5 ms·

Unrelated but similar and I feel like venting... On Google Maps you'll search for something, and the results are shown as a list that almost covers the entire m

Unrelated but similar and I feel like venting... On Google Maps you'll search for something, and the results are shown as a list that almost covers the entire map. It's Google MAPS and it hides the map for so many things. I'd rather go to a place that's 3 miles straight down a free way than 2 miles of stop lights, but I don't know that if the map is covered!

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
jonas21 8y ago
If you're talking about the mobile app, you can swipe down on the list to see more of the map. In many cases, I think defaulting to the list makes sense because of the extra data it has. For example, I'd rather go to a restaurant that has a 5-star rating and is open now as opposed to one that is rated 2 stars and is closed, even if the 2-star restaurant is easier to get to.
- jonknee 8y ago
  Yes, and the list is sorted with the closest / most recent hits on top. It's way better than just seeing a bunch of pins on a map.
  - danShumway 8y ago
    > It's way better than just seeing a bunch of pins on a map. Is it? Showing the pins on the map seems like it would show you roughly the same distances but with the added information of direction and area. At worst you might eyeball the distance wrong, but does it matter if something is 3.5 miles away or 3.6 miles away? Most of the time I search something in Google maps I want to see the relative area so I can make a choice based on route and whatever else is near the location. I guess it comes down to how likely you are to rely on Google map ratings/info. If I'm searching for a restaurant, I generally trust Google's location information, but otherwise I don't trust their ratings and store times to be accurate. Other people could be different though.
    - jonknee 8y ago
      Yes, because the list shows you stuff like the name of the place, its address, ratings, hours and all sorts of other stuff. Plus the full screen map view is a short swipe away.
      - vturner 8y ago
        That bugs me the swipe though...sometimes it will show part of the map and I tap the map expecting to see it full screen. No, it just erases, goes to a blank search.
    - gervase 8y ago
      Often, I will search for a string such as "Cost"; I'll probably be referring to Costco, but in the map, it will also show me results for Cost Plus World Market, for example. If I'm only looking at pins, I can't see the names without clicking on each pin, which isn't really feasible in the middle of driving. However, in the list, it's easy to differentiate between the two, in addition to by distance (since that's the information the list shows). Conversely, if I'm on the way somewhere, and I want to add a stop using the "add stop" feature, such as a gas station, then it sorts by the amount of extra time it will add for each stop, as well as showing the pins on the map. Since I don't really care where I go, as long as I get gas, this seems like a reasonable compromise. (It also puts the gas prices on the map, which is nice.) However, perhaps I am a happy-path user, or have been trained over time to use the application as the developers intended. Regardless, the current behavior works well for me.
      - danShumway 8y ago
        > which isn't really feasible in the middle of driving. That makes a lot of sense to me. I typically only use my GPS while walking, but now I'm thinking of a use case where I couldn't stop for a few seconds and pan around the map with a finger, and I think I would want a list in that scenario.
  - _tulpa 8y ago
    Pretty sure it's sorted by average rating first. The place literally across the road from me is a screen down the list (on mobile) because it's got lower reviews (by about one star or so) than the place 7km away which is at the top of the list.
    - jonknee 8y ago
      Like most things Google, I don't think it's that simple. It seems to rank on multiple factors including distance, rating, if you've been there before, if you've saved it, popularity and surely lots of other signals. My search results from your location are probably different than your search results.
lallysingh 8y ago
Or why's it so hard to get it to show a street name? It will show some, and it won't show others. If the one you want is in the latter category you've got a lot of zooming before you see it. Ugh.
- choward 8y ago
  That and for some reason the scale only shows up while your zooming and for a couple seconds after. I want to see it all the time, damn it!
  - sampo 8y ago
    Go to settings and select "Show scale on map" / "Always".
    - choward 8y ago
      I swear I've looked for that setting before. Thanks!
- dmitriid 8y ago
  Because the are so many things you can show on a map. For fascinating essays on digital maps, this site: https://www.justinobeirne.com https://www.justinobeirne.com Related to your question: Google Maps’s Quiet Transformation (2017), esp. the second half of the article https://www.justinobeirne.com/a-year-of-google-maps-and-apple-maps https://www.justinobeirne.com/a-year-of-google-maps-and-appl... Surpising Changes to Google‘s Cartography (2016) https://www.justinobeirne.com/what-happened-to-google-maps https://www.justinobeirne.com/what-happened-to-google-maps Why are Google Maps’s city labels more readable than those of its competitors? (2010) https://www.justinobeirne.com/google-maps-label-readability https://www.justinobeirne.com/google-maps-label-readability
- gonzo41 8y ago
  I would invite you to do some web mapping, Level of Detail is the hardest problem, and it makes no one happy.
draw_down 8y ago
It is so difficult now to get Google Maps to just show the actual map! It's trying so hard to add value by showing you pictures of sandwiches that you can't just see the map when you need to.
conductr 8y ago
> I'd rather go to a place that's 3 miles straight down a free way than 2 miles of stop lights This is a big pet peev of mine. I optimize for easier driving; less turns and less stops over saving a minute or two. But as smart as they try to be, they never seem to learn anything from _the route I actually take_. You'd think the Google lady would catch on that; when he drives home from work (5+ times a week) we always recommend that he take this Avenue but for some reason he always goes out of the way to take the Highway and I have to recalculate. I'd think they'd analyze every "recalculating" as potential bad advice and learn from it.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

jonas21 8y ago

If you're talking about the mobile app, you can swipe down on the list to see more of the map. In many cases, I think defaulting to the list makes sense because of the extra data it has. For example, I'd rather go to a restaurant that has a 5-star rating and is open now as opposed to one that is rated 2 stars and is closed, even if the 2-star restaurant is easier to get to.

