22 ms·

Use Maps in Lite mode

136 points by richardboegli 10y ago

ww520 10y ago
Thank you Google. Maps has been sluggish for so long. A faster lite version is very much appreciated.
richardboegli 10y ago
I'm quite happy that Google has added this feature. Sometimes Google maps on PC is that bad I have to get phone out.
- lars_francke 10y ago
  FYI the lite mode has been available since they introduced the "new" Google Maps in 2013 or so.
chii 10y ago
i wish lite mode is the default, and you have to toggle on the lesser used features.
aakarpost 10y ago
Much better. Thanks. :)
dvfjsdhgfv 10y ago
The previous title was more informative (add "?force=lite" to the URL)
iand 10y ago
Excellent, this actually makes Maps usable for me. I don't have flash installed which seems to break place searching on standard Google Maps but not the Lite version.
- pmontra 10y ago
  I do have Flash installed but it's configured as "Ask to activate". Search for places on the full Google Maps works and it doesn't ask me about Flash.
  - iand 10y ago
    I may be mistaken about the cause. I'm on Linux and use FF without flash. Chromium with in-built flash (or flash emulation?) handles maps fine.
    - pmontra 10y ago
      I'm also on Linux and Firefox. Ubuntu 16.04. I don't remember if Flash came with FF or I installed it. Anyway it doesn't run unless I OK it.
    - tonfa 10y ago
      This would point at the interaction with FF being the issue, maybe disable all extensions first to make sure they are not messing up with something?
- smarnach 10y ago
  Google Maps doesn't use Flash at all.
DrinkWater 10y ago
Actually this feels just as sluggish as the full version. Where exactly do you guys see/feel the improvement?
- pmontra 10y ago
  I also find it slower. Could it be that the full version uses hardware acceleration and the lite one is all on the CPU? The other big difference is that zooming in with the lite version takes me to aerial photos which look infinitely better than the weird 3D interpolated pictures of the full version (Earth view). I'd like to get that as a default in Earth.
- mjhagen 10y ago
  The Lite version is much slower on my ancient Core 2 Duo E8400 w/ GeForce 210. Which I'd think would be the kind of specs this feature was aimed at.
- pcr0 10y ago
  I agree, it's slower for me too, on a recent MBP. I think the main improvement they're targeting is lower data usage rather than performance improvements but I'm still surprised at how much worse it performs. Seems like a bug to me, hopefully it will be fixed.
- shubb 10y ago
  It looks like this lite version loads all the map imagery as images (tiles) from the server. This compares to full version which uses Javascript to render some of the roads and symbols as some kind of vector drawing on top of less detailed map tiles. I'd expect the Full version to require slightly less data transfer and behave better when zooming in and out rapidly. When you zoom in on a vector drawing it still looks sharp, so you just have to wait for more detailed roads to appear. Whereas in Lite mode, you'd zoom in and stare at a blury tile until the higher resolution one loaded. I'd expect Lite to work better in a browser or network that just can't cope with a web application. Old versions of IE, weird embedded browsers in smart TVs, that sort of thing. Given what it is, I wouldn't expect it to work better.
  - 10y ago
Nanite 10y ago
Thanks, can anybody explain why google allowed maps to turn into a such a sluggish feature bloat?
- jokoon 10y ago
  The new map is basically a JS version of google earth
- kristopolous 10y ago
  That's the typical projection of software in general
- kalleboo 10y ago
  Gotta keep adding features, otherwise what are all your team members going to do?
  - flukus 10y ago
    Performance is a feature.
- gdulli 10y ago
  Companies that make money hire aggressively out of principle more than need. When this gets out of hand, they don't let people go. They have to find ways to keep them busy. Even if that means taking products that are already in a good state and adding useless features/redesigns. It's the great equalizer.
- CaptSpify 10y ago
  And yet basic things like being able to zoom in to see the name of a street aren't there. I want ~5 things from gmaps, yet it's filled with crap I personally don't use (maybe enough people want the other features that it's worth it). I wish we could go back to the days of toggle-able features for websites.
  - greyflames 10y ago
