
Google Maps Gets a New Look - chippy
https://blog.google/products/maps/google-maps-gets-new-look/
======
com2kid
I hope it actually starts showing street names when zooming in. When using
Google Maps for pedestrian navigation, having street names show up rather
arbitrarily can be a huge problem, I've had times when I was unable to find
out what street I was on due to visual design overriding usability concerns.

This is most applicable in cities that don't feel the need to place street
signs all that often, which is another issue altogether!

~~~
cromwellian
All electronic maps use heuristics to show street names because otherwise the
map would be too visually cluttered. They tend to show the major streets and a
few non major ones and change based on zoom level.

I mean for you use case they should perhaps have a subtitle which is
“currently on street X” but I definitely don’t want my maps cluttered with
overfitting this concern and jam packing it.

~~~
com2kid
> All electronic maps use heuristics to show street names because otherwise
> the map would be too visually cluttered. They tend to show the major streets
> and a few non major ones and change based on zoom level.

There are situations (not that uncommon in my experience) where you can zoom
in all the way and Google maps will not show some street names.

It gets really infuriating, I am using a map, I want to know where I am at!
That is one of the primary value props of having a map. I get that a lot of
people can't even read maps now days, and that turn by turn directions are the
norm, but in cities where people actually walk, being able to look at a map is
very useful.

I've had times where I'd ask friends where they are at, and they could NOT get
Google maps to tell them! Instead they had to resort to giving me a nearby
store, and I'd use Google maps to navigate to that store. A serious design
fail in grid based cities, where if I just knew they were on 73rd st and 142nd
ave, I could just walk a few blocks over and find them instantly.

Once I see the route on Google maps I can close it down and just walk there,
but I shouldn't have to cajole my maps app into being a map.

~~~
FridgeSeal
Or the other annoying case: street name will be shown (underneath route
information if you're going somewhere) at one level, but then disappears when
you zoom in further to make it actually readable.

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dwyerm
The colorblind community is not impressed with the new set of colors. They
appear to be coupling the colors with reasonably clear symbols, so it might
not be too bad. Still, if you're trying to communicate data through color, you
can't use that many of them and they really shouldn't be pastel.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/ColorBlind/comments/7d8gc0/new_goog...](https://www.reddit.com/r/ColorBlind/comments/7d8gc0/new_google_maps_colors/)

~~~
psychometry
There's only so much you can do, though. With eight colors, you're already
into difficult territory (as far as distinguishability goes) and color cues
need to be supplemented by other visual elements.

~~~
maxerickson
Google has the resources to deploy a second visual style.

They are rendering on the client anyway, so it is some combination of not
giving a shit and an obsession with not having options.

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spike021
Any chance Google Maps for iOS/Android will include a "driving mode" like
regular GPS devices have?

What I mean by that is a mode for when you don't have an obvious destination
entered into the app, but it should still show the street you're driving on,
the speedlimit (if enabled) for that street, upcoming cross streets, and maybe
possible places of interest?

I'd love to have this since sometimes I don't necessarily have a destination
set but want to see on a map where I am.

~~~
imglorp
The current (L) Android one has it. Go to the side hamburger menu and choose
"Start Driving".

~~~
agumonkey
Second this, it's been here for a long time already. And I have an "old" moto
g3.

~~~
eco
Yeah, it's been there for about two years.

~~~
puzzle
It's actually been around even longer, just even more inaccessible. :-) See
this video from 2009:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni4FU8D1-DU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni4FU8D1-DU)
and [http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/10/car-home-for-
androi...](http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/10/car-home-for-android-gets-
personal.html)

It's the View Maps option. It was only enabled in Car (dock) mode and it went
away along with several other features at the time of the GMM 5.0 (vector/3D)
rewrite, unless you had an internal build.

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cyeb
There was an excellent article on how the designs of Google Maps has
dramatically changed from 2016 to 2017. Screenshots were gathered every month,
and the trend across months was pretty telling of a shifting emphasis from
roads to places. The same was done for Apple Maps, which, for the most part,
hadn't changed.

[https://www.justinobeirne.com/a-year-of-google-maps-and-
appl...](https://www.justinobeirne.com/a-year-of-google-maps-and-apple-maps)

------
kraig911
Curious is the representation of a lot of religions but not a cross present?

[https://imgur.com/a/kJzG4](https://imgur.com/a/kJzG4)

~~~
ythn
I'm surprised more ignorant folks aren't outraged at Buddhist temples being a
"hate symbol"

~~~
uuoc
That symbol's history _far predates_ its quite recent re-definition as a hate
symbol in the western world.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika)
(a wee bit of emphasis added below):

> The swastika is an ancient religious icon used in the Indian subcontinent,
> East Asia and Southeast Asia, where it has been and _remains a sacred
> symbol_ of spiritual principles in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. In the
> Western world, it was historically a symbol of auspiciousness and good
> luck,[5] but in the 1930s, it became the main feature of Nazi symbolism as
> an emblem of Aryan race identity, and as a result, it has become stigmatized
> in the West by association with ideas of racism, hatred, and mass murder.

> Some of the earliest archaeological evidence of the swastika in the Indian
> subcontinent can be dated to 3,000 BCE.

3000 BCE by far predates the last ~85-90 years of its redefinition.

~~~
Coincoin
Yes. That's exactly your comment parent's point.

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lemoncucumber
Is it just me, or does the new version look closer to Apple Maps? For example,
the color coded icons for different places is something Apple Maps has had for
awhile.

I'm not saying this is a bad thing -- obviously Apple Maps would never have
existed without taking a lot of ideas from Google Maps. I'm just surprised
that it's going the other way too now (which is a win for users).

