Google Maps just fucking SUCKS now

[1995hoo]

Earlier today I found something odd with the new Google Maps: It appears the satellite view (or "Earth" view as it calls it) is far more zoomed in than the map view. If you zoom in fairly close on the map, then click over to the satellite view, the zoom level is so high that you have to zoom out to see anything. Very strange. I don't know why they don't have it use the same zoom on both views.

True with the old Google Maps too.

I never had that problem with the old one.

[hotdogPi]

Earlier today I found something odd with the new Google Maps: It appears the satellite view (or "Earth" view as it calls it) is far more zoomed in than the map view. If you zoom in fairly close on the map, then click over to the satellite view, the zoom level is so high that you have to zoom out to see anything. Very strange. I don't know why they don't have it use the same zoom on both views.

True with the old Google Maps too.

I never had that problem with the old one.

Maybe it's not the same, but where I live, the scale says "50 feet" in normal mode and "20 feet" in satellite mode when zoomed in fully.

[kkt]

It's way, way slower.  Swimming through honey slow.  And clutters the screen with all this junk that won't even go away.  Google, remember the success of the Google search screen:  nothing on it that doesn't need to be there, and it loads fast!

And mapquest is adding crap to make it slower too.  Not as slow as the new Google Maps, but it still sucks.

[Mike_OH]

I've had problems clicking on the businesses and points of interest. The street view also sucks.

[rschen7754]

I had to turn on hardware acceleration in Firefox to get it to pan at all. But it's still horribly sluggish.

[countyguy]

Also, I use classic google maps.  I enjoy making maps in which I determine distances to the hundredth of the mile and draw lines along roads.  Those are no longer possible with new Google Maps.  The fact that we can still use classic version is great.

[billtm]

I still use the classic Google maps. I like it way better because it is easier to find mistakes to edit on map maker, and the distance measurement tool is nice to have.

[vdeane]

One thing, though, I noticed that if you drag the yellow man down to the map for Street View you MUST hit the target!  If you miss the blue line, the map will suddenly zoom out.

And good luck trying to follow a road for any distance on Street View.  The old version had set arrows in the pavement to advance or retreat on a route.  The new version does not.  Go over a complex viaduct in the new version and you'll find yourself in an underpass with no way out and no way to advance.  Here's a good example:  Try to cross the Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge on Street View.  I dare you.

I just found this out today, but it is possible to use the arrow keys to navigate street view.

[JMoses24]

NOTE: I've edited this to remove my address.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present... failure.

This actually happened to me. I'm looking up transit directions to a local bar for Tuesday as I plan to meet a friend there for lunch. The sensible thing to do would be to take the bus to the nearest bus stop, then walk up the side of the road to the bar. Indeed, when you type in Dickmann's Sports Cafe, that's what it would seem to tell you to do...

https://goo.gl/maps/Snp2B

But when I manually dragged the end point to the parking lot of the bar...same property, mind you...well, Google Maps just threw this at me. It wanted me to actually walk across SIX LANES of Interstate 275.

[sipes23]

It's way, way slower.  Swimming through honey slow.  And clutters the screen with all this junk that won't even go away.  Google, remember the success of the Google search screen:  nothing on it that doesn't need to be there, and it loads fast!

And mapquest is adding crap to make it slower too.  Not as slow as the new Google Maps, but it still sucks.

You understate how slow it truly is. On a new chromebook, which is running Google's latest software to optimize the whole Google experience, it takes 10 seconds to load. I know that seems impatient, but remind yourself: It's that slow on Google designed software. How slow is it on something else? 

I'm actively looking for a map website that works as well as the old Google maps, but that doesn't seem to exist.

[hotdogPi]

It's way, way slower.  Swimming through honey slow.  And clutters the screen with all this junk that won't even go away.  Google, remember the success of the Google search screen:  nothing on it that doesn't need to be there, and it loads fast!

And mapquest is adding crap to make it slower too.  Not as slow as the new Google Maps, but it still sucks.

You understate how slow it truly is. On a new chromebook, which is running Google's latest software to optimize the whole Google experience, it takes 10 seconds to load. I know that seems impatient, but remind yourself: It's that slow on Google designed software. How slow is it on something else? 

I'm actively looking for a map website that works as well as the old Google maps, but that doesn't seem to exist.

The old Google Maps still exists. I use it.

[Roadrunner75]

I can't stand the new Google maps.  I have a 'Favorite' button on the PC browser that just goes to the old one.  Unfortunately, clicking on any GSV link here brings me to the new one, and then it's a struggle to do anything with it.  I don't like not being able to just zoom in and out of GSV to aerials/maps, without having to hit the 'Back to Maps' toggle which dumps me nowhere near where I just was on GSV.  Not being able to toggle labels on and off is also terrible too in the new version.  Thumbs down, Google.

[Duke87]

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present... failure.

Per your screenshot you are using the old Google Maps. This thread is for complaining about the new one.


Which, honestly, I've gotten used to and am okay with at this point. I still have a few complaints but I had several complaints about the old one as well, so eh.