    What other basic things do you think gmaps is missing?
abpavel 10y ago
I find it amusing that the list of features not present in the Lite mode exactly matches the list of features I do not want.
- adrianN 10y ago
  I get coordinates quite often to enter them into my Garmin GPS.
  - abpavel 10y ago
    All my Garmins are collecting dust since I tried Waze a year ago.
- rc_bhg 10y ago
  Big market opening for a "Force Google Maps Lite Mode" Firefox plugin!
lucb1e 10y ago
Google Maps is the best for businesses, but the site is extremely slow (lite mode or no) and, at least in the Netherlands, they're behind with road data. When I want a map I use osm.org; when I want aerial I use bing.com/maps; and when I need opening hours or find the nearest restaurant I reluctantly open Google Maps.
- jsumrall 10y ago
  What do you use for turn-by-turn driving directions in the car?
  - arviewer 10y ago
    I still prefer TomTom, don't mind to pay for all the time it saves me. It's not perfect, but it works for me.
    - hueving 10y ago
      Interesting, how does TomTom save you time over the gmaps navigation? I just tell my phone, "navigate to <business name>" and 15 seconds later it's telling me where to go. What am I missing?
      - pookeh 10y ago
        You are (not) missing mobile data. Granted, Google maps now have an offline mode, but even the it is for a limited region only.
        ams6110 10y ago
        I don't have a data plan on my phone, so I use offline mode whenever I want to go somewhere. It's pretty great, I just need to remember to save the route before I leave WiFi.
        modeless 10y ago
        The only limit to how big an area you can cover with Google offline maps is your storage. Each individual offline map is limited in size but you can download as many as you want to cover as big an area as you can fit in your phone.
yoodenvranx 10y ago
btw, what happened to the satelite images? I used Google Maps yesterday for the first time in months and I can only switch to some horrible, slow, and low-res 3D mode?
- greyflames 10y ago
  It's still available in the side menu. If you click hamburger in the top left > Earth > 3D On, it will switch to satellite imagery.
  - yoodenvranx 10y ago
    Thanks, I will give it a try later!
emilburzo 10y ago
It's interesting that it doesn't have a point of interest I added recently (on 13/Dec/2016). I was assuming they would be using the same data as regular Maps. Does anyone know more?
- untog 10y ago
  The Lite version uses image-based map tiles, wheras the "full fat" version uses the data directly. I imagine the image tiles are rebuilt at regular intervals, but not on demand.
andygambles 10y ago
Would have thought Google got really clever and detected if bandwidth is low to load lite version.
- helb 10y ago
  It's more about device/browser performance than bandwidth.
  - hueving 10y ago
    Tell that to someone with a slow connection.
    - cornedor 10y ago
      I think the full version might even use less bandwidth because it renders the tiles on the client and only sends some vector data.
ronjouch 10y ago
Tangential question: Maps automatically switches to Lite mode under certain browser conditions. It does so on my home Firefox machine (Dev. Edition 52.0a2, Linux, Intel HD Graphics 520), and: - When I deactivate all my addons it still does. - When I try a new profile it no longer does. -> If not an addon, to my knowledge of Firefox, the cause has to be a changed Firefox preference (right?). But if right, I changed so many of them, I have no idea which one causes the behavior. Before I binary-search that, any clue what the culprit pref might be? The support page doesn't answer this question; its only relevant snip is that "Maps will take you to Lite mode and your maps won't have 3D images if you have the following cards: [...] Intel GMA 3600", which I have (GMA3600 == HD520), but it must be outdated documentation, as Maps stays non-Lite with a fresh profile.
- gkya 10y ago
  Maybe it's something to do with cookies?
  - ronjouch 10y ago
    Nah, I have zarroo cookies set for the Maps domain (gratuitous plug to Self-Destructing Cookies: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/self-destructing-cookies/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/self-destruct... )
- nandhp 10y ago