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goerz
For the love of god, PLEASE include a scale. It's not a map if it doesn't have
a scale (and not just when zooming).

Looks nice otherwise!

~~~
eco
Go to Settings and change "Show scale on map" to Always.

~~~
goerz
You're my hero!

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newscracker
I struggle to read the names of streets and roads once the route with the blue
dots overlays them. I hope this change makes those readable.

~~~
what_ever
I disagree. Once I am routing somewhere, I only want to see major things that
I want to focus on. Like the next exit/turn.

~~~
newscracker
My requirement doesn't take away from your needs in any way because my problem
is with the color choices, contrast, etc. A good choice of colors, contrast
and font sizes can provide for both needs (which it certainly hasn't all this
while).

When I go around, I usually don't keep the phone on hand or use any
navigational aids (for various reasons, including not letting Google know
where I am at what times and dates). There are times when I want to map out a
walking route or a driving route and just need to memorize some of the
street/road names to know how I'm headed. That also helps me later so that I'm
not always dependent on a map that's not in my head. There are also many turns
around the world's streets where there are no distinguishing landmarks as
such. For people who follow the navigation aid all the time, these things
don't matter.

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ProAm
I wish we could change how often it talks to you. Seriously sometimes it
speaks to me 7 times for the same upcoming turn. Ends up being like 15 -20
seconds of straight talking.

    
    
      If I could turn down verbosity to once every direction change I'd be very happy.

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hobofan
Is it just me or are the changes really only miniscule, compared to other
stuff the just added via updates over the last year? I don't really see how
this warrants a blog post with such an important sounding title.

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floatrock
Localization of the iconography is pretty neat -- the Entertainment / Leisure
category has a castle for "Historic" but a gateway-templey thing for the
"Historic (China)". A whole bunch of Japan-specific ones too. The Buddhist
temple is a swastica, but the thousand-year-old unity-of-life kind, not the
rotated-45-degrees hitler kind.

------
ChuckMcM
They would really benefit by reading "Visualization Analysis & Design" by
Munzer. If they had they would not have picked that set of colors :-). But
poor color choices aside there is a lot to be said for 'modes'.

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twic
While in Paris, I noticed that Google Maps translates metro stop names. At one
point it was suggesting I take a train from Vincennes Castle to Town Hall.
Given that these names are not what are shown on station signs, metro maps,
stop indicators, or anything else, this is entirely unhelpful, and is a
frankly bizarre feature to have added.

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Numberwang
IM on mobile and can’t for the world of me see the images on that blog in a
reasonable size. They ought to hire a web design consultant to help them out.

~~~
newscracker
I had the same issue. Tried zooming in and tapping the images to see a larger
view, but there was no way to see things clearly.

------
chewz
I am riding motobike in mountains in Thailand. Right now like every year in
winter. When I stop to check the road I am blinded by the sun, I take off my
raybans, my iPhone screen brightness is at full and in Google Maps the country
road are thin white on bright yellow. Impossible to see anything.

Why don’t they offer alternative color pallete?

I also hate that you cannot lock the screen orientation and it turns
accidentally like living snake. And when I am looking at something on the
other side of the world and suddenly the map jumps right back to my current
location. Again no option to switch off these annoying features.

I wonder if they ever field test Maps or are they making those dumb user
interface decisions in nice, dark, AC meeting rooms in an office in
California?

~~~
maxerickson
There's a variety of apps that use OpenStreetMap data that you could take a
look at. They tend to have more options than mainstream apps.

I think on i-devices Maps.Me is the most popular, but there are others, some
aimed at niche uses.

I guess the first thing would be to check how OpenStreetMap does in the areas
you need a map. In many areas it is less complete than Google, but there are
also areas where Google doesn't care and there are people actively working on
OSM.

~~~
chewz
Thank you but in foreign country Google Maps with their rich content,
recommendations etc. is indispensable. My point was rather that I would expect
more then armchair design from them.

------
revelation
I wonder which features were eliminated in this round of redesign. That seems
to be the theme lately.

~~~
peterwwillis
Came here to post this. Every new overhaul of every product for the past two
years seems to have removed useful features.

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megaman22
It almost looks like they've gotten rid of that annoying rotate feature, where
you get out of having up be north, the way it's supposed to be, when it
misinterprets your pinching zoom-in gestures.

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gerash
I'd love to be able to make a phone call to the destination when I'm inside
navigation mode. That'd be really handy.

~~~
narvind
only when walking right?

~~~
CamperBob2
No, when I judge that it's safe and appropriate to do so.

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agumonkey
The latest changes are a bit crufty on normal screen sizes. Vertical panning
on a bottom menu is meh.

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suavesav
I think Google should change the Swastika that represents Buddhist Temples to
face right instead of left. Its a small change that would go a long way.

They are both correct, but the right facing one is more politically correct,
and arguably more correct generally.

~~~
JungleGymSam
I think you have that backwards. It's correct the way they have it now. The
Nazis showed it the other way.

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quexy
Pretty please add support for Apple Carplay!

~~~
Gaelan
Did Apple ever make the CarPlay API public? If not, Google is very unlikely to
gain access.

~~~
fludlight
Yes:

[https://developer.apple.com/carplay/](https://developer.apple.com/carplay/)

[https://developer.apple.com/documentation/sirikit/carplay](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/sirikit/carplay)

~~~
Gaelan
Looks like that's limited to a few categories; as far as I can tell through
that document, only "automaker" apps can even build custom UI, and Google's
not an automaker.

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wdr1
When will it come to Car Play?

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narvind
All that Japan love!

