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Google Maps Has Introduced So Many New Features and Design Changes in Recent Months That Getting Directions On It is Becoming an Increasingly Challenging Task (theverge.com)
Earlier this week, Google announced it is bringing business messaging to Maps, the latest in a myriad of features it has introduced to its mapping platform in recent months. A business that wants to participate will need to use Google's "My Business" verification system and its associated app to send and receive messages. While that could prove useful to a number of businesses and customers, it has raised a concern as well. From a report: But that leads me to my third feeling: what the heck is going on with Google Maps? It is becoming overburdened with so many features and design changes that it's becoming harder and harder to just get directions in it. There's Group Planning, there's a social-esque "follow" button for local businesses, you can share your ETA, there's a redesigned "Explore" section, and there's almost no way to get the damn thing to show you a cross street near your destination without three full minutes of desperate pinching and zooming and re-zooming. It's becoming bloated, is what I'm saying. It's Google's equivalent of Big Blue, as Facebook nicknames its flagship app that does a thousand things across countless strange nooks and crannies. It's as though Google wants to kill off Yelp once and for all, but can't let anybody notice how hard it's trying to do that so it just slow rolls those things into Google Maps instead.
It seems like the inevitable fate of any successful product. Wall St demands higher and higher profits, so there is no choice but to keep adding and pushing, even beyond what makes sense. Then the product inevitably becomes so bloated that people only tolerate it until a simpler alternative comes along. Then that becomes successful and the cycle continues...
The answer is that Brian McClendon, who was vice president of Google Maps, was replaced by Jen Fitzpatrick. Period. People matter.
"It's Google's equivalent of Big Blue, as Facebook nicknames its flagship app that does a thousand things across countless strange nooks and crannies."
Note to millennials: "Big Blue" has been the nickname for IBM for at least 50 years.
#DeleteChrome
I was in DC and Crystal City in October - the construction topped with trying to use the maps for live guidance proved frustrating. Driving in circles, heading down a long highway with no offramp when directed the wrong way, it was incredible how bad the mapping directions were...
Did you ever wake up in the morning, with a Zombie Woof behind your eyes? -- FZ
Uh... what is this guy on about? The interface for getting directions hasn't changed a bit since the last major redesign.
So, it took me all of a minute or two to learn the new navigation. Oh no, Mr. Bill!!!
Seriously, whats the issue here. Have not been sent the wrong way. Have been able to enter where I want to go with no problem.
What I would like to see though! If the local area has Department Of Transportation camera's along various highways, to include an option to see them on the map. Ohio does, and I use those camera's all the time. They are real time, maybe a 5 second delay.
Anonymous comments are as pathetic as the anonymous "sources" that contaminate gutless journalism from the New York Time
Lots of intelligence, but really limited real-world understanding at Google. What they have done here is known as the "Second System Effect", nicely described by Brooks in 1975. It is a sign of amateurs at the controls.
Not that I mind. Google has gotten far too evil, far too powerful and far too arrogant. Anything that speeds their demise is a good thing.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Maybe now they could make sure they actually put the names of fscking rivers, streets, mountains and communities on the fscking map. It's now fscking vacant. Switched to Bing maps or however they call that other abomination.
The app no longer reflects whether transit is on time, early, or late (which is reported by our MTS), so now even if I know the route it's harder to make my connections.
So we can end up with Waze? Something that worked great until Google started *tinkering* with it?
*sigh*.. I just want them to add back the option to email step-by-step directions. There are a handful of times where that is still useful.
I'm also confused at how anyone can be confused when using Google for directions. I can understand a learning curve on the new features, but getting directions is very easy and has only gotten easier lately.
My guess is the article's author simply had a deadline to produce a story, and this was the best he could think of.
Um. No. This may be a question of "it works great in one use case from certain platforms," but IMHO Google Maps has pretty much gone downhill since maybe streetview, which was the last awesome feature. Most changes since then have made it gradually worse. If you look up directions on a computer and send them to an email, for example, they don't put the directions in the email, they put a link in the email--this means that they are prioritizing tracking your use of the app over giving you directions.
