[GabeN]

It seems that with the increasing attention given to 'places' and less emphasis on the actual roads we are looking at Google getting Maps ready for the roll-out of self driving cars where the focus is on the destination rather than the journey.

[abrowne]

I'm pretty map-aware and a bit of a pre-planner, but even my usual usage is to choose a destination and have Google give me directions. (Then maybe I'll tweak it or whatever.) Same with my 65-year-old dad who still buys a folding paper street map for each new city he visits. Does anyone still visually plan a route on Google Maps by just looking at the road markings?

[samastur]

No, because it is a pain to do, not because I would not want to. Rarely because it wants me to take a closed road. More often because I would like to travel through some part of a land and am not interested in the most efficient way of reaching my final destination.

[blt]

Not only that - drivers now rely on GPS turn-by-turn navigation so much, there's less value in making the roads legible enough for human navigation.

Or maybe Google wants to make human navigation more difficult so you'll help collect some more trip data.

[xiaq]

Given how fast Maps can iterate as evident from the article, I would say that is premature optimization.