jonknee 8y ago
Yes, and the list is sorted with the closest / most recent hits on top. It's way better than just seeing a bunch of pins on a map.
- danShumway 8y ago
  > It's way better than just seeing a bunch of pins on a map. Is it? Showing the pins on the map seems like it would show you roughly the same distances but with the added information of direction and area. At worst you might eyeball the distance wrong, but does it matter if something is 3.5 miles away or 3.6 miles away? Most of the time I search something in Google maps I want to see the relative area so I can make a choice based on route and whatever else is near the location. I guess it comes down to how likely you are to rely on Google map ratings/info. If I'm searching for a restaurant, I generally trust Google's location information, but otherwise I don't trust their ratings and store times to be accurate. Other people could be different though.
  - jonknee 8y ago
    Yes, because the list shows you stuff like the name of the place, its address, ratings, hours and all sorts of other stuff. Plus the full screen map view is a short swipe away.
    - vturner 8y ago
      That bugs me the swipe though...sometimes it will show part of the map and I tap the map expecting to see it full screen. No, it just erases, goes to a blank search.
  - gervase 8y ago
    Often, I will search for a string such as "Cost"; I'll probably be referring to Costco, but in the map, it will also show me results for Cost Plus World Market, for example. If I'm only looking at pins, I can't see the names without clicking on each pin, which isn't really feasible in the middle of driving. However, in the list, it's easy to differentiate between the two, in addition to by distance (since that's the information the list shows). Conversely, if I'm on the way somewhere, and I want to add a stop using the "add stop" feature, such as a gas station, then it sorts by the amount of extra time it will add for each stop, as well as showing the pins on the map. Since I don't really care where I go, as long as I get gas, this seems like a reasonable compromise. (It also puts the gas prices on the map, which is nice.) However, perhaps I am a happy-path user, or have been trained over time to use the application as the developers intended. Regardless, the current behavior works well for me.
    - danShumway 8y ago
      > which isn't really feasible in the middle of driving. That makes a lot of sense to me. I typically only use my GPS while walking, but now I'm thinking of a use case where I couldn't stop for a few seconds and pan around the map with a finger, and I think I would want a list in that scenario.
- _tulpa 8y ago
  Pretty sure it's sorted by average rating first. The place literally across the road from me is a screen down the list (on mobile) because it's got lower reviews (by about one star or so) than the place 7km away which is at the top of the list.
  - jonknee 8y ago
    Like most things Google, I don't think it's that simple. It seems to rank on multiple factors including distance, rating, if you've been there before, if you've saved it, popularity and surely lots of other signals. My search results from your location are probably different than your search results.

lallysingh 8y ago

Or why's it so hard to get it to show a street name? It will show some, and it won't show others. If the one you want is in the latter category you've got a lot of zooming before you see it. Ugh.

choward 8y ago
That and for some reason the scale only shows up while your zooming and for a couple seconds after. I want to see it all the time, damn it!
- sampo 8y ago
  Go to settings and select "Show scale on map" / "Always".
  - choward 8y ago
    I swear I've looked for that setting before. Thanks!
dmitriid 8y ago
Because the are so many things you can show on a map. For fascinating essays on digital maps, this site: https://www.justinobeirne.com https://www.justinobeirne.com Related to your question: Google Maps’s Quiet Transformation (2017), esp. the second half of the article https://www.justinobeirne.com/a-year-of-google-maps-and-apple-maps https://www.justinobeirne.com/a-year-of-google-maps-and-appl... Surpising Changes to Google‘s Cartography (2016) https://www.justinobeirne.com/what-happened-to-google-maps https://www.justinobeirne.com/what-happened-to-google-maps Why are Google Maps’s city labels more readable than those of its competitors? (2010) https://www.justinobeirne.com/google-maps-label-readability https://www.justinobeirne.com/google-maps-label-readability
gonzo41 8y ago
I would invite you to do some web mapping, Level of Detail is the hardest problem, and it makes no one happy.

draw_down 8y ago

It is so difficult now to get Google Maps to just show the actual map! It's trying so hard to add value by showing you pictures of sandwiches that you can't just see the map when you need to.

conductr 8y ago

> I'd rather go to a place that's 3 miles straight down a free way than 2 miles of stop lights This is a big pet peev of mine. I optimize for easier driving; less turns and less stops over saving a minute or two. But as smart as they try to be, they never seem to learn anything from _the route I actually take_. You'd think the Google lady would catch on that; when he drives home from work (5+ times a week) we always recommend that he take this Avenue but for some reason he always goes out of the way to take the Highway and I have to recalculate. I'd think they'd analyze every "recalculating" as potential bad advice and learn from it.