# Why won't Google Maps take me to the site I searched for? It does mark it but then I have to find the mark **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 30, 2022, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-google-maps-take-me-to-the-site-i-searched-for-it-does-mark-it-but-then-i-have-to-find-the-mark/968837 "2022-07-30T18:04:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-google-maps-take-me-to-the-site-i-searched-for-it-does-mark-it-but-then-i-have-to-find-the-mark/968837/1 "2022-07-30T18:04:17Z")
I’m running it on my desktop system, onChrome, haven’t done any major changes recently, have rebooted. When I enter a place in the search bar, it finds the place but it doesn’t take me thereon the map. If I zoom out or otherwise maneuver the map to where the site I searched for is located, Google Maps has kindly marked it for me, though. But if I knew where it was I would have just gone there myself. I’ve tried Google Map’s help for this problem ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-google-maps-take-me-to-the-site-i-searched-for-it-does-mark-it-but-then-i-have-to-find-the-mark/968837/2 "2022-07-30T18:12:36Z")
As a test I just went to Google Maps and typed in an address I’m been needing a lot lately. _50 East Front Street, Red Bank, NJ_ I clicked and took me there. That is with Chrome and Win 11. Then I tried _Yankee Stadium_ and hit enter and it took me there. If I type _Yankee Stadium_ in the address bar, it takes me to a results page and to the right is a little map that if I click on takes me to Yankee Stadium on Google Maps. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-google-maps-take-me-to-the-site-i-searched-for-it-does-mark-it-but-then-i-have-to-find-the-mark/968837/3 "2022-07-30T18:35:05Z")
Windows 10. Firefox 91. If I start at [maps.google.com](http://maps.google.com), and I enter the name of a specific and unique landmark, the map approximately centers on that landmark and the info panel on the left has an entry for that landmark. If I start at [maps.google.com](http://maps.google.com), and I enter the name of a non-unique landmark, the map centers and scales so that all matches show someplace on the visible map, and the info panel lists all matches, so I can click one and display its specific info (and the map pans and zooms to center on its location). If I don’t start at [maps.google.com](http://maps.google.com), google search gives me a page of web search returns and an inset map that I can click to replicate the effect of searching from [maps.google.com](http://maps.google.com). ---
**Author:** ![Tabco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tabco/32/7644_2.png) [@Tabco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabco)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-google-maps-take-me-to-the-site-i-searched-for-it-does-mark-it-but-then-i-have-to-find-the-mark/968837/4 "2022-07-30T19:18:34Z")
I’ve experienced this same issue, although I can’t seem to reproduce it now. Maybe it’s only happening at my work PC. Same as you though, I’d type a place in and Google Maps would mark it but not zoom or shift the map over to the location. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-google-maps-take-me-to-the-site-i-searched-for-it-does-mark-it-but-then-i-have-to-find-the-mark/968837/5 "2022-07-30T19:20:07Z")
My experience is with my VPN turned on then I get results similar to the OP but when turned off I get local results and taken to where I want to be. So maybe it is a location issue viz google judges you to be too far away to want a specific location. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-google-maps-take-me-to-the-site-i-searched-for-it-does-mark-it-but-then-i-have-to-find-the-mark/968837/6 "2022-07-30T19:26:38Z")
I’ve noticed a slightly similar situation with Google Maps when the “marker” goes away when I do various things, e.g., shrink the sidebar. Um. No. I still want the spot marked. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-google-maps-take-me-to-the-site-i-searched-for-it-does-mark-it-but-then-i-have-to-find-the-mark/968837/7 "2022-07-30T19:28:33Z")
> [@Tabco](#): > > I’ve experienced this same issue, although I can’t seem to reproduce it now. Maybe it’s only happening at my work PC. Same as you though, I’d type a place in and Google Maps would mark it but not zoom or shift the map over to the location. Well, I’m glad someone else has experienced it, I guess? ;-D > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > My experience is with my VPN turned on then I get results similar to the OP but when turned off I get local results and taken to where I want to be. So maybe it is a location issue viz google judges you to be too far away to want a specific location. I have a VPN on my work computer, but not on my home system, and the two have run side by side for years. This new behavior started less than a week ago. > [@ftg](#): > > I’ve noticed a slightly similar situation with Google Maps when the “marker” goes away when I do various things, e.g., shrink the sidebar. Um. No. I still want the spot marked. Yeah, I have always had that too. But this not shifting the map to the specified location is quite new. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-google-maps-take-me-to-the-site-i-searched-for-it-does-mark-it-but-then-i-have-to-find-the-mark/968837/8 "2022-07-30T20:04:23Z")
Not sure about this exact problem, but I’m finding the marker for the place I searched for increasingly lost in a sea of other markers I didn’t ask about. The Thai restaurant on 3rd I searched for is marked, but so is the Jiffy Lube next door to it, the Mexican place across the street, and the elementary school a block away. The Thai restaurant marker is only _slightly_ bigger than every other marker crowding the screen. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-google-maps-take-me-to-the-site-i-searched-for-it-does-mark-it-but-then-i-have-to-find-the-mark/968837/9 "2022-07-30T21:22:58Z")
And now it seems to have fixed itself. How odd. I didn’t even do anything to try to fix it since starting this thread. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-google-maps-take-me-to-the-site-i-searched-for-it-does-mark-it-but-then-i-have-to-find-the-mark/968837/10 "2022-07-30T21:29:48Z")
My phone locked up pretty hard yesterday. It was very sluggish to even restart. Once it did restart, I ran for full diagnostic and everything is fine. I’ll most likely never know what happened.