As a local guide, we frequently denounce the lack of some features on the desktop Maps.
The prominent being, non-visibility of badges in reviews & “uncover missing info” option.
Further, the map doesn’t offer live navigation.
However, we may not be aware of many other useful elements or have used those sparingly.
Over here is a quick summary of those.
The progressive web app allows a comfortable full-screen mode.
A changeover to a different language is possible without changing the default on the device.
It provides an at glance visibility of the roads where street view is available. A click on any blue lines switches to that, instantly.
The map presents quick report about a) Weather b) Current temperature & c) Local time.
Walking direction shows an elevation graph. That’s an extremely convenient feature. As we can see below, the elevation of the path ranges from 223 m to 290 m.
One can modify the navigation path by dragging any point on the route.
The elevation graph also changes instantly.
A right-click at any place reveals some hidden information. The POI was not visible otherwise.
Flights as an option for navigation is available here. However, beyond that, it takes to Google Flights for further processing.
Hotel reviews include subcategories for allotting stars.
And,**In this post, @ErmesT **has covered that splendidly.
Additionally, Trip adviser & booking.com reviews are visible in this category.
Timeline offers a quick selection of the year, month and date
I have been an intensive user of Google Maps from desktop to plan my trips, because it offer, as you said, not only a better view, but also the possibility to drag and modify your route.
When I am satisfied with the route, I usually send the directions to my phone (a nice feature too)
As I am normally using the mobile to write reviews, I discovered just recently the possibility of multiple star for the hotel, but I love the use of Maps on desktop.
I also like the Globe view mode also. It is really useful if you want to see and understand the projection errors associated with always looking at flat maps. Clicking the globe mode on and off can really be an eye-opener.
If you zoom in so you can see most of Europe and toggle the Globe view-icon on and off in the lower right-hand corner, you can clearly see how the distance between Spain and Turkey looks very different.
Another example is, when you zoom in on Australia in normal “flat” view mode, and then make a mental note the distances to Africa and the US. Then switch to Globe view mode to see how the distance now seems a lot longer - which is more correct.
The last example is when you compare the size of Greenland to the size of the US. In flat mode, it looks like Greenland is substantially larger than the USA. Again, switch to Globe view mode and you see a more correct representation of the sizes. Maybe the current leadership in the US only looked at the flat-mode view when trying to buy Greenland from Denmark
The second feature I really love about Google Maps on Desktop is timetravelling. If you are lucky to live in an area where google street view is available and has been for some years now, you have the luxury of going back in time to view your neighborhood maybe 10 years ago.
Here the slider has 5 points to choose from: June 2009, July 2010, June 2014, May 2017 and December 2018. If you move the slider to one of these earlier points in time and click on the smaller icon, Streetview will take you back in time.
It would be really helpful if you would use the tagging tool when replying to someone here on Connect. Type @ followed by the username. Type slowly. Then we get an e-mail notification and you are more likely to get a prompt reply.
Also, please elaborate on what you want to collaborate on.
