Google Maps just fucking SUCKS now

[LM117]

You'd think North Korea would WANT street view; it would be a chance for them to put on the ultimate show for the west where they try to convince everyone they're prosperous.  But maybe Google doesn't want to deal with "the car will show up at place X exactly at time Y under escort so we can show your viewers scene Z".

I think even North Korea knows that might be a stretch, at least as far as getting everything setup and whatnot. It would be a nice PR stunt though!

Google wouldn't do North Korea if North Korea asked. North Korea is a little hellhole controlled by a maniac and you'd have to have an IQ of about 2 to even consider visiting that place.

x1000!

[jakeroot]

You'd think North Korea would WANT street view; it would be a chance for them to put on the ultimate show for the west where they try to convince everyone they're prosperous.  But maybe Google doesn't want to deal with "the car will show up at place X exactly at time Y under escort so we can show your viewers scene Z".

I think even North Korea knows that might be a stretch, at least as far as getting everything setup and whatnot. It would be a nice PR stunt though!

Google wouldn't do North Korea if North Korea asked. North Korea is a little hellhole controlled by a maniac and you'd have to have an IQ of about 2 to even consider visiting that place.

That's as may be, but Google's decision to roam a country to capture street view imagery is related more to a country's privacy laws than anything else. Google couldn't give a rat's ass about North Korea or its beloved leader, but they do care about their privacy laws, which I'd imagine are pretty strict.

[freebrickproductions]

So you can't copy-and-paste the directions on the full version of Google Maps anymore in Google Chrome, great...
Doing the same in IE either crashes Word or pastes a huge mess that I don't want to have to deal with.

Out of curiosity, why were you copying and pasting directions?

It's easier to copy and paste directions into a Word document to plan a trip for me.

[D-Dey65]

I think Google's intention on blurring faces wasn't anything to do with privacy but rather just courtesy so someone's face isn't permanently emblazoned on Google, especially in instances where they're in front of their house (and a good reason for license plates to be blurred when in residential areas where it would be easy to mark a house to a license plate without driving by yourself.

In the end, Google does as they always do... go too far.

You know, blurring faces and license plates are one thing, but blurring signs and scenery are a different story. Even then I could understand if they had an outdated route designation or something. But otherwise, there's just no point.

[7/8]

I think Google's intention on blurring faces wasn't anything to do with privacy but rather just courtesy so someone's face isn't permanently emblazoned on Google, especially in instances where they're in front of their house (and a good reason for license plates to be blurred when in residential areas where it would be easy to mark a house to a license plate without driving by yourself.

In the end, Google does as they always do... go too far.

You know, blurring faces and license plates are one thing, but blurring signs and scenery are a different story. Even then I could understand if they had an outdated route designation or something. But otherwise, there's just no point.

Unfortunately, Google has a hard time distinguishing between faces and signs, hence why signs are often blurred out.

[vdeane]

I would assume the issue with the signs is not a problem distinguishing from faces but from licence plates.

[vdeane]

They're changing the map style again.  I don't like it.
http://www.cnet.com/news/google-maps-update-cleaner-look-areas-of-interest/

[LM117]

They're changing the map style again.  I don't like it.
http://www.cnet.com/news/google-maps-update-cleaner-look-areas-of-interest/

I just now noticed it on my android phone. It looks like shit. Google is just doing to it's maps what they've done to YouTube.

[7/8]

They're changing the map style again.  I don't like it.
http://www.cnet.com/news/google-maps-update-cleaner-look-areas-of-interest/

It reminds of Apple Maps, here's a screenshot of the new Google Maps style:


It definitely de-emphasizes the roads without the outlines and the toned-down freeway colours, and while I sort of get what they're going for, I think this is a problem.

