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Comment by bcrl | Hacker News Reader

Maps is not fine. There are random gaps in Streetview data all over the place for places that previously had coverage or where the data was obviously collected. I've tried reporting the bugs through multiple routes, but it never gets completely fixed. There's nothing more infuriating as a software developer than being unable to open a ticket for a software bug.

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The 3D rendering is falling behind what competitors are offering. I also find the UI very convoluted, they are trying to do too much.

And OH MY GOD DO NOT CHANGE MY ZOOM LEVEL!! I spend so much time trying to find the area I want to search, enter Chinese restaurant and it expands to the entire freaking region. PLEASE STOP DOING THAT!!

OH MY GOD I thought I was the only one who noticed that! I still prefer gmaps for most things, but the zoom out after I narrowed into exactly where I wanted is just infuriating UX. If I wanted that broad of a search I’d just… I dunno… go read a food blog.

> what competitors are offering

What's the competition out there? It seems like every year I scope out Apple Maps and Bing Maps and get disappointed and come back to Google Maps. Is there stuff out there that I'm just not aware of?

Google definitely has more features and better data, but they are not focused on providing a better experience and it shows:

https://appleinsider.com/articles/22/05/13/compared-apple-ma...

For the longest time I've wanted to join Google just so I could commit code that says

if (center 50% of screen)

   force show the street name

No way you would be allowed to do "grassroot" obvious for any actual user usability improvements on Maps.

Dunno what gatekeeper they have exactly but you can smell him from afar.

And as you reach the highest zoom level on mobile apps, increase the font size of the street names etcetera.

Keeping font sizes tiny at high zoom levels is a real anti-pattern against usability for older people.

I wonder if they test maps being used by anyone over the age of 60? Testing a UI on older people (or any group out on the edges) really shows up usability and accessibility flaws.

Maps has become buggier and buggier over time. These days I can't figure out how to use the UI and my navigation to work has become completely wrong (it used to be correct for years) out of nowhere.

Google Maps recently just decided to stop working on my (admittedly highly customized) firefox build. It draws the grid background, but no maps.

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