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I'm not a UX expert and don't have the vocabulary to describe what's wrong with it. What I know is that I used to enjoy using it. Not just for directions, but I

by gdulli 11y ago

I'm not a UX expert and don't have the vocabulary to describe what's wrong with it. What I know is that I used to enjoy using it. Not just for directions, but I'd use it for fun to explore new areas. And now I dislike and avoid using it altogether. Similar to Gmail. It's just feels like a mess of UI elements that show and hide and move dynamically, don't have fixed spots on the page, don't work consistently, etc. Like it was excessively focus-grouped or committee-designed. I know how to get directions in the new interface. I just don't like doing it. Is it more clicks? More elements taking up space I don't care about? Hijacking the native right-click menu? Aggressive resizing/panning when I didn't ask for it, to accommodate what it thinks the new context should be? I don't really know.

colomon 11y ago
I'm 100% with you. I don't know what's going on exactly, but five years ago it was an example I'd point to of a beautiful, instinctively easy-to-use interface, and today it seems like it never does what I want on the first try. Doesn't matter if it's the web interface or on my Android phone, though I think those are screwed up in different ways.
d23 11y ago
Here's a few more: randomly zooming out to full-earth view, changing the area of my search after I've already zoomed in, crashing all the time on mobile, randomly giving me results halfway across the earth, randomly changing my destination when I zoom in, randomly zooming out to full-state view. These are the obvious ones. There are more subtle UX fumbles too. If I click my house while I'm in my house and click directions, I probably don't want directions to my house. I probably want directions from my house. Edit: Oh! That ridiculous thing it does when my phone vibrates. Someone decided they could detect frustration by using my accelerometer. Now any time I get a text message and am using maps, maps gets insecure and asks me to submit feedback.
vbit 11y ago
I feel uncomfortable using maps these days too. Something about the dynamic moving and bouncing of elements when I'm just moving my mouse makes me insecure. I can't easily figure out where to find things. I've started to use bing more recently.
cubancigar11 11y ago
It has become gnome of map applications. It used to open so fast 10 years ago it was surprisingly amazing, now it takes more time to load and crashes my browser randomly. I dread opening google maps now thinking if I will have to reopen all my tabs, and I literally use it only on chrome now.

by gdulli 11y ago

colomon 11y ago

I'm 100% with you. I don't know what's going on exactly, but five years ago it was an example I'd point to of a beautiful, instinctively easy-to-use interface, and today it seems like it never does what I want on the first try. Doesn't matter if it's the web interface or on my Android phone, though I think those are screwed up in different ways.

d23 11y ago

Here's a few more: randomly zooming out to full-earth view, changing the area of my search after I've already zoomed in, crashing all the time on mobile, randomly giving me results halfway across the earth, randomly changing my destination when I zoom in, randomly zooming out to full-state view. These are the obvious ones. There are more subtle UX fumbles too. If I click my house while I'm in my house and click directions, I probably don't want directions to my house. I probably want directions from my house. Edit: Oh! That ridiculous thing it does when my phone vibrates. Someone decided they could detect frustration by using my accelerometer. Now any time I get a text message and am using maps, maps gets insecure and asks me to submit feedback.

vbit 11y ago

I feel uncomfortable using maps these days too. Something about the dynamic moving and bouncing of elements when I'm just moving my mouse makes me insecure. I can't easily figure out where to find things. I've started to use bing more recently.

cubancigar11 11y ago

It has become gnome of map applications. It used to open so fast 10 years ago it was surprisingly amazing, now it takes more time to load and crashes my browser randomly. I dread opening google maps now thinking if I will have to reopen all my tabs, and I literally use it only on chrome now.