  Do other WebGL applications work? Anything suspicious in the Graphics section of about:support? It's probably a preference, and you might start with something obvious like webgl.disable=true. However, you might rather just try Refresh Firefox, which resets your profile while keeping your bookmarks/history/open tabs. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/refresh-firefox-reset-add-ons-and-settings https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/refresh-firefox-reset-a...
  - ronjouch 10y ago
    Yeah, other WebGL apps/demos work, and webgl.disable isn't set to true. I have quite a few modified prefs and would like to avoid a Refresh, so I'm going to just bisect across prefs. Thanks for the suggestions.
Yetanfou 10y ago
If there is one thing Google services seem to have in common, it is that they're burdened with sluggish javascript. Whether it is Google Maps, Google Groups, Google Image browser (in Image search), all of them like to spike the CPU at 100% for a while doing their thing, leaving the user staring at a frozen tab or window. Having been around a bit I remember where Google Groups came from, it used to be called Deja News. Back in the day I made a 2-pane browser for reading news groups, functionally comparable to what Google Groups does nowadays with one big difference: it loaded instantaneously and was fast. Mind, this was in the time where we counted ourselves lucky with our 4 Mbit fixed line and our 400 MHz Pentium II developer machines, using Netscape 4.x on a Linux 2.x kernel with Afterstep or FvWM (or olvwm for Sun-OS aficionados). While these 'modern' services might be more flexible with their largely client-generated UI, I feel that this comes at too high a price. This problem is not just limited to Google services, other sites and services are similarly hampered. Thing is, I'd have expected better performance from Google.
- kasparsklavins 10y ago
  Youtube also does this.. the interface is frozen for me on page navigation for around 2-5 seconds before I can start interacting.
  - vortico 10y ago
    This is why I always use `mpv https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...` https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...` instead of clicking on Youtube links. It bypasses all the Javascript and plays the raw video stream. (youtube-dl needs to be installed.)
    - duozerk 10y ago
      See also the awesome youtube-dl script: https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/ https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/ - especially useful for videos you plan to watch more than once. It also handles far more than just youtube, despite the name.
      - 10y ago
speeder 10y ago
I wish Google would allow classic maps back :( For some reason, here Google Maps force lite mode, no matter how hard I try to force normal mode. Still, even in lite mode, it is incredibly slow, if it was slower it would go backwards. And it is missing basic features that classic maps had, like latitude and longitude lines, and measurement.
- agumonkey 10y ago
  I cringed when I realized bing maps were closer to classic gmaps than anything google maps today.
alyandon 10y ago
Funnily enough, a few days ago I was looking up some information and noticed I'm stuck in "lite mode" on Windows 10 with the latest dev channel of Chrome because apparently my system doesn't meet the minimum requirements. Of course, Edge works fine.
- simonsarris 10y ago
  Same problem has happened with me for about a month and is still currently happening. Win 10 + Chrome Developer = stuck in Lite mode.
- bitmapbrother 10y ago
  Isn't the Dev version essentially an alpha build?
  - alyandon 10y ago
    From my personal experience, not really. The Chrome dev channel is really nothing more than a more recent build that is considered stable enough to release into the wild to those that have opted into it. Things might break but in reality they rarely do. I won't go as far as to say I've never encountered bugs that I've noticed in the dev channel release but anything that serious is usually fixed within a matter of hours and it's happened to me like maybe twice in all the years that I've been using it.
creeble 10y ago
I see that ?force=lite seems to enable this mode, but I have no indication of it in the hamburger menu. Anyone else seeing this? I'm currently on the Kindle web browser, and it definitely seems faster, but I can't tell want mode it's in except by diggimg around the URL.
- richardboegli 10y ago
  You should see a lightning bolt in the lower right hand corner
  - creeble 10y ago
    Weird, I get nuttin. Same in my Droid Turbo Chrome browser. Will try on desktop Chrome.

