Everything about the new Google Maps besides the maps themselves is so mindbogglingly bad that I have no idea how they thought it was ready for public consumption. It seems to be missing most of the features of the classic Google Maps, and those that are present are far harder to use. The UI for the public transit schedules is pretty much the only thing that seems like it could be an improvement once I get used to it (but for now it's mostly just really awkward).
I've especially been missing the ability to make directions with multiple stops (I used to use that feature about 50% of the time). Also, the interface is a lot slower - it's tolerable on my 1 year old computer, but it's close to unusable on my 5 year old laptop.
Also not OP, but on my 2012 Macbook Air I had to turn off the maps preview because it was making my machine very warm, reached over 98C before I switched it off. Only took a minute. I was very disappointed.
Chrome on a 4 year old desktop. And chrome on a low end 1 year old desktop. Slow for both, not to the point of being unusable, but slow enough to be annoying.
Even on my new i5 laptop, it's not quite as snappy as the old version.
The New Android map app is bad too. Rip the menu button, no way to get other routes suggestions anymore, I didn't find a quick way to switch from navigate view to route view.
All that is still the move toward less and less control for the user, initiated by Apple. I hope Google can revert soon, now that it is actually Apple which is coping with Google.
When you have searched for a destination, click on the bottom right where it shows the commute type (car, bus, bicycle, walking) and estimated time. From there you'll find a list of three suggested routes (at least I do). When clicking on any of the the suggested routes, it'll show all of them in the map and you can also choose a route by clicking on it in the map.
Additionally, I get back from navigation to route view just by pressing the back button. Works just like it should?
Just tried it and it is like you say, thanks. Influenced by the previous version, I thought pressing back button would exit navigation.
Then one more complain: in the previous version I could get a metric scale from the labs, which I think is not there anymore. I think a map without a scale is a toy-map.
I really hate the lack of ability to show street view and a map at the same time. How is that an improvement? It is now very hard to know where you are looking at.
This is the worst ! I used to drag and drop the yellow character to view exactly the place I wanted to see, now I have to go back and forth between maps view and streetview until i get to the right place...
Plus, the switch between views (public transport, bike, traffic) being hidden in a hover menu that disappears when I make a search... Now I have to first think about enabling the mode I want before making my search. How is that a progress ?
When I got in to the beta, I thought it looked great, but after I tried to use it, I quickly reverted back to the old maps
Same here. I used street view combined with find directions, to find how the streets at each exit point in the route look like. Now it's impossible to open the street view of a route point.
I've filed it as a "commentary" (it doesn't allow bug reporting) through the feedback tool; if many of us do the same, maybe we'll get them to listen.
Let alone know where you'll be able to get a street view or not. The blue overlay is great in the old maps, now I spend 10 minutes randomly clicking around on roads to see what has one or not.
It's the chain button next to the printer button just to the left of the map. It's... right there. What would you prefer they do to make it easier for you?
[EDIT] Oh, looks like I don't have the new version yet. Oops. Thanks for the correction.