It also means the interface is designed with the assumption that you will ALWAYS have quick and reliable internet access on your phone, which just isn't true. (Firstly because there are some places on the planet where the connection's slow or there's bad coverage, but also because it takes cycles on your phone to open new applications, and then more time for it to reach out to google servers, etc..., so there's a lot more complexity for things to go wrong. And stuff goes wrong IRL. Like when you click on the link, it may open your maps app... and not show you directions.)
Also, the google maps app is clunky on old phones. An S5 is not quite a five-year-old phone, but services like Google Maps have to work for your grandmother's phone, not just your engineer friend's phone. Press a button on the google maps interface on an S5 and wait around while it decides whether or not to do something. Sure, part of that is round trips to the server, but it's not OK from a customer experience standpoint.
They've been punked by Realtors and real estate developers, as well.
Where Google Maps used to show the names (whether formally-adopted or not) of long-established neighborhoods in San Diego, it now shows the names of new condo complexes.
These are not neighborhoods!
- Spruce Canyon Townhomes
- India Street Lofts
- Southpark Townhomes
- Mississippi Street Condos
- The Village in University Heights
- Florida Gardens
- Fashion Walk Condos
- Judson St Condos
They are shown in the same typeface, size, and color as ACTUAL neighborhoods:
- Linda Vista
- Little Italy
- Hillcrest
- University Heights
etc.
Google.... you been punked!
Thanks, Javascript!
Unix Philosophy: "Do one thing and do it well."
Google Philosophy: "Make 57 different apps to do 57 different things in mediocre fashion, then bring those features that consumers seem to like into one single, bloated app that focuses on "monetization opportunities". Oh, and "do no evil" (ha ha ha)."
Apple Philosophy: "Do one thing and do it well, but charge exhorbitant fees and make sure the hardware ensures vendor lock-in."
Microsoft Philosophy: "Don't do a damn thing. It's broke, don't fix it but do charge for it. Sell ads and personal information."
Facebook Philosophy: "Fuck everyone and fuck you, too. --Sincerely, Mark Z."
I would love a simple toggle feature to turn tolls off and on without having to dig 3 screens deep. Anytime I take the regular freeway home south from Chicago, google maps asks me every two minutes if i want to take the toll road to save 6 minutes (which costs 8 bucks). The only way to make it stop is to turn off tolls in settings, but I would like to be able to see the different routes without it trying to autoswitch me 10 times/hour.
All the other commentary aside, could they one day fix my pet peeve: the fixed-size, microscopic font for the street names. Doesn't matter how goddamn close you zoom, it always reduces the street name back down to the 0.4 point font. Yeah, I'm a 50-something now who's eyes aren't what they used to be. But I'm pretty sure that even when my eyesight was better, I would still have trouble reading the tiny print. Is it such a crime against humanity to set a zoom threshold where the text size starts to grow with the other features of the map?
Which is great, until you hit a spot in the middle of nowhere, and you don't have cell/data coverage; and you need a map to get out.
... the search feature on Openstreetmap is finally becoming usable.
Die DISPLAY of the maps has been dozen times better than Goggle maps for quite some time now, but sometimes you had to search for a place on Google Maps, to figure out where it was, and then switch top Openstreetmap to get some Idea of what is actually there....
There is a Google Maps Go app, which is supposed to be lighter than the regular Google Maps. I have never tried it, though.
I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous.
The left would rather you die than debate another point of view. Notice the kill yourself in bold. That my friends is a mental illness.
Ok, it's a Note 2 but it's still going fine... :) I reverted patches and stopped auto-updates, now maps are useable again...
Yeah, time for a new phone...
or travel route 80 through some of the mountain pass's. You know, those pass's they CUT into the middle of a mountain where it is straight up cliff's that block the line of sight to your gps satellite? No cell coverage.
Anonymous comments are as pathetic as the anonymous "sources" that contaminate gutless journalism from the New York Time
Which is great, until you hit a spot in the middle of nowhere, and you don't have cell/data coverage; and you need a map to get out.
Good thing Google Maps has an offline mode that allows you to select arbitrary areas to cache graphically on a map. OTOH, but it'd be better to have every cache 23GB of a map data, in case they need it.
