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The Geek Behind Google's Takeover of the Map (fastcompany.com)
tedlistens writes: Google's map isn't just a map. It's a living, complex manifestation of the data that billions of users and a team of thousands of engineers and designers feed it every day. The public face of the company's mapping effort is Ed Parsons, a gregarious Briton and geographer who as Google's Geospatial Technologist evangelizes for its mission of organizing the world's geographic information. He also works on building the trust the company needs to make Google Maps and Google Earth more detailed, useful, and increasingly, 3-D and interactive -- what he describes as "a selfie for the planet."
The terrain isn't easy: that mission faces challenges from cartographical purists, hoping to preserve the art of cartography, and the democratic mappers of OpenStreetMap ("it's become almost a parody"); from governments seeking to police sensitive borders; from a host of tech companies fighting over the map business; and from privacy defenders concerned about what Google does with that data. "We're kind of looking at what to do with it. We've got a very rich source of data there, but also one that we have to be very careful of," he says. "Your location on the planet is one of the most sensitive pieces of information that anyone can hold on you."
The terrain isn't easy: that mission faces challenges from cartographical purists, hoping to preserve the art of cartography, and the democratic mappers of OpenStreetMap ("it's become almost a parody"); from governments seeking to police sensitive borders; from a host of tech companies fighting over the map business; and from privacy defenders concerned about what Google does with that data. "We're kind of looking at what to do with it. We've got a very rich source of data there, but also one that we have to be very careful of," he says. "Your location on the planet is one of the most sensitive pieces of information that anyone can hold on you."
All joking aside, the newest version of the Google Maps UI is fucking unusable.
First of all, it's way slower than the "classic" Google Maps was. I zoom, and sit and wait for the goddamn images to load. The fuzzy placeholder images they show are more annoying than just showing no image at all!
Second of all, the search panel is fucked. When I search for something it shows the panel on the left listing the results. The panel takes up 1/3rd of the screen, which is really fucking annoying. But let's say I find what I'm looking for, and so I click on the search result. The map moves to that location. Now that I found what I was looking for, I want to get rid of the search panel since it's so goddamn huge. My first instinct is to click on the large "X" next to the search input. That hides the search panel, but it also clears the search results and the markers on the map, which is really fucking annoying! It turns out you need to click the tiny little arrow button outside of the search panel to close the panel. It's some of the stupidest Millennial/Hipster design I've ever seen. Maybe those shitheads don't realize it, but an "X" icon means close, not clear! And eraser icon is what should be used to indicate an input can be cleared!
Third or all, the goddamn street view dragging never works reliably for me. On my desktop it takes 3 or 4 drags before it finally starts showing the goddamn street view, and it doesn't work at all on my iPad! I should just be able to right-click or press-hold somewhere on the map, select a "Street View Here" menu item and it shows me the closest street view to that point! There shouldn't be any of this goddamn dragging nonsense that Millennial/Hipster designers used!
I don't even bother with Google Maps any more. I just use OpenStreetMap most of the time.
Google Maps used to have a really good, really usable UI. Then a bunch of Millennials/Hipsters must have had their way with it, because like every other piece of software that these people have touched (Firefox, GNOME 3, Windows 8/10, Chrome, Slashdot Beta) it became a fucking awful mess.
Because if he is, he is a massive fuckup. Maps has become steadily less useful over the years, both the Android app and the website. The interfaces are both just pure garbage.
I use maps regularly, but I gave up on using it for navigation/directions beyond point to point and just use my Garmin for multi-stop trips in spite of its crap interface.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Google maps is pretty good, I'll admit. But their driving directions, don't get me started!
Why isn't there an "easy" routing option? Just yesterday maps sent me to an interstate exit going in the opposite direction with an immediate u-turn, instead of the normal, right-hand exit. Maybe the u-turn was a few seconds faster, but it's about 200% more dangerous, it's confusing, and just maddening beyond belief.
Another time, maps took me off a paved road onto a gravel road, over a one-lane bridge almost axle-deep in mud next to a cattle yard, onto a dirt road, and then: back on to the same paved road again, a quarter-mile down the road! The routing algorithm had basically just cut out a bend in the road. It was so outrageous that I imagined Google engineers were actually trying to punk us -- hey, Larry, look, I can't believe that guy actually took the cow path!
OK, don't be evil, I get that. But also, don't make your customers want to throttle your apps with their bare hands.
"We receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us" - Faraday
Your maps continue to get worse and worse. Why can't I rotate a map to orient it on North? Why does the sidebar continually pop out even after I close it? Why is it so difficult to drag the line of a route to a different route without it doubling back on itself?
Hey Ed, how about taking care of the things which are important rather than worrying about shiny. All of the above are why paper maps are still superior in many ways to what you produce.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower