A brilliant feature of the already brilliant Google Maps system is that you can now place multiple markers, and get directions. Forget your old route finding tricks with a paper map, or even your GPS or a site like the AA’s. This is so fast and easy.
You are going out for the day to do a warrant run. You obviously don’t know the area like the back of your hand, and there are, in our example, 6 jobs.
Grab the postcodes, and do the following in a text editor, or even right there in the google maps page at http://maps.google.co.uk
from:BB5 7DD to:BB5 0EE to:BB5 5HH to:BB5 3JJ to:BB5 3QQ to:BB5 3EE (Don’t click this link)
First, it validates the postcodes (useful when making up examples like this!) It really should be
from:BB5 6DD to:BB5 5HH to:BB5 3QQ to:BB5 0EE to:BB5 3EE to:BB5 3JJ
Press go again, and the amazing Maps API at maps.google.co.uk will show you a neatly zoomed map with route directions (hidden by the little [x] until you click on each leg to expand it)
Now, that isn’t the best route. So you could re-type the string as
from:BB5 6DD to:BB5 5HH to:BB5 0EE to:BB5 3EE to:BB5 3JJ to:BB5 3QQ
and see if that makes things better. However, because Google programmers know their javascript, and how it should be used, you can do this instead. Go to the left side, where the postcodes are, then click and drag one. This will rearrange the map for you within moments. Visually, you will see the markers change if you tweak the first and last ones, and the mileage between each stop will also be recalculated in a few moments! After all of 30 seconds, you can optimise your route for the day. Brilliant.
For the next trick, switch to “Hybrid” mode in the top right of the map. This is my favourite view, and it pops up a road map overlayed on an aerial photgraph. Et voila! I’ve optimised my route. Now for a smart part 2. Zoom the map right in, then click on any of the markers. This will zoom to the destination. Now, using my leet locksmithing sense, I can tell that we are looking at a house, not a factory unit, and this tells me what sort of locks I can expect. The third one could be either, and the fourth looks like a garage, or at least somewhere without enough parking! And the last two are rows of houses again. 
Not that this part makes much odds. Were this a real run, the doors would be opened regardless. Also, we normally do commercial one day, and residential another. I just like to know! Gives me some idea of where to leave the van too – all those tools are heavy!