New Google Maps look - ergh!

chrisaonabike

Has anyone noticed the recent change to Google maps? I find it much harder to read now that a lot of the B roads are no longer yellow. This is even more true on Android, where the roads I'm looking for are all but invisible under daylight.

However, the weird thing is that looking at Google Maps on the Strava website, the old display style is still available.

Anyone know if it's possible to get back the original display on the Google Maps site?

alihisgreat

You could look for a google maps cookie to delete?

RDW

Do not want!

On the desktop, the gear icon on the top right has an option to restore 'Classic' maps. 'My Places' has also been relegated to this menu. The whole thing seems slower and less responsive, and useful features have been lost. The new Android app is even worse - caching of offline maps has been crippled, 'My Maps' access is gone, navigation and local search are degraded, the large text option and the measuring tool are missing, etc. If you want the old version back, you have to disable auto app updates and revert it - the version that came with your phone should be available if you roll back updates. Most recent feedback is negative (might be worth adding to it!):

https://plus.google.com/+GoogleMaps/posts/4Cm8CfXz2qS
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... maps&hl=en

The desktop version has its own feedback button...

peat

Where is this gear icon? (Chrome)

I long for the old Gmaps. I prefer Bing maps *spits* to this.

RDW

The 'gear' (settings) icon is at the top right of the browser window, at least in Firefox. You can see it in the demo videos here:

http://www.google.co.uk/maps/about/explore/

If you don't have it, perhaps you're still using the 'Classic' version, and Google has also made changes that affect this? If so, you haven't seen the worst of it!

markhewitt1978

It's awful, the problem is the colour scheme makes it much more difficult to use as a map.

In the UK were used to having blue for motorways, green for primary, red for non-primary, orange for B-roads, yellow for side roads etc. However what have google got now? Orange for motorways, yellow for A-roads and everything else is white.

They've just removed a load of information from their maps, and for what purpose I'm not sure!

See: http://code.google.com/p/gmaps-api-issu ... il?id=5448
http://mark.goodge.co.uk/2013/07/google ... n-and-red/

Make sure you go onto google maps and use the "report problem" button, select a part of road which is the wrong colour and point out that they've made a mistake.

avoidingmyphd

markhewitt1978 wrote:

Make sure you go onto google maps and use the "report problem" button, select a part of road which is the wrong colour and point out that they've made a mistake.

This. Everyone do this.

RDW

Just checked, and the road colouring issue is affecting both the 'new' and 'classic' desktop maps. I can still see the old colour scheme in the previous version of the Android app, which is yet another reason not to upgrade it!

Facebook campaign:

https://www.facebook.com/googlemapsukcolours

Temporary fix for Chrome users:

http://o.ht/GMaps/

capt_slog

What a shame!

It was quite a good service before, and now they've gone and spoilt it. Most of the roads I know and use just disappear into the background, which makes it very difficult to get your bearings.