Google Maps on Android is now crap

[Brian Stirling]

I prefer to navigate knowing my relation to everything else.

I agree, seeing where you are relative to the larger area is very useful.


Brian

 

[WelshBloke]

I prefer to navigate knowing my relation to everything else.

I'd rather you navigated by looking at the road and not trying to tap on some small circles on a smartphone screen.

 

[Brian Stirling]

I'd rather you navigated by looking at the road and not trying to tap on some small circles on a smartphone screen.

I prefer to be able to zoom in/out to see the level of detail I want. When I'm far from an intersection it's useful to be zoomed out for the big picture, but as I get closer to the intersection I zoom in.


Brian

 

[WelshBloke]

I prefer to be able to zoom in/out to see the level of detail I want. When I'm far from an intersection it's useful to be zoomed out for the big picture, but as I get closer to the intersection I zoom in.


Brian

Do what suits you but you shouldn't really be dicking around with your smartphone as you head into a junction.

 

[Red Storm]

Navigation also doesn't work when you have persistent GPS lock problems that can't pinpoint you. In that case you need the top down map view so you can see and guess where you are in relation to surrounding features like cross streets, and then you need to know exactly what street to turn onto - a colored line doesn't give you that while a white dot with pop up text does.

I'm with Welsh, I don't really like the idea of other drivers trying to watch their phone for directions while driving. That's what voice navigation is for.

 

[Brian Stirling]

I'm with Welsh, I don't really like the idea of other drivers trying to watch their phone for directions while driving. That's what voice navigation is for.

I suppose there are those the can't take their eyes of the phone while navigating, but that's not me. Often times when I'm approaching a town with the map zoomed out I can see how it wants to route me through the town and sometimes that's not the way I want to go. As I get closer I zoom in as needed but one doesn't have to do that at the last minute. When zoomed out you can pretty well judge how far till the next turn.

Going purely from turn-by-turn is all fine and good if you are certain you wish to follow the calculated route through a town and as I said, I often deviate from that. It's easier to know the options when zoomed out a bit...


Brian

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Do what suits you but you shouldn't really be dicking around with your smartphone as you head into a junction.

Agreed, but FBB's point remains. He likes to see where he is relative to everything else. For good driving purposes I'd say to scope out the route first on the map. Those dots do help, and I liked having them. It made it clear how far you have to go before your next turn or whatever. Sure I could get that through a list of directions, but visual is better.

Whether or not you use a certain feature or not, I think the point everyone is trying to make here is that Google Maps has LOST features going forward. With such a popular app, you know there's got to be a few features that plenty of people use. For example I might not care about the scale feature as much, but it certainly bothers a lot of others. I do on the other hand care for the lost ability to drop 2 pins and to find the distance between them. I also do really care about the lost "My Places" feature.

Oh, and FBB, that screenshot of the route passes my house

I suppose there are those the can't take their eyes of the phone while navigating, but that's not me. Often times when I'm approaching a town with the map zoomed out I can see how it wants to route me through the town and sometimes that's not the way I want to go. As I get closer I zoom in as needed but one doesn't have to do that at the last minute. When zoomed out you can pretty well judge how far till the next turn.

Going purely from turn-by-turn is all fine and good if you are certain you wish to follow the calculated route through a town and as I said, I often deviate from that. It's easier to know the options when zoomed out a bit...


Brian

Yeah. Everyone navigates differently. I tend to not like to rely on turn by turn and instead scope out the route on the 2D map and figure it out from there, especially if I'm semi familiar with the area. For completely foreign places like my first time in Austin or whatever, yeah I didn't bother. But after you have a feel for the area, it's nice not to be completely clueless and just rely on directions only.

I know plenty of people who can't visualize and can't figure out that the place they're going tonight is only 2 blocks north and 1 block east of the restaurant yesterday. I like to know that so I can figure out my own route and start to develop a map in my head for how to get places rather than relying on a robot to tell me.

Not just Google. My Garmin tried telling me the nearest Huckleberry's was 530 miles away, when I knew there was one in my city.

No database is perfect.

Yelp's database seems to work pretty well especially if you're in Yelp heavy cities. I'd say Chicago, LA, NYC, SF all work extremely well on Yelp. Even your crappy chain supermarket will have 50 reviews minimum whereas in other cities like Atlanta, even famous restaurants will have only double digit reviews.

 

[Brian Stirling]

It may be that Google is dumbing it down so that you have to use turn-by-turn with the idea that they have some legal exposure if someone gets into an accident while viewing the map. Forcing you to use turn-by-turn that can have voice prompts would largely absolve them of liability.


