Today, nomad00 on twitter, noticed that there were some new features to Google Maps; “overall more Ajax-y,” he states.
After reviewing Google Maps again, there definitely are some upgrades.
First upgrade, no more 3 box option. The new layout provides two links on the left for “Get Directions” and “My Maps,” which does feel more user friendly to me.
Second upgrade, now it’s just a single search box. Even after clicking “Get Directions,” it’s still a single search box; now with a drop down letting you from point A, to point B, etc.
Third upgrade, the little slider that lets you make the left-hand sidebar disappear. Clicking it, as highlighted with the arrow, will let you hide it so you can see the whole map.
Overall, small changes, but very impressive enhancements. They obviously did quite a bit of usability testing with these features before rolling them out.
Kudos to Google (and the Google Maps team).