[paulthemapguy]

Google has continued to drag Maps backwards toward the Stone Age.  The newest update is a fucking goddamn worthless pile of rancid dead raccoon flesh sprayed with skunk spray and smeared with donkey shit.  Why do they insist on making streets harder to discern from the background by removing the dark outlines, just to ensure that the number of migraines acquired from trying to read this mess jumps by 1000%?  Why does the text for landmarks look like my computer just reverted back to Windows 3.1?  Why are there random orange puke squares on the screen like I'm playing RollerCoaster Tycoon?  Why does the font for place names have a white outline around it that's less than one pixel wide in spots, rendering it invisible at random spots around each letter?  And most importantly, why reinvent the wheel (and in honor of this here's a song about reinventing the wheel)?!? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8Z874LS-QY

Listen, Google.  You and I both know that Apple is trying to be a competitor.  But they didn't get going until way after the starting gun, and they continue to be inferior.  So what are you afraid of?  You're worried about people defecting to Apple, really?  So you adapted their style?  WHY?  YOURS WAS ALWAYS BETTER.  Have some fucking balls and stand your ground on what you think Maps are supposed to look like.  You had it right before!!

[freebrickproductions]

And that's why I like to use satellite view.

Though of course, this is probably all about trying to have "modern" styling.

[bm7]

I really don't like the new look, the highways are faded and colorless. The new light orange 'points of interest' markings are inconsistent, and show from too far of a zoom level. The markings for schools seem to be completely gone now as well.

Google Maps has had roughly the same colors for highways for the last 7 or 8 years. I don't know why Google can't just let something look the same as it (almost) always has.

[noelbotevera]

Google has continued to drag Maps backwards toward the Stone Age.  The newest update is a fucking goddamn worthless pile of rancid dead raccoon flesh sprayed with skunk spray and smeared with donkey shit.  Why do they insist on making streets harder to discern from the background by removing the dark outlines, just to ensure that the number of migraines acquired from trying to read this mess jumps by 1000%?  Why does the text for landmarks look like my computer just reverted back to Windows 3.1?  Why are there random orange puke squares on the screen like I'm playing RollerCoaster Tycoon?  Why does the font for place names have a white outline around it that's less than one pixel wide in spots, rendering it invisible at random spots around each letter?  And most importantly, why reinvent the wheel (and in honor of this here's a song about reinventing the wheel)?!?

I actually didn't notice the outline. Most notably is that the freeways make it look like the world is getting paler.

[jakeroot]

If you consider the idea that many people use Google Maps to find places of interest, and not look at roads, the new Google Maps is a nice step in the right direction. And to be completely honest, I don't have any problem with the new colors. I like the more muted palette.

[Roadrunner75]

The newest update is a fucking goddamn worthless pile of rancid dead raccoon flesh sprayed with skunk spray and smeared with donkey shit. 

So you're not happy with it?

[US 41]

I've been using Lite Mode which seems to work fine, but the "Full Mode" Google Maps runs way to slow. But when I'm planning out trips I can't edit my route on Lite Mode, so I still use ClassyGMap as much as I can. Trying to edit a route on Full Google Maps is just plain irritating. Example: You try dragging the edit dot onto US 70 and it puts the edit dot on some alley a quarter of a mile away from US 70. On the ClassyGMap that doesn't happen. It automatically puts the dot on the major highway near by.

This is the "feature" of the new Google Maps that I hate the most. I'm glad someone else doesn't like it either.

On the bright side I noticed that they did fix this issue. I sometimes use the "new" Google Maps for directions, but I still use the KML Map (ClassyGMap) 99% of the time. (If I could still make directions on the KML Map, I'd never use the "new" Google Maps at all.)

[LM117]

Google has continued to drag Maps backwards toward the Stone Age.  The newest update is a fucking goddamn worthless pile of rancid dead raccoon flesh sprayed with skunk spray and smeared with donkey shit.  Why do they insist on making streets harder to discern from the background by removing the dark outlines, just to ensure that the number of migraines acquired from trying to read this mess jumps by 1000%?  Why does the text for landmarks look like my computer just reverted back to Windows 3.1?  Why are there random orange puke squares on the screen like I'm playing RollerCoaster Tycoon?  Why does the font for place names have a white outline around it that's less than one pixel wide in spots, rendering it invisible at random spots around each letter?  And most importantly, why reinvent the wheel (and in honor of this here's a song about reinventing the wheel)?!? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8Z874LS-QY

Listen, Google.  You and I both know that Apple is trying to be a competitor.  But they didn't get going until way after the starting gun, and they continue to be inferior.  So what are you afraid of?  You're worried about people defecting to Apple, really?  So you adapted their style?  WHY?  YOURS WAS ALWAYS BETTER.  Have some fucking balls and stand your ground on what you think Maps are supposed to look like.  You had it right before!!

