They removed features, too. They used to have a feature that allowed you to view traffic patterns at a future time of day -- what traffic looks like during rush hour vs. weekends, for example.
How is it annoying? When I load maps.google.com in Chrome on desktop, the link for "traffic" is shown by default. All you have to do is click once to turn it on.
On mobile, it's the very first option in the drawer, and if you turn it on it stays on until you turn if off again.
Sorry I mean the web version. It really is impossible to do both.
On mobile? I think it's even worse. Look up your nearest favorite chain and it zooms in on what it believes is the one you're looking for. What if it's not? There's a tiny 3 lines in the search bar that I apparently have to click to list all locations.
And anytime I snap to location? It zooms in. Really I'd love to just write the few lines of code it takes to toggle between current zoom level and default zoom level when snapping to location.
And they've stripped features. New UI is fine but at least keep old features nestled around somewhere. I used to be able to look up directions and then nestled in settings view "gas stations along the way". It's near impossible to do that now.
I can't use GMaps anymore, which was one of the most wonderful products ever! Still haven't found how to do street view of a specific step in directions.
Those people shouldn't be giving design advice, they should be seeking it.
I admire aspects of the technical execution, but the user flow is just so perfectly wrong it's astounding.