136 points by richardboegli 10y ago

ww520 10y ago

Thank you Google. Maps has been sluggish for so long. A faster lite version is very much appreciated.

richardboegli 10y ago

I'm quite happy that Google has added this feature. Sometimes Google maps on PC is that bad I have to get phone out.

lars_francke 10y ago
FYI the lite mode has been available since they introduced the "new" Google Maps in 2013 or so.

chii 10y ago

i wish lite mode is the default, and you have to toggle on the lesser used features.

aakarpost 10y ago

Much better. Thanks. :)

dvfjsdhgfv 10y ago

The previous title was more informative (add "?force=lite" to the URL)

iand 10y ago

Excellent, this actually makes Maps usable for me. I don't have flash installed which seems to break place searching on standard Google Maps but not the Lite version.

pmontra 10y ago
I do have Flash installed but it's configured as "Ask to activate". Search for places on the full Google Maps works and it doesn't ask me about Flash.
- iand 10y ago
  I may be mistaken about the cause. I'm on Linux and use FF without flash. Chromium with in-built flash (or flash emulation?) handles maps fine.
  - pmontra 10y ago
    I'm also on Linux and Firefox. Ubuntu 16.04. I don't remember if Flash came with FF or I installed it. Anyway it doesn't run unless I OK it.
  - tonfa 10y ago
    This would point at the interaction with FF being the issue, maybe disable all extensions first to make sure they are not messing up with something?
smarnach 10y ago
Google Maps doesn't use Flash at all.

DrinkWater 10y ago

Actually this feels just as sluggish as the full version. Where exactly do you guys see/feel the improvement?

pmontra 10y ago
I also find it slower. Could it be that the full version uses hardware acceleration and the lite one is all on the CPU? The other big difference is that zooming in with the lite version takes me to aerial photos which look infinitely better than the weird 3D interpolated pictures of the full version (Earth view). I'd like to get that as a default in Earth.
mjhagen 10y ago
The Lite version is much slower on my ancient Core 2 Duo E8400 w/ GeForce 210. Which I'd think would be the kind of specs this feature was aimed at.
pcr0 10y ago
I agree, it's slower for me too, on a recent MBP. I think the main improvement they're targeting is lower data usage rather than performance improvements but I'm still surprised at how much worse it performs. Seems like a bug to me, hopefully it will be fixed.
shubb 10y ago
It looks like this lite version loads all the map imagery as images (tiles) from the server. This compares to full version which uses Javascript to render some of the roads and symbols as some kind of vector drawing on top of less detailed map tiles. I'd expect the Full version to require slightly less data transfer and behave better when zooming in and out rapidly. When you zoom in on a vector drawing it still looks sharp, so you just have to wait for more detailed roads to appear. Whereas in Lite mode, you'd zoom in and stare at a blury tile until the higher resolution one loaded. I'd expect Lite to work better in a browser or network that just can't cope with a web application. Old versions of IE, weird embedded browsers in smart TVs, that sort of thing. Given what it is, I wouldn't expect it to work better.
- 10y ago

Nanite 10y ago

Thanks, can anybody explain why google allowed maps to turn into a such a sluggish feature bloat?

jokoon 10y ago
The new map is basically a JS version of google earth
kristopolous 10y ago
That's the typical projection of software in general
kalleboo 10y ago
Gotta keep adding features, otherwise what are all your team members going to do?
- flukus 10y ago
  Performance is a feature.
gdulli 10y ago
Companies that make money hire aggressively out of principle more than need. When this gets out of hand, they don't let people go. They have to find ways to keep them busy. Even if that means taking products that are already in a good state and adding useless features/redesigns. It's the great equalizer.
CaptSpify 10y ago
And yet basic things like being able to zoom in to see the name of a street aren't there. I want ~5 things from gmaps, yet it's filled with crap I personally don't use (maybe enough people want the other features that it's worth it). I wish we could go back to the days of toggle-able features for websites.
- greyflames 10y ago
  What other basic things do you think gmaps is missing?