I got sick of having to update I don't know how many sites in the last five years to support new APIs and requirements with Google Maps.
I use Open Street Maps and Leaflet for most things now. Gets the job done for a lot less hassle and money.
Greed is the root of all evil.
But NOW YOU KNOW how long it takes to ride a Llama from San Jose to Burning Man!
Instead of obsessing over pointless features that no one wants, how about adding:
- Speed signs and (optional) warnings
- Sort by distance
- POI folders
- More than two "history" entries synced between phone and maps.google.com
- Sub-second startup
A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
I can personally testify to it having problems. A few weeks ago there was a store I wanted to go to that's about a 15-20 minute drive from my house if I go the most direct way (fewest turns). However, it is possible to shave a good 5 minutes off the drive if I let Google maps direct me through some residential areas. I don't ever go through these areas unless I am letting Google Maps direct me and it involves a large number of turns, so I don't have the path memorized. I used Google Maps to go there, something I have done many times before, because I wanted to save time but it failed. It put me in a loop during the final mile of the drive and it cost me so much time, I should have just gone the direct longer way I knew instead. Once I realized I was in a loop, I did know another shopping center nearby, so I drove there and got out of Google Maps and got back into it. I looked up the exact path and it only required one turn on a street I was familiar with so I drove and I had to actually drive past the part where it kept looping and only then did it give me the correct directions the rest of the way, but I didn't need them at that point. I remain puzzled as to what exactly was wrong with Google Maps and its made me a bit leery of it.
That's an explanation that fits the facts in the madhouse that Google has always been, and which is becoming only more so. Leave things have done, by all means, but innovate at all costs.
There is a Google Maps Go app, which is supposed to be lighter than the regular Google Maps. I have never tried it, though.
Another Google app to do something already done by an already existing app. A word of advice to Google: please change the name of this app. If you leave it as it is, it might not be sufficiently confusing.
When useful features start being replaced by gratuitous social media connections, you need to start looking for a new app.
Good thing auto update is disabled in the play store on my phone. I think this version of the app must be a couple of years old now...works great!
Yea, all form, all surface, all appearances, all "save spaces". Actual facts, true communication and *gasp* honest evaluations of skill are not welcome. Google is just one victim of the cancer though, it spreads all through the industry at the moment. I predict that in the end this deeply conformist and authoritarian movement will fail and leave the industry stronger, if a lot smaller. SJWs cannot get things to work reliably, if at all. SJWs destroy communities that are critical. SJWs care about nothing and nobody but themselves and their short-term comfort. Hence they cannot learn, because getting out of their comfort-zones is anathema to them.
What I find hilarious about this frightened rant against "SJWs" is you've described Trump-voting conservatives to a "T" (For Trump, presumably.)
Yea, all form, all surface, all appearances, all "save spaces" [sic].
Conservatives: Fox News, Breitbart, information bubbles: All "Safe spaces." Trump is so frightened of CNN he kicked Jim Acosta out of the White House.
Actual facts, true communication and *gasp* honest evaluations of skill are not welcome.
Conservatives? Check.
Cannot get things to work reliably, if at all.
Conservatives? Check. (Republicans had White House and Congress for two years and all they could pass was tax cuts for the rich. Trump couldn't even build his wall.)
Destroy communities that are critical.
Conservatives? Check.
care about nothing and nobody but themselves and their short-term comfort.
Conservatives? Check. (Two words: Climate change).
they cannot learn, because getting out of their comfort-zones is anathema to them.
Conservatives? Check. (See safe spaces).
Google Plus was destined to be the next Google Reader. When you have a big company with a lot of money and a product manager trying to look good, we find random sh*t being stacked up on top of a product.
now all of the sudden you've got
* VTEC, HONDA POWER, MUGEN, NISMO, TRD, and GREDDY stickers
* Red Honda Badge
* GT Wing
* Cut Springs
* Data Champ Wheels
ALL OF THIS ON A 1999 Integra Type R.
Good thing Google Maps has an offline mode that allows you to select arbitrary areas to cache graphically on a map. OTOH, but it'd be better to have every cache 23GB of a map data, in case they need it.
Yeah I know! Feels good to be smarter than most everyone else in the world.
