# New Google Maps



## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

I hate them changing things all the time. I want the old style maps back; they looked less cluttered!

Google anyway: changes the appearance all the time. Why :twisted: 
[when I buy a car I don't expect it to behave differently tomorrow to what it used to today - why change things that aren't broken] :?


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## igotone (Mar 10, 2010)

A3DFU said:


> I hate them changing things all the time. I want the old style maps back; they looked less cluttered!
> 
> Google anyway: changes the appearance all the time. Why :twisted:
> [when I buy a car I don't expect it to behave differently tomorrow to what it used to today - why change things that aren't broken] :?


Amen! Just when you know where everything is with Google they go and change the format. Drives me nuts!


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## brian1978 (Jul 10, 2013)

Is it just me or is Google's search results becoming naff, I find myself using other search engines more and more to find what I'm looking for. I used to preach that the only thing other search engines were good for was searching foe Google. I'm not so sure now.


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## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

Google seems to be pretty much tailored to your search history, not so much what you're actually looking for


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Regarding maps; how, with and on what are you looking? I've tried my Android mobile maps via web browser, the Google maps app and my PC via IE browser. It all looks the same as always.

I wish they would increase the size of the text in the mobile app. There is a "bigger text" feature in labs but it's still not big enough if you use it in the car - I can't read the road numbers safely - nowhere near as good as TomTom.


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## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

How: click on Google maps
With: Google browser
On what: Worden Park in Leyland

You now get some dialogue boxes as to "Getting around" , "Directions" , "Top View" , "Circles" not to mention that zooming in and out, shifting left/right/up/down is very different now


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Is this on your Android phone, iPad or PC and what's Google browser - do you mean Chrome?


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## Pugwash69 (Jun 12, 2012)

Maps has just updated, but I have been using the beta version for so long I like it. 
I use google navigation on my mobile in the car. It's very good. It even took us a different route once to avoid road works. I wondered what the hell was going on as we trundled through Sevenoaks.


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## Spandex (Feb 20, 2009)

All of their changes seem to be based around the idea that you want to use it as a TomTom replacement, not as a map. As an actual map, it's been getting steadily worse over time. This year, they first changed all the road colours so it was harder to manually work out routes, then they messed with the UI so it was slower and more cluttered.

I've started using Bing maps more and more these days. The road colourings are sensible and you can even set it to switch to Ordnance Survey maps at higher zoom levels.


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## Skeee (Jun 9, 2009)

Streetmap is quite useful too.


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## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

John-H said:


> Google browser - do you mean Chrome?


Google Chrome on my PC



Spandex said:


> All of their changes seem to be based around the idea that you want to use it as a TomTom replacement, not as a map. As an actual map, it's been getting steadily worse over time.


Fully agree


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## pas_55 (May 9, 2002)

Try Waze


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## brittan (May 18, 2007)

This one is interesting if you want something other than a car based sat-nav style application.

It shows a split screen with OS map side by side with Google aerial imagery.
Both views move together and street view is accessible.

http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm


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## Spandex (Feb 20, 2009)

brittan said:


> This one is interesting if you want something other than a car based sat-nav style application.
> 
> It shows a split screen with OS map side by side with Google aerial imagery.
> Both views move together and street view is accessible.
> ...


That's fantastic. It's a pity it only seems to go down to 1:50k on the OS side though. Would be really useful if it had 1:25k on there.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

brittan said:


> This one is interesting if you want something other than a car based sat-nav style application.
> 
> It shows a split screen with OS map side by side with Google aerial imagery.
> Both views move together and street view is accessible.
> ...


That's quite a feat of integration and looks quite useful


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Just to resurrect this one - I've been having problems with it tonight (been fine up 'till now) with Google maps going into "Lite Mode" which doesn't support 3D, is buggy with the cursor disjointed off to the left from the mouse pointer and a cluttered screen. There are various links to go to with confusing information about switching between "Full mode" and "Lite mode" which doesn't work, with broken links, freezing screens and other nonsense advice like Explorer being an outdated browser - I'm on 11 for heaven's sake - what a pile of dingo's kidney! Google get your act together!

I found this though:



> We've seen that several of you are experiencing switching between the full version of the new Google Maps and Lite mode. Depending on your system, Google Maps may automatically switch to Lite mode. If you'd like to manually switch to a specific mode, you can try opening the following URLs on your browser.
> 
> •Full version: https://www.google.com/maps/preview/?force=webgl
> 
> ...


The last - revert to classic mode seems to work Ok


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## Spandex (Feb 20, 2009)

I've been using 'classic mode' for ages now, when I'm not using Bing. If only there was a simple way of fixing the colours (there are ways to do it, but they just seem like a bit of a fudge).