abpavel 10y ago

I find it amusing that the list of features not present in the Lite mode exactly matches the list of features I do not want.

adrianN 10y ago
I get coordinates quite often to enter them into my Garmin GPS.
- abpavel 10y ago
  All my Garmins are collecting dust since I tried Waze a year ago.
rc_bhg 10y ago
Big market opening for a "Force Google Maps Lite Mode" Firefox plugin!

lucb1e 10y ago

Google Maps is the best for businesses, but the site is extremely slow (lite mode or no) and, at least in the Netherlands, they're behind with road data. When I want a map I use osm.org; when I want aerial I use bing.com/maps; and when I need opening hours or find the nearest restaurant I reluctantly open Google Maps.

jsumrall 10y ago
What do you use for turn-by-turn driving directions in the car?
- arviewer 10y ago
  I still prefer TomTom, don't mind to pay for all the time it saves me. It's not perfect, but it works for me.
  - hueving 10y ago
    Interesting, how does TomTom save you time over the gmaps navigation? I just tell my phone, "navigate to <business name>" and 15 seconds later it's telling me where to go. What am I missing?
    - pookeh 10y ago
      You are (not) missing mobile data. Granted, Google maps now have an offline mode, but even the it is for a limited region only.
      - ams6110 10y ago
        I don't have a data plan on my phone, so I use offline mode whenever I want to go somewhere. It's pretty great, I just need to remember to save the route before I leave WiFi.
      - modeless 10y ago
        The only limit to how big an area you can cover with Google offline maps is your storage. Each individual offline map is limited in size but you can download as many as you want to cover as big an area as you can fit in your phone.

yoodenvranx 10y ago

btw, what happened to the satelite images? I used Google Maps yesterday for the first time in months and I can only switch to some horrible, slow, and low-res 3D mode?

greyflames 10y ago
It's still available in the side menu. If you click hamburger in the top left > Earth > 3D On, it will switch to satellite imagery.
- yoodenvranx 10y ago
  Thanks, I will give it a try later!

emilburzo 10y ago

It's interesting that it doesn't have a point of interest I added recently (on 13/Dec/2016). I was assuming they would be using the same data as regular Maps. Does anyone know more?

untog 10y ago
The Lite version uses image-based map tiles, wheras the "full fat" version uses the data directly. I imagine the image tiles are rebuilt at regular intervals, but not on demand.

andygambles 10y ago

Would have thought Google got really clever and detected if bandwidth is low to load lite version.

helb 10y ago
It's more about device/browser performance than bandwidth.
- hueving 10y ago
  Tell that to someone with a slow connection.
  - cornedor 10y ago
    I think the full version might even use less bandwidth because it renders the tiles on the client and only sends some vector data.

ronjouch 10y ago

Tangential question: Maps automatically switches to Lite mode under certain browser conditions. It does so on my home Firefox machine (Dev. Edition 52.0a2, Linux, Intel HD Graphics 520), and: - When I deactivate all my addons it still does. - When I try a new profile it no longer does. -> If not an addon, to my knowledge of Firefox, the cause has to be a changed Firefox preference (right?). But if right, I changed so many of them, I have no idea which one causes the behavior. Before I binary-search that, any clue what the culprit pref might be? The support page doesn't answer this question; its only relevant snip is that "Maps will take you to Lite mode and your maps won't have 3D images if you have the following cards: [...] Intel GMA 3600", which I have (GMA3600 == HD520), but it must be outdated documentation, as Maps stays non-Lite with a fresh profile.

