Looking for better online maps

[Hemi_Joel]

Hi, I have tried Google, MapQuest, and bing on my droid and my PC. They are amazing, allowing for detail that is impossible on a standard paper road atlas. But they all have a few major flaws, at least as far as I see it.

When I zoom out far enough to get an overview of the region and plan a route, all the roads and towns disappear.

When I am viewing maps on the droid, many of the road labels and town names are too small to see easily. When I zoom in for a better look, everything grows except for the labels. They stay the same or shrink so I still can't read them.

The roads are light colored on a light colored background making it hard to see on a little phone screen.

Does anyone know of a program or app for maps that does not have these flaws? Please don't tell me to get new glasses. 😉

[skrams]

maps.me is an app I have that seems to work well. You need to download the maps you want, when on wifi. Then they are available offline.

[DallasSteve]

Try using Google Maps in Lite Mode. Please tell me if that's closer to what you want. Here's a link to a page about Lite Mode. The only way I see to switch to Lite Mode is to click the link at the bottom of this page that says "switching to Lite Mode".

https://support.google.com/maps/answer/3031966

Once you're in Lite Mode a little lightning bolt appears in the bottom-right corner. You can click on that to switch back to regular mode. If you want Lite Mode again you can click on that symbol again (which now has a parenthesis around the lightning bolt).

PS: In a couple of days Google will probably "improve" everything again and this information will be out-of-date.

[wa8yxm]

You do not need better maps.. You need a bigger monitor

That is why I like Microsoft S&T over my Cell phone or GPS, the GPS has a very small screen, the Smart Phone (Samsung S-5) about 2x the screen,, The Laptop 17".

And for some stuff I can "Cast" the phone or connect the laptop to the 21" TV (or larger in some RV's) though not while in motion.

[Gjac]

i just tried using Google Maps to go from two cities in Ct. Hartford to Putnum and know exactly what you are talking about. I could not see putnum until I zoomed in but then lost Hartford. Did the same thing using the Copilot app and could see both cities. In maps all cities shown the same size text and the smaller cities don't show up until you zoom it then you lose the over all view. In Copilot larger cities have larger text size and smaller cites smaller text much easier to get the over all picture of where you want to go. I have it on my I phone and I pad it is also a GPS system which I like much better than my previous Garmin's and Base Camp mapping system which for me was very difficult to learn how to use.

[Us_out_West]

Hemi Joel wrote:
Hi, I have tried Google, MapQuest, and bing on my droid and my PC. They are amazing, allowing for detail that is impossible on a standard paper road atlas. But they all have a few major flaws, at least as far as I see it.

When I zoom out far enough to get an overview of the region and plan a route, all the roads and towns disappear.

When I am viewing maps on the droid, many of the road labels and town names are too small to see easily. When I zoom in for a better look, everything grows except for the labels. They stay the same or shrink so I still can't read them.

The roads are light colored on a light colored background making it hard to see on a little phone screen.

Does anyone know of a program or app for maps that does not have these flaws? Please don't tell me to get new glasses. 😉

That is why exactly we have a REAL GPS.

We don't use our phone for directions which includes any planning. planning.

Get yourself a laptop or equivalent to do the planning then plug it in to your GPS and travel on.

This isn't hard to do. At this point you should have the direction and roads you will use.

We always carry paper maps in case we want to change our route.

[doxiemom11]

There was a "new" google maps that came out and at that time somewhere in a corner was a choice to keep the current view. I did that and don't have the problem you are having and my maps does not look like yours. Look around at all the possible areas for options. Maybe you can find something to change it back. May be to late though.

[wnjj]

fj12ryder wrote:
I think they've messed with the Google maps. They used to show roads in pretty good detail, but now it seems they've all but whited them out. They just don't show up like they used to. At least that's the way it seems to me.

X2

Google maps used to be legible and they're simply not any more. Someone "artsy" must be in charge of the look rather than someone practical.

There's no point in a screen full of dim, washed out roads with illegible labels. Ever try zooming in on national forest roads? Completely unusable. You can zoom until the screen show only a couple hundred yards of a single road and the print is still too tiny to read, even on a large LCD monitor. Forget reading the insterstate symbols.

It's true that as I enter my late 40's my reading vision is going. It sure doesn't help having the applications intentionally making things worse.

Funny how my Garmin hand held GPS can show nice, high contrast color maps with a selectable detail level on a tiny screen but Google can't figure it out for a large monitor.

[fj12ryder]

I think they've messed with the Google maps. They used to show roads in pretty good detail, but now it seems they've all but whited them out. They just don't show up like they used to. At least that's the way it seems to me.

[Campfire_Time]

OK, now I understand. You won't find what you're looking for. It's how the graphics in the map works. If it maintained the same level of detail as a zoomed view it would be even harder to read. This is one of the reasons I supplement with good old fashioned paper maps.

[Hemi_Joel]

Heres what maps look like on my computer. I'm puzzled. Say I want to go from Albertville to West Albion. Theres no road names. If I zoom in far enough to get the road names, the next intersection isn't even visible.

It would seem to me that everyone, including the map companies would see this is a problem. I'm just looking for a map with better detail in a bigger picture.

[JohnG3]

I second the De Lorme program. Even shows alleys and deadend roads when zoomed in to the max. I also go to Google Earth and look at the route from overhead. If I seen something that may be of concern I go to street level and see the area from the driver's seat. The maps have dates the images were posted for both the sky view and driver's view.

[Fizz]

Hemi Joel wrote:
Thanks, but Its no different on my 24" computer screen.

Sounds like you need a good paper atlas with large print for that basic overall look then use the app to navigate with.

http://mapshop.com/atlas/us_road/large-print-us-road-atlas.asp

[fj12ryder]

^^^^^^Well, if that's true, you definitely need new glasses. 🙂

FWIW Delorme Street Atlas is one of the few mapping programs that keep more roads visible when you zoom out. BaseCamp is one of the worst in that regard.

[Hemi_Joel]

And there's your issue. Size of the device. This is the trouble with and app that has to display detail. As much as I like what my phone can do, with anything that's "all in one", there's always some compromise. Best thing you could do is to get a tablet.

Thanks, but Its no different on my 24" computer screen.