[formulanone]

Google's new color palette looks nicer in Satellite Mode, but a little too muted in standard Map Mode. I guess I'll get used to it.

[paulthemapguy]

And that's why I like to use satellite view.

Though of course, this is probably all about trying to have "modern" styling.

Adapting to a modern style is always a losing proposition...Modern style is defined by what's happening in the present day, but adapting to a preexisting style means you're referencing something from the past!  "Adapting to the new style" is oxymoronic when the choices you make right now DEFINE the new style!...if that makes sense.  I just don't understand how a bunch of global trendsetters let themselves become submissive to a smaller entity's ideas.

Also I was hoping for my previous post to be rage-filled and also comedic...hope that came across.  Hard to judge tone through text written on the internet.

[jeffandnicole]

Google's new color palette looks nicer in Satellite Mode, but a little too muted in standard Map Mode. I guess I'll get used to it.

Bingo.  And so will most people.  It's hard to find any website that made a change that didn't rile up its users.  Everything is so much worse now than it was before.  It's shocking that anyone ever uses the internet anymore with all of these changes.

[Bruce]

It'd be nice to be able to switch between "themed" (aka classic/intermediate/new) maps in settings. Sometimes I want to look at a map with roads first, other times with transit first, other times with parks first, etc.

The new place of interest highlighting makes it hard to distinguish things like university campuses from the rest of the city (especially now that they aren't highlighted at all sometimes...even though they're huge places of interest). And the place labels are too big.

[slorydn1]

I don't mind the labels or any of that other BS, but the white roads on a white background-c'mon, really Google??? At anything other than the tightest zoom levels outside of a major city anything lesser than a full freeway is now completely invisible. Thanks for making the map unusable as a map, Google!!

[hotdogPi]

I don't mind the labels or any of that other BS, but the white roads on a white background-c'mon, really Google??? At anything other than the tightest zoom levels outside of a major city anything lesser than a full freeway is now completely invisible. Thanks for making the map unusable as a map, Google!!

I had the same problem even in Google Mapmaker, where it's yellow on white, not white on white. The colors are still too close.

[CtrlAltDel]

If you consider the idea that many people use Google Maps to find places of interest, and not look at roads . . .

I think the idea is that places of interest buy advertising, but roads don't. Hence the change in emphasis. That said, I still think the new colors are too muted and blend into one another too easily.

I've been using Lite Mode which seems to work fine, but the "Full Mode" Google Maps runs way to slow. But when I'm planning out trips I can't edit my route on Lite Mode, so I still use ClassyGMap as much as I can. Trying to edit a routae on Full Google Maps is just plain irritating. Example: You try dragging the edit dot onto US 70 and it puts the edit dot on some alley a quarter of a mile away from US 70. On the ClassyGMap that doesn't happen. It automatically puts the dot on the major highway near by.

This is the "feature" of the new Google Maps that I hate the most. I'm glad someone else doesn't like it either.

On the bright side I noticed that they did fix this issue. I sometimes use the "new" Google Maps for directions, but I still use the KML Map (ClassyGMap) 99% of the time. (If I could still make directions on the KML Map, I'd never use the "new" Google Maps at all.)

This is good to know. Thanks.

[paulthemapguy]

I don't mind the labels or any of that other BS, but the white roads on a white background-c'mon, really Google??? At anything other than the tightest zoom levels outside of a major city anything lesser than a full freeway is now completely invisible. Thanks for making the map unusable as a map, Google!!

Glad somebody understands my frustration.  Lol.
What's the point of making a MAP if you can't see the MAP