More Reading

Post navigation

161 Comments

  • I used to love google maps! Over the last 3 days I have came to hate it. This is the worst upgrade I have EVER experienced. What is GOOGLE thinking? How I wish I could go back to the old maps. Now I know what iPhone users experienced when they lost Google maps. I feel like I’ve lost it as well. Maybe I can get the Apple map app?

    Really Google….. who is in charge of your testing program? Send them out the door.

  • Maps 7.0 has been a terrible experience for me.

    When I am using Navigation and get certain kinds of notifications, then come back to Navigation, I am faced with the “start location/destination” prompt (can’t get back to the active navigation screen), and if I try to re-type in those points, the application crashes, and continues to crash until I restart my phone. (It is a Galaxy S4)

    Also, I strongly dislike having to type in my “starting point” (Just start where I am!)

    Also, I often get a bogus “No Network Connection” error when typing in the locations, that never used to pop up (and my signal is very strong).

  • Are you guys kidding? This is the WORST update I’ve ever seen for any app. Fonts are thinner, letters seem faded, making it DANGEROUS to use while driving. (A navigation tool that cannot be used while driving. Not good.)

    In the old version, when the red dot turned red, you click in the dot to see the traffic layer. Now, you need to completely EXIT navigation, then pull up MAPS,then navigate (somehow!) to the traffice layer, then restart Navigation and re-enter the desination info to get restarted again. All while driving at 65 mph? ARE YOU SERIOUS?

    Obviously, the kid who redesigned this hasn’t gotten his drivers license yet. Otherwise he’d know that this can;t be used while driving.

    Did I menton that this upgrade SUCKS?

  • Why was my places removed from this update. It was a great tool for work and they ruined it. I can’t believe there destroying this app. Google has stopped people from being able to rate this app. I guess the saw how far south this update was heading. I hope they kill this update soon.

  • I still haven’t gotten the update! I have a Verizon Galaxy S3 running Jellybean 4.1.2, is the staged rollout fiinished? Or are there others out there like me?

  • I got the update last night and noticed I do not have the Explore option at all. Any ideas on why that wouldn’t be showing up?

  • what are the chances that uninstalling and then reinstalling will just install the new version?

  • Click on the search bar and scroll to the bottom and you will see “make this map area available offline”

  • Does anyone one have a link to the latest Version 6 in case this new version is crippled too much? (loss of stared places would be a killer for me)

  • Can’t get it to load. Something about a “parsing error”. Saw below that another Samsung S3 had issues. Hmmm…….. Will restart and try again.

  • I am hoping that one day they will add in live incident reporting like Waze… Living in Los Angeles, having real time updates makes a huge difference.

  • I don’t like it, didn’t have all “my places” any longer so I had to uninstall it and reinstall version 6 something from the market.

    • That’s because the capacitive menu button is supposed to die already. Menu buttons are so Gingerbread.

    • Same here. Saw another member that did get it to work on their Note 2. I didn’t restart but nothing yet! Grrr….

      • I been turning on and off my phone, battery removed, and “checking for updates” its not that big of a deal, but I like it when my apps are up-to-date..

        • Yeah, same here. I’ll do a restart and after that a battery pull. If I don’t get it after that then I’ll wait it out too. No biggie.

  • Best part for me is that I noticed there are no more background running services. There used to be 2 and sometimes a third on that kept saying “restarting”. I always thought this was redundant as google already gets my location. NICE!

  • Disappointed that they got rid of the bigger text option that was included in the labs section. The writing is so tiny on my s4.

  • Google Plus works better, imo, then latitude for location tracking. I’m happy to see latitude go.

    • They had definitely given up on updating Latitude in Google Maps. It was struggling.

  • Navigation lost good functional UI. It’s a mess. I can’t use the zoomed out map anymore because detail of route is tiny and blended too much with other map details. Starred places list gone. Home button sometimes half way down screen. App crashes when switching away. It’s hard to back out to directions search to get alternate routes manually when you know Maps too you through a town adding 15 minutes of traffic lights it doesn’t account for. … I like that at least I could see the one accident on the map this morning looks cleaner but lost a lot.

  • The offline maps feature is not included in today’s release of the new Google Maps app (version 7.0) for Android.