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

I don't know why my system has suddenly started defaulting to this "Lite mode" - the full mode just hangs - but I've only ever seen the classic mode before :?


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## Spandex (Feb 20, 2009)

Mine ran the full version ok, but it's so rubbish that as soon as I found how to go back to the old one I did.


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## roddy (Dec 25, 2008)

i have to agree,, i noticed mine had changed about a week ago,, why ????? it was good the way it was now its all different,, so cluttered and everything in the wrong place,,, i don't use it as navigation aid only for searching places etc,, [smiley=bigcry.gif]


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Spandex said:


> Mine ran the full version ok, but it's so rubbish that as soon as I found how to go back to the old one I did.


I'm sure mine would too - it's a new PC with the latest IE 11, all updates applied and I've tried all Google's suggestions apart from "upgrading" to Chrome which I don't want to do as I don't think it's as good and I suspect this may just be another way of pushing people to Chrome and further monetarisation as someone reminded me last night. Occasionally I might want to know the restaurants in the area etc. but I'd rather select to display them than have things thrust in my face and have to try and turn them off as best I can every time the clutter loads up.

I think like you I'll stick to the "classic" version - it's just a pain to have to save it as a separate link and not have the ability to run it straight from Google after a search etc. I wonder how long it will be available? :?


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## Spandex (Feb 20, 2009)

John-H said:


> it's just a pain to have to save it as a separate link and not have the ability to run it straight from Google after a search etc.


You can enable it permanently... Have a read here (it's what I did and it saves your settings):

https://support.google.com/maps/answer/3045828?hl=en


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Spandex said:


> John-H said:
> 
> 
> > it's just a pain to have to save it as a separate link and not have the ability to run it straight from Google after a search etc.
> ...


Thanks Spandex - that's really useful - I'll do it the next time I boot up


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## Pugwash69 (Jun 12, 2012)

The main criticism I currently have of google maps is that the current route is in blue. If they made the roads the same as OS colours and made the route stand out it would be perfect.
On my drive back from Brum to home the other week it dynamically re-routed me through Corby due to roadworks around Kettering. I was quite impressed. 
I don't know if it's maps or android itself, but I have an SVOX voice as my default text-to-speech, and quite often Google navigator will ignore this and use the android voice, which is far more mechanical than svox.


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## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

Spandex said:


> John-H said:
> 
> 
> > it's just a pain to have to save it as a separate link and not have the ability to run it straight from Google after a search etc.
> ...


Thanks Spandex [smiley=dude.gif]

I had an argument with one of my friends about the appearance of google maps recently. Your link will be helpful in demonstrating my point to them ..... or not as I've now reset mine to the old version :roll: :lol:


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## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

Is it just me (again) or has google stopped the classic maps for good?

https://support.google.com/maps/answer/ ... hl=en&rd=1



> Common questions
> What's different in the new Maps?
> I'm used to the old version. Can I switch back to classic Maps?
> After the update you will no longer be able to switch back to or access classic Maps.
> ...


Since last Saturday I don't seem to be able to access the classic version of Google maps anymore. I followed instructions as before to revert to classic maps but there are still numerous boxes cluttering the screen. :?


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

> I'm used to the old version. Can I switch back to classic Maps?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

And you think that helps? :?

I'm just getting more and more annoyed with Google as a whole to the point where I don't want to use it anymore :evil:


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Well I was confirming that the "classic" view seems to have gone for me too and there is a feedback link to let them feel your wrath.

The new version does at least work now and stops crashing which is an improvement. It's still too cluttered and slow but you can minimise the view bar at the bottom.

I find the entry box for finding places and planning routes intrusive add it keeps popping up over places I want to drop the street view man on but you can press control and back wheel the mouse for smaller boxes and when in full screen it maximises your view of the map. Your next IE window will have the same zoom however.

I find the street view on mobile not as good though, as double tapping to zoom off down the road is less precise and often doesn't work, forcing you to use the increment arrows for a snail's pace progress.


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## Spandex (Feb 20, 2009)

Feedback won't make any difference on this issue. Although I moan about Google making these sorts of changes to their maps, I know they're only doing it because the majority of their users have no interest in actually reading a map - they just want to be given directions.

So, the chances of Google backtracking and making their maps usable for people who want a map rather than a satnav are non-existant. Unfortunately.


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## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

Spandex said:


> So, the chances of Google backtracking and making their maps usable for people who want a map rather than a satnav are non-existant. Unfortunately.


Yes, very unfortunate. And if you are in "Lite mode", getting rid of some of the boxes, you can't even drag points of the map to change the route (if you do want to use Google maps as satnav)


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