gkya 10y ago
Maybe it's something to do with cookies?
- ronjouch 10y ago
  Nah, I have zarroo cookies set for the Maps domain (gratuitous plug to Self-Destructing Cookies: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/self-destructing-cookies/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/self-destruct... )
nandhp 10y ago
Do other WebGL applications work? Anything suspicious in the Graphics section of about:support? It's probably a preference, and you might start with something obvious like webgl.disable=true. However, you might rather just try Refresh Firefox, which resets your profile while keeping your bookmarks/history/open tabs. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/refresh-firefox-reset-add-ons-and-settings https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/refresh-firefox-reset-a...
- ronjouch 10y ago
  Yeah, other WebGL apps/demos work, and webgl.disable isn't set to true. I have quite a few modified prefs and would like to avoid a Refresh, so I'm going to just bisect across prefs. Thanks for the suggestions.

Yetanfou 10y ago

If there is one thing Google services seem to have in common, it is that they're burdened with sluggish javascript. Whether it is Google Maps, Google Groups, Google Image browser (in Image search), all of them like to spike the CPU at 100% for a while doing their thing, leaving the user staring at a frozen tab or window. Having been around a bit I remember where Google Groups came from, it used to be called Deja News. Back in the day I made a 2-pane browser for reading news groups, functionally comparable to what Google Groups does nowadays with one big difference: it loaded instantaneously and was fast. Mind, this was in the time where we counted ourselves lucky with our 4 Mbit fixed line and our 400 MHz Pentium II developer machines, using Netscape 4.x on a Linux 2.x kernel with Afterstep or FvWM (or olvwm for Sun-OS aficionados). While these 'modern' services might be more flexible with their largely client-generated UI, I feel that this comes at too high a price. This problem is not just limited to Google services, other sites and services are similarly hampered. Thing is, I'd have expected better performance from Google.

kasparsklavins 10y ago
Youtube also does this.. the interface is frozen for me on page navigation for around 2-5 seconds before I can start interacting.
- vortico 10y ago
  This is why I always use `mpv https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...` https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...` instead of clicking on Youtube links. It bypasses all the Javascript and plays the raw video stream. (youtube-dl needs to be installed.)
  - duozerk 10y ago
    See also the awesome youtube-dl script: https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/ https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/ - especially useful for videos you plan to watch more than once. It also handles far more than just youtube, despite the name.
    - 10y ago

speeder 10y ago

I wish Google would allow classic maps back :( For some reason, here Google Maps force lite mode, no matter how hard I try to force normal mode. Still, even in lite mode, it is incredibly slow, if it was slower it would go backwards. And it is missing basic features that classic maps had, like latitude and longitude lines, and measurement.

agumonkey 10y ago
I cringed when I realized bing maps were closer to classic gmaps than anything google maps today.

alyandon 10y ago

Funnily enough, a few days ago I was looking up some information and noticed I'm stuck in "lite mode" on Windows 10 with the latest dev channel of Chrome because apparently my system doesn't meet the minimum requirements. Of course, Edge works fine.

simonsarris 10y ago
Same problem has happened with me for about a month and is still currently happening. Win 10 + Chrome Developer = stuck in Lite mode.
bitmapbrother 10y ago
Isn't the Dev version essentially an alpha build?
- alyandon 10y ago
  From my personal experience, not really. The Chrome dev channel is really nothing more than a more recent build that is considered stable enough to release into the wild to those that have opted into it. Things might break but in reality they rarely do. I won't go as far as to say I've never encountered bugs that I've noticed in the dev channel release but anything that serious is usually fixed within a matter of hours and it's happened to me like maybe twice in all the years that I've been using it.

creeble 10y ago

I see that ?force=lite seems to enable this mode, but I have no indication of it in the hamburger menu. Anyone else seeing this? I'm currently on the Kindle web browser, and it definitely seems faster, but I can't tell want mode it's in except by diggimg around the URL.

richardboegli 10y ago
You should see a lightning bolt in the lower right hand corner
- creeble 10y ago
  Weird, I get nuttin. Same in my Droid Turbo Chrome browser. Will try on desktop Chrome.