> Why won't you show me the street name?
I've been running into this a lot lately. No matter how much I zoom -- no street name. This is Mapping 101.
Google Maps has become an eyesore
41–50 of 705 posts
Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore
#42Probably not a popular opinion here, but I like Google Maps. Sure there's some clutter, but it's pretty good at navigation, public transit and searching for places. I don't know any better alternative.
My wife and I prefer navigating with Apple maps after Google Maps stagnated for years and years. Apple's voice instructions are incomparably better.
I want to like Apple Maps but their reliance upon Yelp for useful information infuriates me.
Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore
#43There's a streetsign in a small country town in NSW "ignore google maps" which is a reflection of how strongly mistaken belief about route-finding can require locals to act. (this is not a piece of cardboard, its a full on enamel finish legit sign. The road is a giant U-turn and the road above which it APPEARS on maps to connect to, cannot be reached.
I wouldn't be surprised if pretty much every economy has one.
Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore
#44Every time I use Google Maps, I feel so helpless, and frankly, stupid. On Desktop, I simply can't figure it out how to switch to A-B route mode, nor how to trigger street view. I literally just click randomly in a more and more frustrated way until suddenly the option appears. And on Android I just avoid the app. I hate that I couldn't turn off the automatic compass. Every time I finally manage to orient myself when…
Well, it’s not built for you. Cows may not like milking machines either, but the farmer doesn’t care. Google Maps exists to further Google’s surveillance platform and search monopoly. User preference is incidental. It’s just like Internet Explorer on Windows 20 years ago. Microsoft only needed to make a good product long enough to leverage it into their other monopoly products, then they no longer gave a shit. We can…
> Cows may not like milking machines either, but the farmer doesn’t care. Google Maps exists to further Google’s surveillance platform and search monopoly. User preference is incidental.
I can’t help but roll my eyes reading stuff like this. Cows have no choice in their lives, Google Maps users can switch to an (increasingly competitive) alternative with very little switching cost.
Of course it’s in Google’s interest to keep their product usable.
Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore
#45Every time I use Google Maps, I feel so helpless, and frankly, stupid. On Desktop, I simply can't figure it out how to switch to A-B route mode, nor how to trigger street view. I literally just click randomly in a more and more frustrated way until suddenly the option appears. And on Android I just avoid the app. I hate that I couldn't turn off the automatic compass. Every time I finally manage to orient myself when…
> Every time I finally manage to orient myself when in a new place, the map starts spinning like crazy.
There's a "Keep North up" option while navigating, and I think if you click the "center map on me" button while not navigating one of the states will keep north up.
IMO smartphone compasses and gps are still too noisy to use anything other than "keep north up" as the default. Trying to navigate while your pin spins and jumps around on a map is dangerous and difficult, having the entire map spin around at the same time is just madness. I wouldn't be surprised if this decision hasn't killed someone.
Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore
#46Eyesore issues are an aside to the reckless behavior of GMaps' navigation. I don't want to always take a one lane back-country road to save maybe 5 minutes of my life - and if there's no suggested alternative route at the onset there's not really an easy way to compare the times between usual("fastest") and "safest" routes.
Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore
#47I've commented on this before[1] as have others[2] but Google Maps is willfully malicious software that I am certain has killed cyclists and motorcyclists by re-routing onto dangerous routes after navigation has started. Why this dangerous 'feature' cannot be disabled is infuriating. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31333754 [2] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
As a somewhat new commuting cyclist, I've been apps built on top of OpenStreetMap, like OSMAnd. I hear good things about Komoot as well.
Also, as a cyclist and a bit of nerd, it's fun to update OSM around my bike routes I know best.
Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore
#48wow have they even looked at their own site? people need some self awareness
Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore
#49have they even looked at their own site? people need some self awareness
Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore
#50I would add to this article that a major issue with Google Maps has been businesses trying to SEO-pad their business names on Google Maps, to the detriment of readability. This is also against their TOS – the "business name" form is supposed to be their legally registered business name, the one that they probably have signage for. Moderators simply don't enforce this, and with Map Maker basically gone, the community…
This would be solved by dividing it up on 2 distinct fields, a business name field and a title field. Then a business can put their SEO crap in the title field and google maps can decide how much of the info to display when.
Of course moderation would still be a thing, perhaps a character limit of 25 for the name should be enforced unless they can demonstrate why that is too little.
Coincidently the separate fields is how Apple Maps does it, although their title field appears made up of a category list item, presumably to keep it consistent and free of spam.