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Google Maps Has Forsaken Us

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Re: Google Maps Has Forsaken Us

#81

Post by Pacabel »

judk wrote: post #72
Pacabel wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, not at all. It isn't really about age. I've dealt with "hipsters" in their 40s and 50s who've come up with very bad UI designs. Likewise, many of the managers or executives advocating for these redesigns are in their 30s, 40s or even 50s. While it may be more of an issue with younger people due to a greater lack of experience and intuition, it's a phenomenon that's quite independent of age.

> These people are often relatively young, often have limited experience > "hipsters" in their 40s and 50s These statements cancel each other out, so there's no reason to state either as supposedly providing information content.

Are you really suggesting that people can't have second or even third careers?

A 40-year-old who got into web design after a lengthy career in print media design, if not some totally unrelated field, is often no more experienced than a 20-year-old who got directly into web design. I know this can be true, because I've worked with both types of people in the past.

And "often" does not mean "always", obviously.

Re: Google Maps Has Forsaken Us

#82

Post by Oletros »

cocoflunchy wrote: post #16

The worst about that Sambisa Forest thing is that the autocompletion finds it ( http://imgur.com/kWgcByo ) and then when you press enter, you get a not found error ( http://imgur.com/GyhVSaO ) !

I receive a "Did you mean: Sambisa Forest Reserve, Nigeria" when pressing enter

Re: Google Maps Has Forsaken Us

#83

Post by TeMPOraL »

judk wrote: post #68
Pacabel wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on who you are, and how you use the browser. Maybe the Chrome UI is good for somebody with a tiny screen and a near-complete lack of technical ability. But for people with large monitors and the need to push a web browser hard, they've merely managed to strip out or hide a lot of very useful functionality, with essentially no benefit. What's left over is non-standard and awkward to use (like Chrome's menu)…

> somebody with a tiny screen and a near-complete lack of technical ability The vast majority of users.

And that continuous pandering to them is what will bring the downfall of the information age. We are dumbing down our technology, where we should be forcing people to get smarter instead. But unfortunately, dumber is always easier to sell. I fear that, as the world depends more and more on technology (and people actually thinking straight), this feedback loop of progressing idiocy might one day undo us.

Re: Google Maps Has Forsaken Us

#84

Post by [deleted] »

solutionyogi wrote: post #22
joel_perl_prog wrote: post #6

Is this where we get to complain about how horrible Google Maps suddenly is? Because wow. I can speak about this. It's terrible. First and foremost, and they have their "reasons" of course, but my Samsung Rant (yeah just a feature phone) always had great maps. Just a simple Java app, built on the maps API. Well that doesn't work anymore. Like, nothing. Google basically says "Get an Android phone, sucker." F U Google.…

Completely agree. On my workstation (6 cores + 32 GB RAM), Google Maps is unbearably slow using the Chrome browser. I can not even imagine the performance on an average computer. My second biggest pet peeve: In old Maps, clicking on the marker will bring out a popup providing you various choices ( http://imgur.com/qeLhJSd ). In new Maps, clicking on the marker centers it on the screen. What the F? What's the value ad…

[deleted]

Re: Google Maps Has Forsaken Us

#85

Post by darren_ »

pgrote wrote: post #49
solutionyogi wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree. On my workstation (6 cores + 32 GB RAM), Google Maps is unbearably slow using the Chrome browser. I can not even imagine the performance on an average computer. My second biggest pet peeve: In old Maps, clicking on the marker will bring out a popup providing you various choices ( http://imgur.com/qeLhJSd ). In new Maps, clicking on the marker centers it on the screen. What the F? What's the value ad…

Here is the thing ... the clicking on a point on the math and getting info was a great feature. I loved it. I am also sure that there is no way Google simply removed it. But they did. The closest I can find is RIGHT CLICK/WHAT'S HERE.

really? clicking the map on desktop maps should do the same thing as right-click->whats-here. it does for me anyway.

Re: Google Maps Has Forsaken Us

#86

Post by davidw »

Some other things:

* Start in San Francisco by typing San Francisco. It still manages to find that city. Do 'directions' and type in Eugene, OR, USA - my home town, which is a fairly straightforward drive north. It can't find it and gives you bad results.

* THEY KILLED TERRAIN MODE! This was a super-useful feature that I still use on my computer, but can no longer access on my mobile devices.

Re: Google Maps Has Forsaken Us

#87

Post by cousin_it »

Pacabel wrote: post #27
joel_perl_prog wrote: post #6

Is this where we get to complain about how horrible Google Maps suddenly is? Because wow. I can speak about this. It's terrible. First and foremost, and they have their "reasons" of course, but my Samsung Rant (yeah just a feature phone) always had great maps. Just a simple Java app, built on the maps API. Well that doesn't work anymore. Like, nothing. Google basically says "Get an Android phone, sucker." F U Google.…

What you're saying is absolutely correct. I actually had to use Bing Maps today to look up some directions because the new version of Google Maps was pretty much unusable. As for why UX disasters like this can happen, I think it generally comes down to one thing these days: "hipsters". Those of us who've been in industry for a long time have no doubt seen this happen before. A relatively well-established product has…

It's funny you would make a dichotomy between the "old guard" and the "hipsters", and blame the latter for the problems of the new Google Maps. If there's anyone on Earth who I can name as part of the "old guard" of online mapping, it's Bernhard Seefeld, who invented draggable tiled online maps when he launched map.search.ch in 2004. (Google Maps was launched in 2005.) For the last few years he's been working as the product management director for the new Google Maps.

If I had to come up with a reason why the new Google Maps feels worse in many ways, my guess would be second-system syndrome.

Re: Google Maps Has Forsaken Us

#88

Post by ktran03 »

Among the points already mentioned, I really hate the 'shake to report issue' feature. Stuck in traffic and frustrated, that thing comes up every time I hit a pothole. The thought that comes to mind everytime is "No Google, I don't want to report a problem, AT THIS MOMENT".

Overall bad choice of control. Much more sensical to stick that in somewhere fitting, like settings.

Re: Google Maps Has Forsaken Us

#90

Post by dalek2point3 »

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Mapping is too important a thing to let one company control the experience. The debate is not about whether Google Maps is good or bad, but if its bad for you there is little choice. You can't fix it. It's not a 100% there, but get on the OpenStreetMap train, fix your local area and have fun. And enjoy all the good stuff startups are building on top of that data.

Here is an easy way to get started: http://www.openstreetmap.org/fixthemap

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