Brian

 

[lothar]

It may be that Google is dumbing it down so that you have to use turn-by-turn with the idea that they have some legal exposure if someone gets into an accident while viewing the map. Forcing you to use turn-by-turn that can have voice prompts would largely absolve them of liability.


Brian

I seriously doubt that's the reason...
If so, then explain why turn by turn was delayed for 3-4 years on the iPhone when the Google Maps Android counterpart had it?

I guess Google didn't care about liability back then for iPhone users?
or does developing an app and publishing on the Apple app store automatically shield and absolve all developers from legal exposure?

 

[Brian Stirling]

I seriously doubt that's the reason...
If so, then explain why turn by turn was delayed for 3-4 years on the iPhone when the Google Maps Android counterpart had it?

I guess Google didn't care about liability back then for iPhone users?
or does developing an app and publishing on the Apple app store automatically shield and absolve all developers from legal exposure?

And in earlier versions of the Android map app you weren't boxed into using turn-by-turn -- so what!

I don't know if they've been sued but it wouldn't surprise me.

At any rate I do not like the new Android version at all -- it sucks!


Brian

 

[tfinch2]

My typical workflow is to search for some destination, then search nearby that destination for a place to eat lunch or sleep for the night.

I cannot figure out for the life of me how to do search nearby on this new version.

 

[gmaster456]

Yeah. Been saying this for a while now, but we all just gotta live with it. It also runs choppy as hell on my N10 although I think it's been improved. Instead of 10 fps its like 20 fps now.

You must own the worst nexus devices on the face of the earth.

 

[zerocool84]

I don't like when sharing a place through maps and sending it through a text, it only gives you the name and a link through Google Maps. It used to give you a full address in addition to the link.

 

[soccerballtux]

Does doing so lock you into the old maps also?

didn't for me.

It may be that Google is dumbing it down so that you have to use turn-by-turn with the idea that they have some legal exposure if someone gets into an accident while viewing the map. Forcing you to use turn-by-turn that can have voice prompts would largely absolve them of liability.


Brian

that's a really interesting point

 

[lothar]

And in earlier versions of the Android map app you weren't boxed into using turn-by-turn -- so what!

I don't know if they've been sued but it wouldn't surprise me.

At any rate I do not like the new Android version at all -- it sucks!


Brian

If I'm eating a donut from Dunkin Donuts while driving and I get into an accident, how is Dunkin Donuts responsible for it?
If I'm talking on the phone while driving and I get into an accident, how is Samsung or Verizon responsible for it?
If I'm looking at Google maps while driving and I get into an accident, how is Google responsible for it?
If I'm looking at a road atlas(paper map) while driving and I get into an accident, how is the paper map publisher responsible for it?

The idea that this was done at the possibility of averting a potential lawsuit is just mindless.
The first time you open Google Maps, it tells you not to use it while driving. I wouldn't even be surprised if Google kept an exact date and time log for accepting the agreement hidden in your Google account somewhere that they can dig up. Why would you assume that the "Terms of use" agreement that pops up when you first open Google Maps is not enough to absolve them of liability?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

You must own the worst nexus devices on the face of the earth.

You tell me how fast it runs then? It's certainly not 60 fps smooth on either my Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 even with the map tiles pre-cached.

On a separate note, my other observation about Google Maps is that the route options aren't very clear. If I don't know the area, I really don't know what to make of the 3 options except for the fact that there's times sorted on those. Maybe the 19 minute option is better than the 20 minute option but it involves 25 turns through local roads. If the 20 minute option is a matter of getting on the highway and getting off an an exit with minimal turns, I'd rather take the simpler one. I get a little confused about which one to choose. On iOS it's marked 1, 2, 3. It's still not the best, but at least I know option 1 is the best one typically, and option 2 and 3 are second choices. So is the first choice in Google Maps supposed to be the "best?" Or what?

 

[ponyo]

You tell me how fast it runs then? It's certainly not 60 fps smooth on either my Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 even with the map tiles pre-cached.

On a separate note, my other observation about Google Maps is that the route options aren't very clear. If I don't know the area, I really don't know what to make of the 3 options except for the fact that there's times sorted on those. Maybe the 19 minute option is better than the 20 minute option but it involves 25 turns through local roads. If the 20 minute option is a matter of getting on the highway and getting off an an exit with minimal turns, I'd rather take the simpler one. I get a little confused about which one to choose. On iOS it's marked 1, 2, 3. It's still not the best, but at least I know option 1 is the best one typically, and option 2 and 3 are second choices. So is the first choice in Google Maps supposed to be the "best?" Or what?

