[Someone1234]

The death of flat/minimalism cannot come soon enough. Unfortunately Google Maps seems to have been swallowed up by it. The current (new?) UI is simply unusable.

All I wanted to do earlier was drop the pin at my current location (which Google Maps couldn't divine due to no GPS) and then "Search Nearby" for eating places.

Well the pin has gone and now all you get is the street view thingy (yay?) and search nearby is also absent unless you're on a GPS device which can pinpoint your location.

I tried to use Bing Maps but they have been copying Google Maps too closely therefore have also removed the droppable pin (?).

[matchu]

It's not clear to me that flatness and the removal of the pin feature are related. It's very feasible to develop a pin-like icon that fits the current Maps design; the pin was probably dropped (heh) for other reasons.

[hhsnopek]

I don't know what you see - I think the new Google Maps is wonderful. Download the are of the map your most in for offline usage. You can also just click on the spot you want to go and it gives you a details about it under the search bar. I don't use Street View at all, takes a little bit longer to load, instead I just use the flat colored map. Embrace the change or be let in the dust of old technology - I see a wonderful new UI that will attract more users and allow other to easily use Google Maps and other products. They have brought a new touch that Apple holds all of the time.

[ewoodrich]

I mostly agree, but I've found many Google UI changes to be lacking in terms of discoverability. On both Android and web apps I've been baffled by icons and buttons with no hints or explanation. Through trial and error I'm generally able to grok the new conventions, but I still get frustrated initially when presented with opaque symbology.

[alttab]

I hate the hidden swipe features. If there is no UI space for it, I'm not literally going to click and swipe around to "discover" shit.

using an app, I dont want to have to discover, I want to easily be able to find what I'm looking for.

Swiping between map results at the bottom of the new maps was completely unintuitive for me. I was still pinch zooming and clicking on individual results on the map. To "teach" me, they overlayed instructions on the search results, which was really frustrating when I was trying to read it.

[eric_the_read]

I had no idea you could swipe between map results! Wow. Talk about undiscoverable; if they had overlayed instructions for me (which they probably did), I probably just dismissed them without reading because I was trying to find my results.

[alttab]

Yup!

[oftenwrong]

Google seems to love using those "mystery meat icons". They should always include a setting for text labels on clickables. Being able to long press or hover for a tooltip would also be a welcomed addition.

[myko]

> Being able to long press or hover for a tooltip would also be a welcomed addition.

This is standard for Android ActionBar icons already. If the icon is custom the developer needs only to set the: android:title property of the item and the long press will display the title and/or read it to the user depending on accessibility settings.

[gone35]

I don't know what you see - I think the new Google Maps is wonderful. (...) I see a wonderful new UI that will attract more users and allow other to easily use Google Maps and other products.

Sure; to each their own and "wonderful" is a subjective notion, but it is a fact that the new Google Maps hid/removed functionality from the main screen [1].

It is also a fact that these design choices in effect force users to learn longer workflows/roundabouts for less functionality than before. And it is also a fact that some users are opting out as a result.

The tractable question then is whether the improved use cases you cite are so "wonderful" and valuable for a large enough set of users, they are worth the collateral damage imposed upon the broader userbase.

[1] http://www.digital-geography.com/short-announce-the-new-goog...

[alttab]

Things I've hated the most about it so far:

- It trying to introduce me to hidden gestures for "see more results!" when I'm driving. Sorry guys, using maps is not really the time for a tutorial, I'm in the middle of a task! - Re-routing. The new maps seems to re-route me, more often, and more often incorrectly, than the old maps did. - It also gives me different route results on my Glass than on my Phone. WTF?

[lloeki]

> All I wanted to do earlier was drop the pin at my current location (which Google Maps couldn't divine due to no GPS) and then "Search Nearby" for eating places.

    /me 
    goes to maps.google.com
    clicks on a random area of the map
    a "location" card pops up with lat/long and estimated name
    clicks on the card to validate the location
    a second card pops up below with a street view shot,
     "photos", "explore this area" with "search nearby" and
     "getting around" with traffic and travel options
    a third "quick facts" card is slid below
    clicks on "search nearby" and types "restaurants"

Also possible: type "restaurants near whatever", or simply "restaurants", which scopes the request on the current viewport.

Seriously.

[nemetroid]

This discussion refers to the redesigned Android app.

> Also possible: type "restaurants near whatever", or simply "restaurants", which scopes the request on the current viewport.

This appears to work in the app as well, though.

[eco]

There is no need to use Search Nearby anymore. Search just searches near whatever you are looking at.

[awj]

> Search just searches near whatever you are looking at.

...except for those times where it doesn't, and instead decides to return only the closest result for something. This is especially problematic for regional stores that have multiple locations. If I'm near one but want to meet someone at another Google apparently wants me to go to the close one and ask them for an address.

[kevinwang]

What do you prefer to flat/minimalism?