Skip to main content

Redesigning Maps: Google details the app’s evolution

Sundar Pichai stands in front of a Google logo at Google I/O 2021.
This story is part of our complete Google I/O coverage

Google Maps is one of Google’s biggest, most interesting projects. Google is regularly making changes to Maps, and the product that users see today is vastly different to the one rolled out eight years ago. During its “Redesigning Google Maps” session at Google I/O 2014, designers Jonah Jones and Annette Leong detailed the journey to the current version of Google Maps and what is coming in the future.

Google Maps initially launched in 2005, and recently underwent the product’s biggest re-design, which Google announced last year. The changes and overhauled design rolled out slowly and are now the default Google Maps experience. Google Maps is now “dynamic and full screen” and “adapts to every click.” It is also more streamlined and simpler for the average Joe to use.

Recommended Videos

Maps had begun to become cluttered and was in need of a redesign to make it possible for users to easily access all of the information contained within the app. The app’s design team realized that it needed to make some changes to help users make the most of Maps.

“The best design, people won’t even notice it. It will work and get out of the way,” Jones said.

“We felt the existing mapping products were basically taking an old, scanned map” and adding pins and a search bar. Addressing this was part of the first of three lessons that Google Maps lead designer Jonah Jones took from the project: “Think big.”

The second lesson Jones focused on was “question everything.” As an example, Jones walked through the visual changes from the original Google Maps to how it appears today. That process consisted of questioning why things were done another way before and figuring out how to make it better. Google took inspiration from how a person might draw a map “on the back of a napkin,” only showing the important landmarks rather than showing all of the possible information. This is visible in the new Google Maps, which highlights important roads and blends less relevant paths into the background. That way, users don’t suffer from information overload and simply see what they need to see.

“The best design, people won’t even notice it. It will work and get out of the way,” Jones said.

Additionally, the search bar has been improved. Previously, the search results not only yielded less-than-relevant results on the map, but also displayed the information twice: once in a side bar and once with the pin on the location. Annette Leong walked through some of the previous design iterations before they landed on the current design, with the results displayed below the search bar and easy to hide so as to not take up extra space on the map. That way, users can read the map more easily.

The final lesson explored during the “Redesigning Google Maps” session was “listen to users.” This applied directly to the speed of Google Maps, which users often complained about. While the new Google Maps performed faster than previous iterations, people with older computers found that the burden of the new Google Maps took too long to load. The solution to the problem was to load the maps tiles first, so as to improve the perceived speed and allow users to access the information they want.

Google also found that people weren’t using Google Street View the way they wanted to. Most people didn’t navigate using the system, actually moving around on the street. A simple change in the cursor that appears on Street View increased Street View usage by three times its previous usage rate. Leong also detailed the plight of “Pegman,” the small, yellow stick figure that can be planted on the map to activate Street View. Google took it away briefly, but received enough user requests to bring him back, and he is currently still available in the new Google Maps platform.

Google’s designers left the audience with the takeaway of the three lessons of design and encouraged the developers within the audience to take the advice of their overhaul of a product designed for a billion users and apply it to their own projects.

AJ Dellinger
AJ Dellinger is a freelance reporter from Madison, Wisconsin with an affinity for all things tech. He has been published by…
Thanks to Gemini, you can now talk with Google Maps
Gemini’s Ask about place chip in Google Maps.

Google is steadily rolling out contextual improvements to Gemini that make it easier for users to derive AI’s benefits across its core products. For example, opening a PDF in the Files app automatically shows a Gemini chip to analyze it. Likewise, summoning it while using an app triggers an “ask about screen” option, with live video access, too.
A similar treatment is now being extended to the Google Maps experience. When you open a place card in Maps and bring up Gemini, it now shows an “ask about place” chip right about the chat box. Gemini has been able to access Google Maps data for a while now using the system of “apps” (formerly extensions), but it is now proactively appearing inside the Maps application.

The name is pretty self-explanatory. When you tap on the “ask about place” button, the selected location is loaded as a live card in the chat window to offer contextual answers. 

Read more
An Apple Maps bug is showing airport baggage claims when zoomed out
Apple Maps on the Apple iPhone 16 Plus.

For some users, Apple Maps is displaying a strange bug: It's showing airport baggage claim carousels when zoomed out. The issue first appeared later in the day on Sunday when users took to Reddit asking how to disable the baggage carousel icons. It's a useful feature if you're navigating a new airport for the first time, but if you're running up the street for coffee? Not so much.

There doesn't appear to be any rhyme or reason behind the bug. Some users report it, and others don't. In testing, I couldn't see any carousels on any of my Apple devices. Users report the carousel icons appear when zoomed out far enough that you only see state abbreviations and capital cities. The bug doesn't show every airport, either; the ones that appear are sporadic and spread out.

Read more
Google Pixel 9a vs. iPhone 16e: Which budget phone is best?
Alleged depiction of Google Pixel 9a.

The Google Pixel 9a is here, and it's a worthy contender for the Apple iPhone 16e's crown as one of the top budget phones. But does Google's latest budget device really pose a threat to Apple's no-frills iPhone? We looked at the Google Pixel 9a vs. iPhone 16e head to head, from design and display to battery life and performance, to see which phone comes out on top — and which you should buy.
Google Pixel 9a vs. iPhone 16e: specs

Google Pixel 9a
iPhone 16e

Read more