# Am I crazy or is Google Maps impossible to use now? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 16, 2014, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255 "2014-04-16T13:51:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255/21 "2014-04-17T11:49:44Z")
So it’s not just me! I tried using it yesterday and just about screamed with frustration. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255/22 "2014-04-17T14:57:09Z")
The new Google Maps is lihitlerally the worst. I’ve switched back to Classic and pray that they don’t go, “Okay, we’ve given you enough time to ignore the ‘upgrade.’ Now we’re going to force you to use it. Don’t like it? Use MapQuest.” Which I would if it had public transit directions. The new Google Maps is unbearably awful. Before I found I could switch back to Classic, I took to using navigation aps on my phone. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255/23 "2014-04-18T04:49:11Z")
I’d like to know why it **always** brings up the thumbnails at the bottom of the screen. I very rarely use them, so I have to click on the down chevron ALMOST EVERY TIME. Very annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Win\_Place\_Show](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/win_place_show/32/13469_2.png) [@Win\_Place\_Show](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Win_Place_Show)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255/24 "2014-04-18T05:13:32Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > The new Google Maps is lihitlerally the worst. > > I’ve switched back to Classic and pray that they don’t go, “Okay, we’ve given you enough time to ignore the ‘upgrade.’ Now we’re going to force you to use it. Don’t like it? Use MapQuest.” Which I would if it had public transit directions. The new Google Maps is unbearably awful. Before I found I could switch back to Classic, I took to using navigation aps on my phone. every bit of ^THIS^. I’m like everyone else who has chimed in - when they first changed it, my initial thought was “wtf is this shit?”. I fear that they’ll look at it like the annual Facebook changes/updates, where everyone bitches about it for a month or so, and then just grows accustomed to it, and everything is right in the world once again. I will never grow accustomed to the “new” Google Maps. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255/25 "2014-04-18T05:13:52Z")
> [@PatriotGrrrl](#): > > Let’s face it - some people are just plain evil. Every time something by google works great and people are happy with it they either kill it or fuck it up. It’s not like any of this is even making them more money. Oh, come on. This is the dope. Change itself is evil. Avatars? No way man. More smileys? That’s crazy talk. Hell, half the people here are still on dial up. So some corporation that provides a free AMAZING service decides (for their own reasons) to upgrade? Oh yeah, that’s just plain evil. Bastards. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255/26 "2014-04-18T06:19:21Z")
I’ve gotten used to it, but I really don’t like the Zoom. It’s way clunkier and less responsive. They removed the “draw a square to zoom in on” thing, which I used a lot and found to be very useful, and zooming out is only possible via the little “-” button, no scaling slider anymore. I also use a Wacom drawing tablet, and the mouse pointer has to remain very steady to register a click, something which is easier to do with a mouse rather than a tablet pen, so it can take a few tries to get it to do what I want. Every other feature works reasonably well. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255/27 "2014-04-18T10:40:06Z")
Personally, I miss the days when I could ask Google Maps to calculate driving distance between the U.S. and U.K., and would invariably get the direction, “Swim across the Atlantic Ocean.” ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255/28 "2014-04-18T12:48:13Z")
It isn’t impossible to use, but like most of the would-be enhancements from Google’s “Fixing What Ain’t Broke” department, I’m at a loss to see how it improved anything. It’s been a while since my college days, but I assume that computer science now includes rudimentary coursework on how to identify and eliminate useful features, complicate menus and search functions, and redesign layouts to be as jarring and aesthetically offensive as the current technology permits. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255/29 "2014-04-18T12:51:35Z")
I hate it. As soon as I saw it I went to Bing ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255/30 "2014-04-18T12:56:12Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > Thanks for the instructions, that helped a lot. I simply prefer the old interface. Used to it, ya know? > > What exactly is supposed to be improved in the new version? Just curious… These days, people dick with interfaces and then call the product “new and improved”. They might tweak one or two things under the hood, but it’s still basically the same thing it’s always been. Microsoft is infamous for this. ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255/31 "2014-04-18T13:11:06Z")
Where are satellite and terrain view? The"earth" view is mostly useless because it drapes the photos over the elevation map, distorting them. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255/32 "2014-04-20T04:09:16Z")
there are several other useful alternatives, expecially if you want to print your map, which is barbaric on Google. [http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php](http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php) is a source where you can select your ares, then choose one of several mapping applications. There doesn’t seem to be a search mode, you just have to keep zooming in until you find your location, but then you can use the menu and find maps that meet your needs. You might have to use Google first, to find an obscure location, but once you know where it is, the above link can be used. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255/33 "2014-04-20T15:20:59Z")
