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Go back in time with Street View

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Re: Go back in time with Street View

#11

Post by kingnight »

I'm surprised they went forward with the fullscreen Google Maps experience. I can't believe how awful the performance is. I can't count how many times I've followed a link, including ones off this blog post, where the map will hang (on some js query I'm assuming) and won't respond to user input or do anything until the page is reloaded.

I also can't believe how tricky the UI is. Finding directions from one place to another is unbelievably difficult.

The only thing I can think of is that their desktop usage has just plummeted so they decided to go out the door with experimental features up to wazoo for the tinkerers who love to waste time exploring the map.

Re: Go back in time with Street View

#12

Post by finch_ »

kingnight wrote: post #11

I'm surprised they went forward with the fullscreen Google Maps experience. I can't believe how awful the performance is. I can't count how many times I've followed a link, including ones off this blog post, where the map will hang (on some js query I'm assuming) and won't respond to user input or do anything until the page is reloaded. I also can't believe how tricky the UI is. Finding directions from one place to a…

Maybe these are personal problems? I use Google Maps on the web all the time, and have never seen it hang.

As for finding directions: there's a search box, you type in an address, hit the 'directions' button that pops up, and enter another address. I literally can't think of a way to make this simpler.

Re: Go back in time with Street View

#13

Post by raldi »

kingnight wrote: post #11

I'm surprised they went forward with the fullscreen Google Maps experience. I can't believe how awful the performance is. I can't count how many times I've followed a link, including ones off this blog post, where the map will hang (on some js query I'm assuming) and won't respond to user input or do anything until the page is reloaded. I also can't believe how tricky the UI is. Finding directions from one place to a…

What kind of computer do you use?

Re: Go back in time with Street View

#14

Post by james33 »

kingnight wrote: post #11

I'm surprised they went forward with the fullscreen Google Maps experience. I can't believe how awful the performance is. I can't count how many times I've followed a link, including ones off this blog post, where the map will hang (on some js query I'm assuming) and won't respond to user input or do anything until the page is reloaded. I also can't believe how tricky the UI is. Finding directions from one place to a…

Are you using the same Google Maps as everyone else? At least for me, the experience has never been better or easier to use. I absolutely love the new desktop maps and the performance has been better in my experience, not worse.

Re: Go back in time with Street View

#15

Post by vegashacker »

finch_ wrote: post #12
kingnight wrote: post #11

I'm surprised they went forward with the fullscreen Google Maps experience. I can't believe how awful the performance is. I can't count how many times I've followed a link, including ones off this blog post, where the map will hang (on some js query I'm assuming) and won't respond to user input or do anything until the page is reloaded. I also can't believe how tricky the UI is. Finding directions from one place to a…

Maybe these are personal problems? I use Google Maps on the web all the time, and have never seen it hang. As for finding directions: there's a search box, you type in an address, hit the 'directions' button that pops up, and enter another address. I literally can't think of a way to make this simpler.

I happen to agree that the new interface is incredibly difficult to use, UI-wise. In fact, I switched back to old maps for this reason. Unfortunately, I don't recall the specifics which got me frustrated. I do recall that I would very often be wandering with my mouse trying to figure out what to click next.

Haven't noticed the performance problems though. I'm on a Macbook Pro, using Chrome.

Re: Go back in time with Street View

#16

Post by chadgeidel »

kingnight wrote: post #11

I'm surprised they went forward with the fullscreen Google Maps experience. I can't believe how awful the performance is. I can't count how many times I've followed a link, including ones off this blog post, where the map will hang (on some js query I'm assuming) and won't respond to user input or do anything until the page is reloaded. I also can't believe how tricky the UI is. Finding directions from one place to a…

I, too find the new maps occasionally frustrating (although I prefer it to the old version.

To answer other's questions. It's a game of "who moved my cheese" in which Google changes the way some feature works (for example - creating a link to a location), and when I try to find out how to do it "the new way", I only get results for "the old way".

I just discovered recently that you can show the sidebar (with the "Print" and "Link" buttons) in new maps by clicking the gear icon and select "My Places" in the lower right corner of the screen. This is non-obvious behavior.

Am I stupid? Perhaps. Can a case be made for the fact that moving navigational elements is bad UX? I think so.

Re: Go back in time with Street View

#17

Post by rwhitman »

I've been waiting for this feature to come about. I have to admit I've often taken a spin around street view in urban areas where there was major upheaval (devastation, rapid gentrification) and zoomed up and down streets hoping to get a glimpse of before / after street view photos. Pretty exciting to have it become featurized

Re: Go back in time with Street View

#18

Post by nandhp »

chadgeidel wrote: post #16
kingnight wrote: post #11

I'm surprised they went forward with the fullscreen Google Maps experience. I can't believe how awful the performance is. I can't count how many times I've followed a link, including ones off this blog post, where the map will hang (on some js query I'm assuming) and won't respond to user input or do anything until the page is reloaded. I also can't believe how tricky the UI is. Finding directions from one place to a…

I, too find the new maps occasionally frustrating (although I prefer it to the old version. To answer other's questions. It's a game of "who moved my cheese" in which Google changes the way some feature works (for example - creating a link to a location), and when I try to find out how to do it "the new way", I only get results for "the old way". I just discovered recently that you can show the sidebar (with the "Pri…

I do agree that the new maps are sometimes frustrating. However, I feel the need to point out two things with respect to your particular objections to it.

1. "Gear > My Places" appears to do basically the same thing as "Help > Return to Classic Google Maps", which has a significantly more obvious name.

2. In the new Google Maps, the Print and Link buttons are mostly redundant.

If you want to print the map, use your browser's Print command. In some situations (e.g. step-by-step directions) there is a print button on the Google Maps button-bar (under Google's global navigation) which offers more options (e.g. print with maps or print text only).

As to making links to things, there's a perfectly good URL in the address bar. If that isn't good enough (it's really long, so maybe you want a short URL), you can do "Gear > Share and embed map". Yes, this really ought to be named "Share or embed map", since those are actually separate features.

Re: Go back in time with Street View

#19

Post by will_brown »

This is similar, but maybe even cooler than Google Earth's time slide. I hope one day Google gives users the ability to filter Google News and Google search results by date.

One of my side projects is location based video sharing using the Google Map API. One of the first things I incorporated was a video search/filter by time/date. See: http://112.196.33.85/solitaire/demo/will_brown_new/login.php

Re: Go back in time with Street View

#20

Post by dragonwriter »

will_brown wrote: post #19

This is similar, but maybe even cooler than Google Earth's time slide. I hope one day Google gives users the ability to filter Google News and Google search results by date. One of my side projects is location based video sharing using the Google Map API. One of the first things I incorporated was a video search/filter by time/date. See: http://112.196.33.85/solitaire/demo/will_brown_new/login.php

> I hope one day Google gives users the ability to filter Google News and Google search results by date.

Haven't those options been in "search tools" for a long time (starting back when the search tools were more prominent), and in advanced options even before that?

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