Things I don't like:
- when you ask for directions it recommends a mode of transportation automatically, you have to then manually select another option if Google's primary choice isn't what you're looking for (in particular, the freaking useless flying directions which merely serve as advertising for airlines can die in a fire)
- driving directions show most prominently the travel time in current traffic, leaving free flow time as an afterthought. This assumes the user is asking for directions for a trip they are about to make right now, not planning for something later. (to be fair, this assumption is probably correct for most users, especially mobile users. But it sure isn't correct for roadgeeks!)
- will not show the boundaries of a county if a town or city with the same name exists in the same state, will insist on showing you the town even if you specify "county"
- if you searched for something and haven't cleared it, any failure to drop pegman properly will jump you back to what you searched for rather than leaving you where you are
- on that note, pegman is more finnicky than in the old version about when and where he will let you drop him

[The Nature Boy]

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present... failure.

Things I don't like:

- driving directions show most prominently the travel time in current traffic, leaving free flow time as an afterthought. This assumes the user is asking for directions for a trip they are about to make right now, not planning for something later. (to be fair, this assumption is probably correct for most

The big problem with this feature (for everyone, I assume) is that if I want directions from Charlotte, NC to Boston, MA, I don't really care what the travel time is NOW because the traffic that I'll hit in NY or DC will be gone by the time I get to it. Google Maps almost assumes that traffic will remain constant for your entire trip.

Not really helpful

[freebrickproductions]

I use the old Google Maps, but I use the new one if I want to see new streetview images.

[vdeane]

While the old maps exists, there's no denying that Google is no longer maintaining it.  Last I tried to make a link from it, the short URL feature no longer worked.

- driving directions show most prominently the travel time in current traffic, leaving free flow time as an afterthought. This assumes the user is asking for directions for a trip they are about to make right now, not planning for something later. (to be fair, this assumption is probably correct for most users, especially mobile users. But it sure isn't correct for roadgeeks!)

I suspect that's why they mark temporarily closed roads as not existing.  Really hard if you're planning a future trip when the road is reopened.

- on that note, pegman is more finnicky than in the old version about when and where he will let you drop him

There's also some glitch where grabbing pegman causes the map to jump halfway up the screen.

[freebrickproductions]

While the old maps exists, there's no denying that Google is no longer maintaining it.  Last I tried to make a link from it, the short URL feature no longer worked.

Short URL works for me.

[JMoses24]

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present... failure.

Per your screenshot you are using the old Google Maps. This thread is for complaining about the new one.


Which, honestly, I've gotten used to and am okay with at this point. I still have a few complaints but I had several complaints about the old one as well, so eh.

Things I don't like:
- when you ask for directions it recommends a mode of transportation automatically, you have to then manually select another option if Google's primary choice isn't what you're looking for (in particular, the freaking useless flying directions which merely serve as advertising for airlines can die in a fire)
- driving directions show most prominently the travel time in current traffic, leaving free flow time as an afterthought. This assumes the user is asking for directions for a trip they are about to make right now, not planning for something later. (to be fair, this assumption is probably correct for most users, especially mobile users. But it sure isn't correct for roadgeeks!)
- will not show the boundaries of a county if a town or city with the same name exists in the same state, will insist on showing you the town even if you specify "county"
- if you searched for something and haven't cleared it, any failure to drop pegman properly will jump you back to what you searched for rather than leaving you where you are
- on that note, pegman is more finnicky than in the old version about when and where he will let you drop him

I don't like the new one, either. But I did want to point out there's fails in both versions and thought this was a good place to put that.

[national highway 1]

Whenever I drag the Streetview Pinman onto the map, the map keeps panning north or south which I find really annoying about the new Google Maps.

[MillTheRoadgeek]

Well, here is my thoughts on the new Google Maps:

I think it is fine, but too hard to navigate for photos, distance measure, and all that stuff. Plus, it is much slower than classic Google Maps and only shows yellow for major arterials.

I've tried to switch back, but I found the non-fullscreen space too weird and hard to get used to back. I also have more problems, but I can't really list them right now.

[mobilene]

Old Maps was great for straight-up map power users, and I'll bet that means most of us. New Maps I'm betting is meant to be a more all-purpose map tool that integrates better with Google's other services.

That said, it's constantly dragging my browser performance into the toilet. Annoying as hell.

[roadman65]

Whenever I drag the Streetview Pinman onto the map, the map keeps panning north or south which I find really annoying about the new Google Maps.

Miss the target when pining and the map will zoom out.

[vdeane]

While the old maps exists, there's no denying that Google is no longer maintaining it.  Last I tried to make a link from it, the short URL feature no longer worked.

Short URL works for me.

Are you signed in?  That might make a difference.  I usually do everything with driving directions in a private window because I don't want the directions/searching mucking up my search history/page thumbnail for the new tab page.  It happened in both IE8 at work and Chrome at home (when I tried to create the short URL there; had to email the long URL to myself).

[Zeffy]

I tried to jump on NJ 29 recently and I always end up on a nearby street and not 29 itself. This happens in other cities too, especially one where I ended up like 15 miles south of where I wanted to be. And before you ask - yes, there WAS Streetview data there.

[mjb2002]

well, shit.

it's gone from a tool that I rely on several times a day, to something for which I have had to erase the memorized auto-complete URL in my browser's address bar, lest I prefer to not absentmindedly crash my browser.

what the high holy fuck ever prompted Google to release this pile of shit?

it's like going from a car that reliably transports you to point B, to Ace Rothstein's Cadillac.

I have to agree with you here, especially on touchscreens, where you can't even move the Street View man.