Option 1 is the shortest time. Which is fine for short distance travel. But for long distance travel, shortest time is not always the best route. It's what drives me crazy when using Google Maps because it will often take me off the interstate to drive through all the small back roads and one lane roads to save like 5 minutes. But in the process you have to do about million stops and turns and drive through speed trap areas with constantly changing speed limit so you can't use cruise control. And no easy access food and gas areas. I love Google Maps for city driving, but I hate it for long distance driving. And the new Maps is crap and doesn't display the distance to destination anymore as you're driving.

 

[WelshBloke]

... And the new Maps is crap and doesn't display the distance to destination anymore as you're driving.

Tap the bar at the bottom. It toggles between remaining time, eta, and remaining miles.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Option 1 is the shortest time. Which is fine for short distance travel. But for long distance travel, shortest time is not always the best route. It's what drives me crazy when using Google Maps because it will often take me off the interstate to drive through all the small back roads and one lane roads to save like 5 minutes. But in the process you have to do about million stops and turns and drive through speed trap areas with constantly changing speed limit so you can't use cruise control. And no easy access food and gas areas. I love Google Maps for city driving, but I hate it for long distance driving. And the new Maps is crap and doesn't display the distance to destination anymore as you're driving.

Interesting. Yeah and after selecting one option then I get to see it on a map. I'd rather they just show me the routes on the map to begin with like iOS. If I don't know anything about the routes themselves, the best way to evaluate is likely visually.

 

[WelshBloke]

Interesting. Yeah and after selecting one option then I get to see it on a map. I'd rather they just show me the routes on the map to begin with like iOS. If I don't know anything about the routes themselves, the best way to evaluate is likely visually.

Um, does your Google maps not show you all the routes and let you tap on the one that you want then? Because that's exactly how mine works. It gives you the suggested route in blue and the alternatives in grey, but you can tap on the alternatives to choose them.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Um, does your Google maps not show you all the routes and let you tap on the one that you want then? Because that's exactly how mine works. It gives you the suggested route in blue and the alternatives in grey, but you can tap on the alternatives to choose them.

1) Search destination
2) Click Route
3) Returns list of 3 routes in text only.
4) Select 1 of 3
5) Returns map view with selected route in blue, others in gray.

Yes, getting to the maps is nice, but I have to first make a decision regarding which route to take. I didn't realize this the first few times, and I was stumped at the text results and trying to imagine the map in my head. I just feel like selecting the routes should accompany a map, so the text only screen should not even be there.

 

[trmiv]

Any idea how to get Google Maps to show results for things along your route? We were driving home this weekend from somewhere we've never been and were looking for a gas station. I couldn't figure out while in navigation to get it to show me where the nearest gas stations were along my route. Yea I could back out and do a search, but that doesn't show the results along my route. Mapquest seems to be able to do this, why not Google Maps?

 

[WelshBloke]

1) Search destination
2) Click Route
3) Returns list of 3 routes in text only.
4) Select 1 of 3
5) Returns map view with selected route in blue, others in gray.

Yes, getting to the maps is nice, but I have to first make a decision regarding which route to take. I didn't realize this the first few times, and I was stumped at the text results and trying to imagine the map in my head. I just feel like selecting the routes should accompany a map, so the text only screen should not even be there.

Meh, I can live with one extra tap.

 

[Red Storm]

1) Search destination
2) Click Route
3) Returns list of 3 routes in text only.
4) Select 1 of 3
5) Returns map view with selected route in blue, others in gray.

Yes, getting to the maps is nice, but I have to first make a decision regarding which route to take. I didn't realize this the first few times, and I was stumped at the text results and trying to imagine the map in my head. I just feel like selecting the routes should accompany a map, so the text only screen should not even be there.

When I do searches from Google Now:

Search the place, like Costco for instance. It shows a list of results, click Directions for the one you want, it then shows me a map with all the routes shown, and on the bottom I can swipe right to left to highlight each route and I'm one tap from starting navigation. It seems to be much faster than actually launching maps before searching.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

When I do searches from Google Now:

Search the place, like Costco for instance. It shows a list of results, click Directions for the one you want, it then shows me a map with all the routes shown, and on the bottom I can swipe right to left to highlight each route and I'm one tap from starting navigation. It seems to be much faster than actually launching maps before searching.

Yes that does seem to work well. It would make sense to have that implementation in Maps then rather than to have an initial screen showing the routes in text-only.