{"id":1820805,"date":"2023-11-22T20:21:01","date_gmt":"2023-11-23T01:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1820805"},"modified":"2023-11-22T20:21:01","modified_gmt":"2023-11-23T01:21:01","slug":"thoughts-on-google-maps-new-design-from-a-former-google-maps-designer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/11\/thoughts-on-google-maps-new-design-from-a-former-google-maps-designer\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on Google Maps’ New Design From a Former Google Maps Designer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Among the recent updates to Google Maps is a new colour palette<\/a>, which has been rolling out incrementally to users. Elizabeth Laraki, who worked on the design of Google Maps 15 years ago, has some thoughts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It seems the goal was to improve usability and make the maps more readable. Admittedly, I do think major roads, traffic, and trails stand out more now. But the colors of water and parks\/open spaces blend together. And to me, the palette feels colder and more computer generated. But color choices aside … If the goal was better usability, the team missed a big opportunity: Google Maps should have cleaned up the crud overlaying the map.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[Daring Fireball<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Among the recent updates to Google Maps is a new colour palette, which has been rolling out incrementally to users. Elizabeth Laraki, who worked on the design of Google Maps 15 years ago, has some… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[82],"class_list":["post-1820805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-mobile","tag-google-maps","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1787124,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/02\/satellite-mode-aerial-mode-bird-mode\/","url_meta":{"origin":1820805,"position":0},"title":"Satellite Mode, Aerial Mode, Bird Mode","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"26 February 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/btaylor\/status\/1099370126678253569 A lot of what we refer to on online maps as \"satellite imagery\" actually isn't: the high-resolution stuff is usually taken from airplanes. This can be a point of confusion for some\u2014and, according to this Twitter thread from Google Maps co-creator Bret Taylor, also a point of contention for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1787873,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/10\/google-maps-data-and-the-google-maps-platform\/","url_meta":{"origin":1820805,"position":1},"title":"Google Maps Data and the Google Maps Platform","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"3 October 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"Google Maps product director Ethan Russell has a post about their map data: how (and how often) it\u2019s updated, how to submit updates, how it\u2019s managed and checked for accuracy, that sort of thing. It\u2019s one of a series of posts on the Google Maps Platform, which is (now) their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Web Mapping"","block_context":{"text":"Web Mapping","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/web-mapping\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/google-maps-ios-icon-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1791474,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/07\/google-maps-android-my-maps-discontinued-transit-crowdedness-feature-expanded\/","url_meta":{"origin":1820805,"position":2},"title":"Google Maps: Android My Maps Discontinued, Transit Crowdedness Feature Expanded","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"26 July 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"The Google My Maps Android app is being closed down in October. You may remember that My Maps is a feature allowing users to create custom maps on the Google Maps platform relatively easily. To be honest I wasn\u2019t aware that it had its own Android app; once that\u2019s closed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1791065,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/05\/google-maps-updates-at-google-i-o-apple-maps-additions\/","url_meta":{"origin":1820805,"position":3},"title":"Google Maps Updates at Google I\/O; Apple Maps Additions","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"18 May 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"Google Maps-related announcements at Google\u2019s I\/O 2021 keynote today include routing improvements to reduce hard braking, enhancements to Live View, expanding Google\u2019s new detailed maps to 50 cities, identifying crowded areas, and tailoring map data to time of day and whether you\u2019re travelling. This post takes a deeper dive on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1789480,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/10\/apple-and-google-maps-updates\/","url_meta":{"origin":1820805,"position":4},"title":"Apple and Google Maps Updates","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"6 October 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"Apple Maps AppleInsider looks at how cycling directions work in iOS 14. Macworld provides a primer on how to correct errors and add features in Apple Maps. Apple\u2019s new maps have now officially launched in Ireland and the United Kingdom (previously). Google Maps Google\u2019s official blog details updates to Live\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1787832,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/09\/google-maps-and-privacy\/","url_meta":{"origin":1820805,"position":5},"title":"Google Maps and Privacy","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"27 September 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"Incognito mode for Google Maps, announced last May, is currently in testing. With the mode enabled, user activity isn\u2019t saved to the user\u2019s Google account. It was made available last week to beta testers using the preview version of the Google Maps Android app. Meanwhile, Strange Maps looks at the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/google-maps-ios-icon-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1820805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1820805"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1820805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1820810,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1820805\/revisions\/1820810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1820805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1820805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1820805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}