    “We know a lot of you love offline maps, and we’ve included a special feature hidden in the app that allows you to pre-load an area of the map you need offline simply by going to that area in the app and typing “OK Maps” in the search box (or speaking “OK Maps” into your Android device). That area will then be pre-loaded to your device cache and accessible when you don’t have a connection. Just return to that area of the map, and it will be available to you.”

    http://productforums.google.com/forum/m/#!category-topic/maps/mobile-android/Ck_Pd6UgZCU

  • All Google websites, services and apps will not load. Very strange as Ive never seen Google go down.

  • So if “OK Maps” on search is for offline maps than where does it go and how do I delete it or pull up the map?

  • Why is it that my phone doesnt show the update yet but it does for you guys? Running a GS4 on 4.2

    • Most everyone here installed it manually because of Google’s staged rollouts.

      You can wait for it to be pushed to your device (maybe today, maybe next week) or you can find a link in the comments and install it yourself.

  • No Latitude option I’m a little sad about that but I can live with it! But no labs, no terrain options and no My Places which I use to pre-plan all my trips, holidays and night’s out, I am majorly raged!!

    • It still shows “Nearby Saved Places” not sure if that the same as My Places

      • It’s not. Being able to save a “my places” custom map on a computer before going on a trip, and then pulling it up and having instant access to everywhere you want to go was an amazing feature. I read somewhere that it will eventually be supported with this new version, but who knows when that will be. I wish more people used this feature so it would be a priority 🙁

  • For offline maps, search for “OK Maps” when you’re looking at what you want available offline.

    • Interesting. Sounds like something you would be able to do with Google Glass. “Ok Glass”

  • I just installed this via the mirror (couldn’t get Google Play to load up/refresh), and when I open and run it, I get a “no connection” error (maybe related to what’s going on with Google Play?). Anyone else?

  • Great design overall. Finally looks like a Jelly Bean app instead of an ICS/Gingerbread hybrid.

    Love that they finally ditched the separate Nav app icon. I prefer the way they consolidated it into one app. The transition from looking up directions to actually navigating is quick and smooth. Totally seamless. Also, the navigation window doesn’t look like Gingerbread anymore.

    I noticed if you tap the clock at the bottom of the navigation page you can switch from estimated arrival time > estimated time left > miles remaining. Very nice touch.

  • The UI is nice, but once again Google completely screws up their design language, not to mention take away one of Maps best features (offline maps). None of their other apps have this design, this doesn’t make any sense. All they did was port the iOS UI over and all of you are drooling over it.

    Man o man how times have changed

    *EDIT* – offline maps is there but buried, but still don’t like the new UI

    • Seeing as iOS is using Google new design language, is that such a bad thing? I mean honestly, the iOS apps looked more like an Android app than anything else.

  • No more measure tool… This was REALLY useful. What a shame this is gone.

    • Yep, I used the measure tool quite often when checking out various pieces of property out in the field. Typical Google…giveth on one hand and taketh on the other. Otherwise, I like the non-claustrophobic UI and the speed improvements but it does feel less intuitive overall.

  • Anyone sort out how to get the zoom buttons (i.e. the +/-) back? There used to be an option in settings but I can’t find it now

  • Looks nice but street view is really fucked up. Low res, slow load, can’t
    navigate…

  • Street view is seriously f*kd up. Res is extremely low, can’t navigate.. Galaxy note 2

    • thats works! but with much smaller areas than on the old version. but why would they hide it like this?

      • I have no idea, maybe they want to improve this function but they wanted to release this version anyway

  • Saw somewhere if you type “Ok maps” in search menu of maps cached maps will be stored for offine

  • Individual icons within the app look really low-res on the DNA. I wonder if this is because I downloaded it from a third party and it’s not the correct update for a 1080p display.

    • I’m seeing the same thing on my GS3. I sideloaded this version: http://db.tt/hLk7mMnP

      I’ll probably uninstall this version once I’m done playing with it and wait for the official one to be pushed to my phone. I can’t imagine Google gave us lo res images.

  • This is really beautiful, but I think I may have to just hold off on this. I love offline maps, and my Nexus is already slow as molasses anyway.

    • Has anyone tried Navigation yet? It may have some nice new features with traffic alerts, but I think the new UI is awful (for the driver… maybe good for a walker?)

      • I used it this morning, it’s really nice.

        Tap the clock at the bottom to rotate from estimated arrival time > estimated time left > miles left. Pretty nice.

  • The amount of people who dont actually read the articles and just post on here baffles me.Sad really.

  • Any idea how to bring up a list of all my stared places? Not just ones near me or recently searched?

