New Google Maps

[stormwatch7721]

I signed up for an invite in Gmail to get the new Google maps and I got it and the new Google bugs is kind of buggy. Does anyone know why?

[empirestate]

Probably because it's in beta.

[NE2]

the new Google bugs is kind of buggy. Does anyone know why?

The name should tip you off...

[stormwatch7721]

That is just what I'm looking for.

[rickmastfan67]

stormwatch7721, people all the time snip out parts of quotes to let people know what part they are responding to.  NE2 did just that and didn't change any of the words of that section of your post.  No need for you to go crazy over it.

[Dr Frankenstein]

I'm on the new Google Maps... nifty rendering improvements (especially the WebGL-based 3D satellite view), but there are some regressions in terms of usability. It seems to have been made with most of the focus on touch, and the support (or lack thereof) for keyboard and pointing devices is frustrating. I can't zoom in or out with '+' and '-', let alone navigate with the arrow keys or Page Up/Down and Home/End. Left and right click have the same meaning; no context menu with features like "Directions to/from here."

[formulanone]

Just received my invite...and it won't load on my Android phone. Guess I'll have to wait.

[Duke87]

It seems to have been made with most of the focus on touch, and the support (or lack thereof) for keyboard and pointing devices is frustrating. I can't zoom in or out with '+' and '-', let alone navigate with the arrow keys or Page Up/Down and Home/End. Left and right click have the same meaning; no context menu with features like "Directions to/from here."

Signs of the times. More and more people are using these services from smartphones and tablets instead of from a traditional computer, and Google isn't the only one designing things with that in mind. Just look at Windows 8.

I would figure, though, that some of this lack of functionality is a consequence of it still being in Beta, and that once it goes live some of the lost options will be restored.

[Dr Frankenstein]

True that, but supporting navigation keys and RMB doesn't get in the way of touch support at all. We'll see. I did submit a report.

(Move to General Highway Talk?)

[formulanone]

It's slow-slow-slow from my laptop. I didn't really see much of anything new (just placed in different locations), other than a softer and more vivid color palette, and characters that are occasionally very blurry. I'm sure there's other new stuff in there, but I went back to the old maps...I'll figure out the new one when it's ready for general release.

[Dr Frankenstein]

I realized last week that you can't create an itinerary with multiple legs.

This is unacceptable.

Dragging the line as a cheap way to add "waypoints" will quickly get you a 414 Request URI Too Large error in the AJAX requests.

[KEK Inc.]

How do you link on it?  On my gaming computer, it seems a little sluggish.

And I miss peg-man for Street View.

[codyg1985]

I see that the 45 degree aerial views are no longer available. In some cases, those were more recent than the normal aerial imagery.

I also find it to be a bit sluggish.

[empirestate]

I see that the 45 degree aerial views are no longer available. In some cases, those were more recent than the normal aerial imagery.

I also find it to be a bit sluggish.

It's a little slow for me, but faster than the experimental WebGL version was. Also, the new Earth mode is much faster and smoother to load than the old Earth plug-in. I do greatly miss all the keyboard shortcuts; as far as I can see there isn't any keyboard control over the beta, only trackpad/mouse. There also isn't much navigation available in Earth mode, unlike the plug-in, which operates similarly to the Earth app.

Agreed about the 45-degree imagery...I'd been led to believe that all of the imagery sources were fully integrated: satellite, 45-degree, 3D terrain, and Street View. Again, the 45-degree was included in the previous WebGL version, with animated rotation and such.

I do like that you can zoom to named places by clicking on them, as has been possible in Bing for a while. I also note that the color scheme has been unified somewhat across the world; previously, places like the UK and Japan had distinct color palettes.

[Dr Frankenstein]

And I miss peg-man for Street View.

True. Now you have to select a location, hope it has coverage (there's no way to tell anymore) then click on "Street View." In this day of "intuitive" UIs, this is... lame.

[DSS5]

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I don't like having to use the Google Earth-type interface to see satellite imagery. I don't like the way it handles, and I miss the birds-eye imagery.

I ended up switching back.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Just discovered: You can now use the "+" and "-" keys on your keyboard to zoom in and out... but the arrows and page keys still aren't working.

[TCN7JM]

I don't mind the new Google Maps overall, but the lack of easily accessible StreetView is very annoying and it seems that whenever I try to click a GMaps link on GeoHack, it reverts me to the classic GMaps.

[NE2]

Is it me, or did they just change the Goog and the images are the wrong size? It could be related to the Firefox update.

[deathtopumpkins]

For those of us who haven't yet switched to the "new" Google Maps, the symbology updated today. All roads are now the same white color apart from freeways (which are now a significantly darker orange) and a few select major roads (which are close to the old yellowish color).

It's absolutely hideous. No roads at all display on the outermost zoom levels of satellite, which made me think I had labels turned off at first, and it is now virtually impossible to distinguish at a glance between a dirt track and a multilane divided arterial. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to which roads are now considered major. For example, Main St through Kingston, NH, which is an unnumbered town road, appears as major, whereas the ONLY roads in northeastern Mass to appear as major are US 1 and MA 125. MA 114, which is a heavily traveled 4-lane road between Salem and Lawrence? Same color as my tiny one-way residential street. MA 2, a 4-6 lane expressway bypass of Concord? Same color. Again, same thing for NH 16 north of Rochester, which is an expressway with both interchanges and intersections, and the main route for traffic headed to the NH Lakes and White Mountains. And same for VA 143, which is an 8-lane boulevard, and VA 199, which is a mix of freeway and expressway.

This is very, very badly done, and it appears to be that way nationwide (Canada is not quite as bad). Google maps is nearly unusable now.

[kphoger]

Well, Mexican roads aren't all the same color now, which is good.  It's a little weird how they decided which ones to make orange, yellow, and white, so maybe it's no improvement at all.

In general, though, I'm liking the change OK.  As time goes on, we'll see if I keep liking it.

[kphoger]

Whoa, wait, I take that back.  Where did all the FM route numbers in Texas go???  NOT COOL.

[deathtopumpkins]

They've also removed the ability to rotate the map/imagery.

And I don't like the new icons for parks and whatnot. Everything is just so much harder to find/see.



EDIT: And I'm starting to notice a bunch of roads that were previously shown as freeways are NOT the new dark orange freeway color - notable examples MA 2 west of Acton, US 7 in SW Vermont, and the NH 101 Milford Bypass (this one is even shown in WHITE now!!)

[vdeane]

Noticed this before the change, but it appears that Google has adopted MapQuest's "freeway ends at last interchange" system (as opposed to the previous "freeway ends at the first at-grade or driveway", which IMO is how it should be done).

[Scott5114]

The second-largest city in Oklahoma is...

...apparently the same as the first-largest city in Oklahoma. Hm.