i just moved to a new apartment in a new city in a new state, so i’m pretty unfamiliar with my surroundings. as a result, i’m frequently going to google maps to get directions to some place starting from my address. i may not even really need to know the directions, or my apartment may not exactly be my starting point, but watching google maps plot the line from start to finish is so satisfying. and understanding destinations in the context of where i live is pretty helpful.

so i thought, wouldn’t it be great if there was a greasemonkey script that defaulted google maps to the directions interface and automatically entered my home address in the first box?

and the answer was, yes, it would be great. so i wrote it.

my_google_maps.user.js

instructions

1. install greasemonkey if you haven’t already and restart firefox
2. right-click on the my_google_maps link above
3. select Install User Script…
4. go to google maps
5. you’ll be prompted for a starting address, enter one or leave it blank
6. you’ll be prompted for a destination address, enter one or leave it blank

and from then on out, every time you go to google maps, it will default to the “directions” interface and the address(es) that you entered. cool huh?

changing the default values later

1. in firefox, type about:config where you’d normally type a url
2. filter for greasemonkey
3. right click on the default address(es) you want to clear and select Reset
4. restart firefox
5. go back to google maps and you’ll be prompted to re-enter the address(es) you cleared

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