Satellite view on the maps page is missing

[+John Galt?]

Perusing the maps this morning I discovered that the option to view my map does not include the satellite view or the ability to bring the flat map into terrain view is gone. I attempted it in Chrome as well as the Microsoft Edge browser using two different premium member accounts.

[+John Galt?]

I found it. The slidebar needs to be minimized on the left to see it. Not a good change.

[+SkipperL]

I found it. The slidebar needs to be minimized on the left to see it. Not a good change.

 

Good find, I submitted a problem report on this today. I agree, not a good change, I never close that sidebar. A heads up would have been nice. At least it's still there. Thanks

[Moun10Bike]

This is due to an API change from Google. The dev team is aware.

[+Viajero Perdido]

Aware.

 

In the meantime, you could use Esri WorldImagery, which is an option over on the Leaflet (misnomer, non-Google) side. I use it all the time in preference to Google satellite.

[+Lil Devil]

This is due to an API change from Google. The dev team is aware.

I see that the dev team has "fixed" this by setting a flag to "opt out" of the new changes to Google Maps. Seeing how that flag will stop working in August 2016, I hope that the dev team will properly update the maps to embrace the new controls before then. It would be nice to have consistency across all the Google map products I use, but currently Groundspeak continues to be an outlier.

 

Moun10bike, can you please make sure that this issue is scheduled to be fixed properly before August 2016, preferably sooner rather than later.

Edited November 25, 2015 by Lil Devil

[Moun10Bike]

The public /map/, which is what is being discussed in this thread, is already referencing the latest Google Maps API release version. Are you referring to maps located elsewhere?

[+Lil Devil]

The public /map/, which is what is being discussed in this thread, is already referencing the latest Google Maps API release version.

Yes, it is, but the issue that started this thread was that Google released a new version (v3.22) or the API that changed the default position and appearance of many of the controls on the map. One of these changes, the position of the map type selector, moved it to the far left where it was hidden by the slidebar. In order to fix that hidden control, the devs took the easy way out and simply set a flag (see "Opting out of the new controls in v3.22" on the this page) on the Google map that reverted the controls back to their previous positions and appearance. As noted in the 2nd large blue box on that page, this flag will stop working in August 2016.

 

I'm trying to be helpful in making sure that this issue is fixed correctly by embracing the new controls and where needed, repositioning them appropriately. It would be smart to do this as part of normal development, instead of having to fix this same problem again after v3.22 is obsoleted.

 

Another advantage to using the new controls earlier is consistency in appearance of Google maps across all map products we use.

[+Lil Devil]

Wow. I must say I'm floored.

 

I just opened a new geocaching.com map window and on a whim, performed a hard-refresh. My jaw dropped. It now has the new v3.22 controls! So now I have 2 tabs in Firefox, one that clearly shows the geocaching.com google map with the old controls, and one with the new controls.

 

Given the dev's history, I am absolutely floored that they did the right thing so quickly. I wonder if the change was in response to my post above, or if the change happened sometime in the last couple of days, and I didn't see it until I forced a refresh?

 

At any rate, I thank you guys!

[Moun10Bike]

We never actually set that flag on the /map page. The map was immediately updated to correctly reposition the new controls.

We had some issues with map tiles last week and briefly rolled the map back to v3.21 to try to determine whether the API changes were part of the problem. The map was switched back right away once we realized that the API switch wasn't to blame and its possible that in our efforts to get the tile issues corrected the changes made it out to release.