And not only is the interface borked now but for the first time in my memory I found a bug (not just a directions mistake which happens from time to time). I looked up an address in a town next to mine in NJ. The preview mapped looked normal and basically correct but when I clicked on it and it opened to the full map, it was a location somewhere in Pennsylvania. I tried it a few more times and always it opened in PA. I dread to think what would have happened if I was going to navigate there… ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255/34 "2014-04-20T16:34:47Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > And not only is the interface borked now but for the first time in my memory I found a bug (not just a directions mistake which happens from time to time). I looked up an address in a town next to mine in NJ. The preview mapped looked normal and basically correct but when I clicked on it and it opened to the full map, it was a location somewhere in Pennsylvania. I tried it a few more times and always it opened in PA. I dread to think what would have happened if I was going to navigate there… Ooh, that happened to me, too. I was looking for a location in Bixby, OK and when opened it, I was in Iowa. I thought maybe I clicked the wrong thing, so I started over, searched for Bixby OK, clicked, looked at Iowa again. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255/35 "2014-04-20T22:13:39Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > They changed it and I find it hard to do anything. It used to be easy to zoom from map to satellite to street view and back again. Now I have no idea what is going on. Since you asked, I vote crazy. 🙂 I don’t find anything difficult about google maps. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255/36 "2014-04-21T00:21:15Z")
I followed a link to the new maps today and it took forever to load the scene. Even when it considered itself ‘done’ the trees in the background looked like they were from a 16 bit video game. Made the whole sight look artificial. They had an option for me to switch back to classic and even had a thing asking why. I checked almost every box. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255/37 "2014-04-21T01:09:07Z")
> [@White SIFL](#): > > Oh, come on. This is the dope. Change itself is evil. Avatars? No way man. More smileys? That’s crazy talk. Hell, half the people here are still on dial up. So some corporation that provides a free AMAZING service decides (for their own reasons) to upgrade? Oh yeah, that’s just plain evil. Bastards. This attitude is just a lazy way of insulting people. We have an entire thread full of people explaining how this “upgrade” is actually worse. Yet you create the stawman that people hate it because it was changed. You also bring up the fact that something is free, as if that has any bearing on whether something is good or not. Google doesn’t offer Maps out of the goodness of their hearts. It is a service they make money off of, and we have every right to complain if the service devolves. As for the evil plan–it’s really simple. They are making features they don’t want to support harder to use, so that they can say “no one uses it, so we dropped it.” They are manipulating the data so they can get the conclusion they want. Google Maps is not “an amazing service” currently. It is inferior to most other map sites. It’s only the ability to go back to classic mode that has prevented them from losing a large swath of customers. People do still vote with their feet, without feeling some misplaced loyalty because users pay via ads rather than with money out of their pocket. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255/38 "2014-04-21T02:30:38Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > As for the evil plan–it’s really simple. They are making features they don’t want to support harder to use, so that they can say “no one uses it, so we dropped it.” They are manipulating the data so they can get the conclusion they want. Why would they need to do that? If they want to drop a feature they don’t need to answer to anyone or provide a justification, they can just do it. ---
**Author:** ![Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fool_in_the_Rain)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255/39 "2014-04-22T16:36:25Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > It isn’t impossible to use, but like most of the would-be enhancements from Google’s “Fixing What Ain’t Broke” department, I’m at a loss to see how it improved anything. > > **It’s been a while since my college days, but I assume that computer science now includes rudimentary coursework on how to identify and eliminate useful features, complicate menus and search functions, and redesign layouts to be as jarring and aesthetically offensive as the current technology permits.** \ I completely agree with this. It seems like every upgrade/version/class/improvement/new and improved/futuristic that comes out in practically every commonplace site or program is becoming more difficult, complicated, over thought, and confusing than the previous incarnations. Google, Facebook, Twitter, newspapers, magazines, news sites, Office, Firefox, iTunes, Windows, etc. I’ve learn to adapt, but man it is getting ridiculous now… And this from a guy who has used computers in one fashion or another since 1982… ---
**Author:** ![sara20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@sara20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sara20)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2014, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255/40 "2014-04-23T00:39:35Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > They changed it and I find it hard to do anything. It used to be easy to zoom from map to satellite to street view and back again. Now I have no idea what is going on. I agree completely [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-or-is-google-maps-impossible-to-use-now/686255.md?page=3)