Hating on new Google Maps

[CWuestefeld]

Surely I'm not the only one that hates the new design of Google Maps. Let me count the ways that I hate it, and see if anybody's found good solutions to these problems with it:

• Slow to load - it takes quite a while, even on a fast (e.g., 20Mbps) connection, to load up the page
• Slow to interact - the page just doesn't feel snappy, at least in Firefox
• No multi-stop direction - I can only find a way to get directions from point A to Point B; I can't see any way to go from A to B to C
• Hideous links - to send a map takes a huge, opaque URL, but I can always use bit.ly or something to fix that
• Did I mention that it seems really slow?

Any other problems Google should be addressing?

[tomos]

Any other problems Google should be addressing?

I dont know because I went back to the old version...
I was excited about trying the new version, but got *so* frustrated with it that I left it (and didnt keep track of my complaints). In fairness that was a while ago now (a few weeks at least).
I guess I should try it again and see how I get on - but you're not inspiring me

[TaoPhoenix]

Surely I'm not the only one that hates the new design of Google Maps. Let me count the ways that I hate it, and see if anybody's found good solutions to these problems with it:

• Slow to load - it takes quite a while, even on a fast (e.g., 20Mbps) connection, to load up the page
• Slow to interact - the page just doesn't feel snappy, at least in Firefox
• No multi-stop direction - I can only find a way to get directions from point A to Point B; I can't see any way to go from A to B to C
• Hideous links - to send a map takes a huge, opaque URL, but I can always use bit.ly or something to fix that
• Did I mention that it seems really slow?

Any other problems Google should be addressing?

New compared to when? When did it switch over? And do you care to say a couple of words on what the old version did better?

I don't use Google Maps all  that much, but I find Yahoo Maps doesn't seem to have any/useless Subway coverage of NY City, so it forces me to use Google despite my general dislike of their growing evilness!

[Deozaan]

Did the old maps allow you to go from A to B to C?

You know what feature I'd like in a Maps service? Being able to do something like this:

I am at point A. I need to end up at point Z, but I want to visit points B, C, ..., X, and Y somewhere in between. Now you (meaning the Map service) do the hard work and figure out the most efficient route for me to take.

[Stoic Joker]

I am at point A. I need to end up at point Z, but I want to visit points B, C, ..., X, and Y somewhere in between. Now you (meaning the Map service) do the hard work and figure out the most efficient route for me to take.

maps.yahoo.com - Grab the route line and drag it to whatever route/stops you want in between ... It's a beautiful thing!

[4wd]

I am at point A. I need to end up at point Z, but I want to visit points B, C, ..., X, and Y somewhere in between. Now you (meaning the Map service) do the hard work and figure out the most efficient route for me to take.

maps.yahoo.com - Grab the route line and drag it to whatever route/stops you want in between ... It's a beautiful thing!

You can do the same thing in Google Maps, or you can just right-click a place and choose from the context menu.  You can then change the order around by dragging the A, B, C, etc where you want them in the list on the left.



But I guess the OP means he's using the new version that's shown as available when you go to Google Maps ?



You have to sign in before you can use it, (something I don't see a need to do).

EDIT: Thought I'd try it anyway, it's made for touch screen users.  Long press to set start and destination rather than context menu - and absolutely no idea how to set a waypoint between start/destination other than drag to change the route.  And it comes up with some pretty fscked up routing when you do that - you end up backtracking half the time.

[Renegade]

Well, one nice thing is that it preloads data for larger roads and map items then loads details after you scroll to a new location, so that speeds up some things.

[Deozaan]

I am at point A. I need to end up at point Z, but I want to visit points B, C, ..., X, and Y somewhere in between. Now you (meaning the Map service) do the hard work and figure out the most efficient route for me to take.

maps.yahoo.com - Grab the route line and drag it to whatever route/stops you want in between ... It's a beautiful thing!

That's not quite the same thing as what I'm describing. Yes, you can easily add waypoints to your route, or make sure that you take a certain route by clicking and dragging (and as 4wd mentioned, Google Maps offers the same thing) but what I want is for the Maps service to figure out the most efficient route to hit all those points in between. Or put another way, I want it to tell me the most efficient order in which to visit all of those places.

[gmk05]

I have no problem using Google maps. If slow load could from internet service provider.

[Stoic Joker]

Or put another way, I want it to tell me the most efficient order in which to visit all of those places.

Ah! I'm not sure I'd trust a computer to do that. Unless I was looking for something like UPS's right turn only delivery routes. Jus strikes me as having too many subjective variables for a puter to get "right". *Shrug* ...Unless of course it was the NSA's computer in which case I'm sure they know much more about me than I do...

[4wd]

... what I want is for the Maps service to figure out the most efficient route to hit all those points in between. Or put another way, I want it to tell me the most efficient order in which to visit all of those places.

Try OptiMap: Fastest Roundtrip Solver

[Deozaan]

... what I want is for the Maps service to figure out the most efficient route to hit all those points in between. Or put another way, I want it to tell me the most efficient order in which to visit all of those places.

Try OptiMap: Fastest Roundtrip Solver

Not sure if I'm doing something wrong or what's up, but I mark a few points on the map and click calculate route and it has a pop up window that says it's doing exactly that, but nothing seems to happen after that point.

[4wd]

It worked OK for me but I think that the time taken for the calculation will probably depend on how many points and the distances between them, (more perms and combs to work out).

You may need to play with the options to get a faster result.

Just for interests sake I entered 5 addresses all within 30kms of each other and it came up with the roundtrip and A-Z routes within a few seconds.

[Deozaan]

I clicked on the map and little numbers appeared each place I clicked, making me think I had selected the waypoints via clicking rather than typing in the addresses. I had only 4 waypoints, all within about 10 miles of each other, and it never finished calculating a route.

[4wd]

Just tried it clicking on the map: 6 points, ~150km A-Z

Did it in a couple of seconds.



Fastest roundtrip: ~3800kms (also a couple of seconds to calculate)



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