For a company the size of Google I am frustrated and disappointed what appears to be the piecemeal approach that Google has taken in new versions of Google Maps both on the PC and iOS.
The new Google Maps on the PC desktop still relies heavily on the OId(Classic) Google Maps for many key tasks. This may include saving maps something that is key if one uses the application on a regular basis. I say may include since the interface in the new Google Maps for My Places is the spitting image for My Places under Classic Google Maps so it is hard to tell what version of Google Maps is actually doing the saving. Be careful if you want to save a location on a map that you click on the little star BEFORE you save it to My Places. More about this Star symbol later on.
Printing from new Google Maps is also poorly implemented. A novice or less skilled PC user could be unaware of using CTL-P to print a map off. Even if one did go a CTL-P all that would result is a screen shot of the current map. Only when one selects the “List All Steps” does the more familiar printer icon appear. The printing options is the New Google Maps pales compared to those of the Classic Google Maps where you could even select street view, small map snippets along with a larger map.
Then there is the iOS implementation of Google Maps. This app seems to have been developed without regard of being able to access maps saved under the PC version of Classic or new Google Maps. The iOS app does have a Saved Places but that has nothing to do with the many save maps that one may have accumulated over the years via the Classic Google Maps. You see the iOS implements saving a location via a push pin and clicking on star icon to save a physical address in your Google Account. The iOS saved locations do show up under new Google Maps “My Places” (is it hard to tell whether it is My Places from Classic Google Maps or new Google Maps since it looks identical) with a little “star”.
New Google Maps does allow you to save a pushpin so it shows up on the iOS app but a key step can be overlooked. When you have a pushpin on a map and want to save this location make sure to click on push pin and then click on the little star symbol for the address. This little star is key to having locations saved on the desktop version of Google Maps showing up on the iOS version of Google Maps. This process will place a little star on the map. There no way that I could find, on the new Google Maps after the fact, to click on something to turn on the “star” so that your previously saved maps show up on their iOS version of Google Maps. If one needs to access these saved locations on iOS one has to use Google Earth. That is far from being intuitive Google!
I do not know if the iOS Google Maps application was rushed out in order to fill the void left when Apple decided to go on their own and develop their own mapping software but it sure looks like it from here. These days Google seems to be doing the “lets see what sticks to the fridge” approach when developing their software. Unleash it on the general public and see what things get the most complaints and we will fix those things first.