New Google Maps

[Roadsguy]

It wouldn't be so bad if map-makers weren't so bad at choosing what are major arterials and which aren't. But yeah, in short, Google Maps is terrible in looks and accuracy.

Can we start a big push to get it banned on the site except maybe for Street View? :spin

[kphoger]

It wouldn't be so bad if map-makers weren't so bad at choosing what are major arterials and which aren't. But yeah, in short, Google Maps is terrible in looks and accuracy.

Can we start a big push to get it banned on the site except maybe for Street View? :spin

As I've said before, I've found Google Maps to be at least as accurate as any other online map.

[Dr Frankenstein]

I strongly disagree with dropping the yellow colour for arteries. It just makes them harder to distinguish from the local streets/roads. I think that they copied that style from Apple Maps, except that the semi-veteran is copying the newbie that everyone's been laughing at...

[vdeane]

So why didn't they copy the use of state highway shields?  That's about the one thing Apple Maps does right.

[spmkam]

Just about the only thing.

[codyg1985]

So why didn't they copy the use of state highway shields?  That's about the one thing Apple Maps does right.

So we got the worst of both worlds now.

[NJRoadfan]

Still no county lines shown. Is that asking for too much?

[TCN7JM]

Wow. After looking closer at it, the new GMaps could have been so much better than it is.   

Anyone know how to utilize the driving directions feature so that I can have more than two points? I can't seem to find the option.

[Dr Frankenstein]

NJRoadfan: When you search for a county, city, township or borough, its limits show up on the map.

[TCN7JM]

NJRoadfan: When you search for a county, city, township or borough, its limits show up on the map.

You shouldn't really even have to do that. Even a site like Mapquest has county lines without searching.

[empirestate]

NJRoadfan: When you search for a county, city, township or borough, its limits show up on the map.

You shouldn't really even have to do that. Even a site like Mapquest has county lines without searching.

I use Bing for county lines, because the labels consistently appear for all counties at all zoom levels in which they're displayed. Mapquest's county labels seem to get suppressed a lot, making the name invisible, while Bing seems to have a much better algorithm for that. Oddly, for displaying placenames according to their relative importance, I find Mapquest does that better, and I prefer the bolder type and point symbol they use as well, although at close zooms I would like to see the names applied more in an areal fashion–like Bing does.

In short, each of the mapping programs has different advantages, and so I use various ones simultaneously. At least there isn't yet a monopoly on this service...

[deathtopumpkins]

Attempted to use the updated Google Navigation app for Android today, and it was a disaster:

• It crashed on me 3 times just trying to put in one address.
• There is no way to return to your navigation if you leave the app (even to do something like answer a phone call!). However, the voice prompts still continue, even though switching back to Navigation brings you back to the choose destination screen with no trace of your previous route.
• The route alternates button is gone. You now must exit and reopen the app to adjust your route. Previously tapping a single button would display route alternates and their travel times, but now the only way to get to this is to press the menu button, and then select route alternates from the options there BEFORE you've pressed start.
• The option to show markers for gas stations, ATMs, etc. is gone.
• Displaying either a route overview or list of directions now takes several taps through options, rather than just the single-tap required before.
• I also had the app refuse to exit after I'd arrived at my destination. It stayed in the status bar until I restated the phone.
• If you want the app to either start from your current location (duh) or display any of your saved/previous destinations, you have to open it, close it, and then reopen it. The first time you open it it's blank.
• Neither contacts' addresses nor locations you've starred in Google Maps appear anymore, previously you'd swipe over to get to them on their own pages.
• The traffic view has replaced green with blue on the map for along your route.
• With the symbology change, the nighttime "dark" color scheme now just makes everything darker, rather than using a different color palette. The result? You can't make out anything other than the street names and the blue line of your route. It takes close squinting to see the actual streets, since they're grey-on-grey.

Not to mention my previous complains about the fact that, for one, you can't tell any of the roads apart because they're all white! White roads on a white background are virtually impossible to distinguish glancing at a 4" screen.
Even browsing on the website it is really hard to pick out the major roads somewhere.

This is becoming quite a rant, but the new Google Maps is truly awful, in every regard.

[NE2]

The Goog is poo. And SHITTY!

[formulanone]

The Android app insists on loading both the old and new road images, which takes twice as long. In some cases, it seems to even revert back to the old view...slowing it down even more. The arterial routes marked with thicker white outlines seems to be an attempt to judge a minor from a major route (rather than marking every arterial the same "medium-thickness yellow line"), but with uneven application. You can't see those white lines so well. I guess the daytime contrast is better overall; the colors are a little more vibrant in that regard.

Look, I hate to be one of those they-changed-it-now-it-sucks people, but this really needs some tinkering to get it back up to par with what they had before. I can't imagine that will take long, but they need to stop allowing every dim-witted yokel to just make up a town name, permit completed signage and construction for projects that aren't complete nor open to the public, or to allow them to mark their own driveway a public expressway. It's not WikiMapia.

[deathtopumpkins]

I discovered today that it is possible to uninstall the app update, thereby going back to the old Google Maps for Android, since the new Maps is essentially unusable.

Still haven't figured out how to get rid of it on the website though. 

[Dr Frankenstein]

The iPhone app has an equally confusing and unintuitive UI. Their philosophy seems to be "let's no label anything and let people figure shit out by angrily tapping and sliding everywhere in the app". Seriously, I'm a developper and I think that they should fire their head of UI design.

[TCN7JM]

I discovered today that it is possible to uninstall the app update, thereby going back to the old Google Maps for Android, since the new Maps is essentially unusable.

Still haven't figured out how to get rid of it on the website though. 

http://tools.wmflabs.org/geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Sioux_Falls,_South_Dakota&params=43_32_11_N_96_43_54_W_region:US_type:city

The site's down temporarily right now, but I've found that clicking Google Maps links on that site (which should be back up later today) sometimes registers as a problem with Google Maps and reverts you to Classic. (For some dumbass reason, I kept switching back to the new app until yesterday.) It's a lifesaver. 

[agentsteel53]

the real question is: does it have a scale? 

[deathtopumpkins]

I discovered today that it is possible to uninstall the app update, thereby going back to the old Google Maps for Android, since the new Maps is essentially unusable.

Still haven't figured out how to get rid of it on the website though. 

http://tools.wmflabs.org/geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Sioux_Falls,_South_Dakota&params=43_32_11_N_96_43_54_W_region:US_type:city

The site's down temporarily right now, but I've found that clicking Google Maps links on that site (which should be back up later today) sometimes registers as a problem with Google Maps and reverts you to Classic. (For some dumbass reason, I kept switching back to the new app until yesterday.) It's a lifesaver. 

Doing that always gives me the new look.

[TCN7JM]

Heh heh...uh oh. Either they fixed the problem since yesterday or it was just on my end. 

Well the exact link I got was this: https://www.google.com/maps?output=classic&dg=crsh

[NJRoadfan]

Another new feature. Looks like they tweaked the contrast on the older low-res streetview photos.

[kphoger]

The Goog is poo. And SHITTY!

googling is cool

[stormwatch7721]

It looks like the bugs are fixed and now you are being forced to switch to the new Google maps look.

[english si]

It looks like the bugs are fixed and now you are being forced to switch to the new Google maps look.

No the bugs aren't fixed (see, for instance this thread), no you aren't forced to switch (see this workaround, though you are forced to hunt for a workaround), and no it isn't the new google maps look (its the cartography, but the photo bar, lack of pegman, etc that make the new maps UI isn't there).

[formulanone]

You click on the blue "Help & Feedback" drop-down at the top-right, and chose "Return to Classic Google Maps" at the bottom of the list.