Google Maps just fucking SUCKS now

[Rothman]

Ah, I found an export function hidden in the depths of my settings...but it exports as a .json.  So, I evidently need to learn Python in order to convert the .json into some geographic form in order to actually use it.

What do you want to export to? And for what purpose? I've never used Google Timeline, but I understand that its sample rate is really low. Whenever I go somewhere new, or where I'm likely to take pictures, I use a GPS logger phone app, and export the logs to files on my personal computer. It samples at 1Hz, so you see every turn. It's kind of cool to look at a track through the mountains and see where you pulled over to enjoy the view.

Which app?  And can you export to a format that can be mapped?

[pderocco]

Ah, I found an export function hidden in the depths of my settings...but it exports as a .json.  So, I evidently need to learn Python in order to convert the .json into some geographic form in order to actually use it.

What do you want to export to? And for what purpose? I've never used Google Timeline, but I understand that its sample rate is really low. Whenever I go somewhere new, or where I'm likely to take pictures, I use a GPS logger phone app, and export the logs to files on my personal computer. It samples at 1Hz, so you see every turn. It's kind of cool to look at a track through the mountains and see where you pulled over to enjoy the view.

Which app?  And can you export to a format that can be mapped?

I'm on Android, and I use GpsLogger II. It's a little rough around the edges, but I've never lost any data. It can export to KML, FIT, GPX (several variants), CSV, NMEA, JSON. I always export as CSV and KML.

CSV has all the data in a format that's easy to read programmatically, and I wrote a program that can take that CSV file and look at the timestamps on a directory full of pictures, and produce a small CSV file that associates file names with lat/lon that I can display as pushpins in Google Earth.

The KML file also has all the GPS data, so it's really bloated, and can often bring Google Earth to its knees with a day-long log, so instead I copy the single line that has the big long list of coordinates into a simple KML file of my own that just draws a red line with no other information.

[vdeane]

Google has changed the markers to a less pointy design that has a white border.  It looks like it's fully rolled out now, as I tried several times to get a Google Maps window with the old markers (by closing and reopening new private browsing sessions) to no avail.  Yuck.

[1995hoo]

For the past week or so, when I open a browser tab on my PC and load Google Maps, it's a crapshoot as to how it will load: Sometimes it defaults into satellite view with the blue lines for Street View enabled (which causes much slower loading) and other times it defaults into the standard map view with Street View off. Very strange. No idea what causes it. It's not remembering how I last used it, either.

[Hunty2022]

I-87 has returned in NC and VA over the US 64 and US 17 corridors.

[Scott5114]

Has anyone else been having Google Maps do a thing where, as you scroll around the map, it flickers back and forth between the map you're viewing and one you viewed a few days ago?

[ErmineNotyours]

Today I drove to Eatonville, Washington from the north.  Before I used Google Maps for navigation, I frequently went off SR 161 to Orville Road to avoid the South Hill stroad jam, but today Google actually recommended it as being a few minutes faster.  Another advantage to navigating with Google Maps over my old, outdated GPS was that it shows the current speed limit, which can be handy.  Today I drove past a 10 MPH sign on a side road.  That's interesting, I thought.  Then I noticed that Google was showing the speed limit on the main road is 10 MPH.  So, is that how Google gets its speed limit information?  By automatically harvesting it off their Street Views?  I feel sorry for self-driving car users who find their cars mistaking the sign for the speed limit of the main road.

[thenetwork]

One idea I would love to have Google Maps, and similar mapping apps, do is to take this idea from (I believe) Colorado's www.cotrip.org website. 

Under certain modes when you zoom in on their map, they indicate the locations of the mile markers by number on the main highways.  I can't seem to remember how you can pull them up at this moment, but it is there...somewhere.

That would come in handy for someone unfamiliar with their locations, as it can help authorities pinpoint a stranded motorist or an incident location that a driver can use as for a reference point.

[CoreySamson]

I would just like to know whatever resource 911 operators are pulling mile markers from. It seems that they would rather have that to determine location rather than any identifying crossroads/landmarks/etc. Why the regular driver can't have easy access to that (on many roads where mileposts are not erected) is beyond me.

[pderocco]

Google Maps on Android and Google Maps for the web are two very different creatures. I like the web version on a laptop, but my phone just started doing something really stupid. Underneath the address bar, there are buttons for various search categories. There are more buttons than you can see at a time, so you can slide the bar left and right. And there are way more available buttons than shown buttons, so the last one says More, and brings up a long list.

So far, so good. But the first thing they did wrong is that the buttons that are shown keep changing order. This would be wonderful if it always moved the last used button to the first position, but instead it moves buttons I would never ever use (Beauty Parlors?) to the first few positions, so I have to slide to find the ones I want, which basically boil down to Restaurants, Hotels, and Gas.

Yesterday, while I was looking for a hotel up in Washington state, it didn't show Hotels at all. I had to go into the More popup, and scroll down to the bottom section to select Hotels. But then, when I had finished a search and tried another one, Hotels was gone again, and I had to repeat this process every time I did a new hotel search. Beauty Parlors were still shown reliably, though.

[thenetwork]

I would just like to know whatever resource 911 operators are pulling mile markers from. It seems that they would rather have that to determine location rather than any identifying crossroads/landmarks/etc. Why the regular driver can't have easy access to that (on many roads where mileposts are not erected) is beyond me.

One time I was reporting an incident on a more remote road.  When I tried to give the GPS coordinates to the 911 operator for reference (which is the most accurate pinpoint) she thought I was speaking Latin!!!

[SEWIGuy]

Don't 911 operators just use the location services on your phone to figure out where you are? I would think that's way more accurate than someone trying to look up a milepost on Google Maps.

[cjw2001]

Don't 911 operators just use the location services on your phone to figure out where you are? I would think that's way more accurate than someone trying to look up a milepost on Google Maps.

yes any decent PSAP (public safety answering point) will be equipped to receive that information automatically from your phone.

[bugo]

I still hate the blue.

I do NOT back the blue. I've had too many bad experiences with them, and when you actually need them, they're too cowardly to do anything.

FTP

ACAB

[Rothman]

In other news, Google seems to have messed up with how shields and road names appear to where, a lot of the time, they disappear as you zoom in or out.

They just SUCK.

[Plutonic Panda]

I wish there was an option on Google and Apple to include express or toll lanes when navigating. They clearly know they're there when I use them it switches the line on the map to them.