Updated Sep 10, 2026 · 5 steps · 1 min read

1. 1

   Why names matter

   A named place is a name on a circle around a real spot. Once "Home" and "Office" exist, drive cards say "Home → Office" instead of two street addresses, and route rules — standing answers for regular routes — become possible at all.

2. 2

   Name a place from a drive

   On a detected drive whose endpoint has no name yet, tap "Name the start", "Name the stop", or the "Name “…”" link that shows the geocoded address. The place is anchored at the drive’s own endpoint — real coordinates from a real drive.

   On the phone, places are only ever created from a drive’s endpoints. If the app says "No spot to name", record or detect a drive that ends there first.

   
3. 3

   Choose the name and the circle

   Enter the name you actually use — "Home", "Office", "Northside depot". Then pick "Counts as here within": 100 m suits a house, 150 m is the default, 250 m a big lot, 500 m a large site. Any drive ending inside the circle counts as this place.

4. 4

   Save — and watch it apply backwards

   Tap "Save place". Naming is retroactive: trips already recorded pick up the new name from their stored routes, so your history reads "Home → Office" too.

5. 5

   Manage places anywhere

   On the phone, "Named places" under the More tab lists every place — tap "Edit" to rename, resize, or remove one. On the web, Places & rules has an "Add a place" form that takes pasted coordinates: in Google Maps, right-click the spot and click the numbers to copy them.

   Removing a place also removes any route rules that run through it. Recorded drives keep their labels.