But I'd like to see a little more contrast, on my phone and on my computer. Is that asking too much, Google?
I usually know where I am and where I'm going, but I'd like to be able to see a map once in a while just to see what's around me.
The offline caching has been useless for years now. The old Google Maps for Android back around when the Galaxy S3 was released (Ice Cream Sandwich?) let you select areas to cache offline. You could then update them later, view them, or delete them later. You knew exactly what you had stored locally, and you wouldn't end up with a nasty surprise later. I could store Hong Kong Island and Kowloon/TST locally before going on a trip to Hong Kong and then not worry about paying for roaming data or hunting WiFi to use maps. The update that removed the labs features changed it so you could no longer manage your locally stored maps. You can tell it to store an area locally, but you can't see what it's actually stored, or control when it deletes data. You can't guarantee that a map of a particular area will be available offline if you need it. It's effectively useless.
Google have shown themselves an almost unlimited amount of times, to have no qualms killing a perfectly good service for fun, or to redesign it and make it horrifically awful.
(I'm still using BASIC HTML gmail right now, I refuse to use that new abomination)
They will NOT have the balls to say "hey, this user interface is almost perfect, ok half the UI / Dev team? You're fired / on a new project, we do not need to mess with this" - nope, they gotta fiddle.
Big point here : - Google maps about 2 years ago had a major redesign. In doing so, you couldn't "drop the little man" on the map and browse the streets in person mode, AND have, a nice big, 50/50 split down the bottom of that pane, showing exactly where you are on the map, where you're facing etc. - you could do it, but it was a tiny little box in the left corner.
The 50/50 horizontal split (vertical would be fine too) allowed you to see not only exactly what is in X location at Y direction, but also _CONFIRMING IT_ on the map in the other pane (little yellow man, with arrow pointing the direction the other pane is showing you)
It was a fantastic feature and I whined my ASS off in the beta and afterwards about it. It took easily 6, maybe even 12 months to add that function back. It was _ridiculously_ useful and they just decided to take it away, because hey! UI guys gotta fuck things up for fun!!!
That is only 1 example of products becoming significantly more difficult to use, something going from 1 step to 2, or 3 or 5 or not being possible. It's utterly inane.
If you see a "frightened rant" here, then you are really not perceptive. You are correct that SJWs are a deeply conservative movement though. Not a new insight either.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Errr literally all of that still works. You still get a view of all your Offline maps, it tells you exactly when they expire (unless updated) gives you the option to update view or modify the map, browse the map, and delete it.
I'm not sure what you're doing wrong but the feature works just fine.
Oh and thanks for prompting me to check, I just realise I had large portions of Australia mapped offline. There's some disk space I can now recover rather than waiting until the 7th July 2019 for them to automatically expire.
Oh I see - it's changed again. Trouble is you have to sign in to use any of those features now. I never sign in to Google - their tracking is bad enough without signing in so they can tie everything together. I don't let Google applications access location, either.
Oh I see - it's changed again. Trouble is you have to sign in to use any of those features now. I never sign in to Google - their tracking is bad enough without signing in so they can tie everything together. I don't let Google applications access location, either.
Let me try to help. Google Maps is a product. It's not charity. If you don't like being tracked, then go away, and don't use the product. Go pay for something that fits your needs. You know, because products don't get built by magical elves.
I actually did pay for Garmin Navigon, but now that's been shut down. It's hard to compete with "free" products that make money with advertising, so choices are becoming more limited. It's even happening to Windows - ads in Solitaire, Mail, and Calendar. But I actually am taking your advice and not using Google Maps already, hence not realising they'd re-added offline maps but require you to sign in for it. I rooted my S3 so I could downgrade to the old Google Maps that wasn't as irritating, but I can't be arsed doing that any more. I just disable most of the Google applications.
Trouble is you have to sign in to use any of those features now. I never sign in to Google
Ending up in some anonymised database is a small price to pay for most of what I use an Android device for not working. I took your view early on, but phones and tablets these days thrive on online services.
Heck one of my favourite things about Google Maps is that if I look up a direction on the PC, I jump in the car put my phone in the docking station, click the little map icon, and the top most suggestion is the one I just looked up.