps Software Engineer Tatsuo Nomura in a February 14 blog post. "For example, if you have a few minutes to spare during the day and use your work computer to search for directions from your house to the restaurant where you're meeting friends for dinner, you can easily access those same directions from your home computer via My Places once you're ready to head out. We'll even remember when you've customized your directions by dragging the blue line to your preferred path, and show you that route again."

Recently searched-for directions and places can be found in the

My Places tab

on Google Maps (when you are signed into your Google account and enable Web History) along with starred locations, places that you have checked into or rated, places that are saved into Custom Maps and past local searches. Nokia Drive, part of Nokia's Maps Suite 2.0 (in beta), enables smartphone users to save multiple customized routes to a list of favorite places and directions too.