  • Here’s a nice tidbit: this new UI…ffinally matches the iOS version they released in December.

    How about that, eh? *sigh*

  • I just found out that if you shake the phone, it will force close. The shake to bring up the feedback menu must be broken. It’s actually kind of funny.

    • *fewer

      To respond: they just can. At the end of the day, they’ll do whatever the hell they want. Maybe it wasn’t used that much (it wasn’t very well advertised, in-app or otherwise). Maybe it was too much of a legal or logistical headache. I know I couldn’t get them when I traveled overseas, so maybe Google thought it wasn’t worth maintaining just for their Android app in the US.

  • Has anyone figured out how enable/show Google Latitude or make it so that you can have maps offline ? If Google at least axed latitude so that we now use the Google+ sharing location can anyone shed light onto this ? I’m going to miss Latitude if this is the case. It was one of features I really used in the previous version of Maps. Offline maps I could survive if it does not come back.

  • It doesn’t quite feel like it was made for android. The action drawer does not feel like it does in other android apps, and it seems less smooth than previous versions, but hopefully these things will be fixed soon. There are some nice improvements though.

  • It should work if you use a root file explorer. Copy and paste the .apk to your /system/app directory. Then, long press on the .apk and click properties. Change permissions to look like this:

    [v] [v] [ ]

    [v] [ ] [ ]

    [v] [ ] [ ]

  • I really don’t like the new web map of google maps.
    Why can’t I right-click for options? Seems like a brain-dead solution for options.
    Why is the satellite view in the lower left hand corner? Really doesn’t stand out hiding behind local photos.
    Getting to see street view is a pain in the ass, why not just have the little yellow man available to drag at any point I want to?
    I’m using the old google maps for now until google fixes these stupid flaws.
    I’m putting my hope into that the app version is better than the web version.

    • I would have to agree with you on this. It looks pretty at first glance, but it’s impossible to find any options and painful to use. It takes minimal about 3 steps too far.

    • I would imagine they want to align user experience across all platforms. With touch being the focus the right-click options are unfortunately going be removed.

      • Seeing as I can’t touch my non-touchscreen monitor, I figured right-clicking would be the next best alternative.

        • Then I would have to imagine they saw from where the majority of their maps traffic comes from made the decision. Personally I barely use it on my desktop and use it almost daily on my phone.

  • Few things:

    -Where did Offline Maps go?
    -Latitude?
    -Wish they would merge Google Earth. I want 3D animations as a layer not a different app

    But LOVE the new UI.

    However, it is SLOW. Getting 22FPS :/

    • -Offline maps has been removed in this version sadly. But I think they will bring it back. Hopefully, it will be reworked and better integrated allowing for offline location search and navigation.

      -Lattitude has been removed as far as i can tell.
      -100% agree. No reason for another app.

      • Type “Ok Maps” or “Okay Maps” into the search box, hit enter and you can make it available offline.

    • I noticed the slow FPS on my gf’s iphone version. I was hoping they would not build the animations in the same way but apparently this did not happen. The low frame rate really bothers me. Hopefully they can fix this,

      Running on a Nexus 4. Iphone fps has not been fixed

  • This is the FIRST time I get an update JUST as it releases. I should go play the lottery tomrrow.

  • Downloaded the apk to my Galaxy S3 and it’s telling me there’s a “Parsing error”. what

  • It sounds like this update may have removed some features. Is there a way to get back to the previous version if I try the update?

    • Yep…noticed that too…wonder if they are killing it off in favor of Google+ location which is currently terrible and has no ios support…

      • Yeah, it’s actually in the notes that this is why it was removed. It’s part of G+

  • What’s the difference between the traffic we have now and “live traffic updates” seems to me to be the same thing…

    • As i understand it, the traffic we have not does not change after it’s first routed. the updated maps will change with traffic conditions anywhere along your trip.

  • Can’t get either of the download links to install on my S3. Get the message “error parsing package”

    • Looks like the mirrors we have are for 4.2+. The Play store listing does say that the new Maps works on 4.0.3+, but there may be separate apks for that.

      All those links installed fine on my 4.2 devices and failed on my 4.1 HTC One.

    • If you’re rooted, you could always change the app permissions and see if that works. I added the steps a few posts down.

  • How do we get to the “Explore” window shown in the Google Play listing? I wonder if some of the features just aren’t live yet…

  • I’m guessing this got ditched in favor of Google+ location sharing. I’m not positive though

Comments are closed.

Related Posts

back to top