> I literally cannot understand how so many smart people can, all together, fail to observe the obvious.
It doesn't matter how many smart engineers and ux designers can see the obvious, if one person from upper management can't :( (See also: G+ real names policy)
My guess is the original person leading the Google Maps project was very, very competent, and they either moved to another project or quit - and got replaced by someone really awful. I think it happened at some point pre-2013, because Maps was great until then, and has been in decline ever since.
Yeah, I experienced a similar timeline. That's when the Maps API stopped working for the Java app on my feature phone, roughly. Then the cascade or rot hit the PC / tablet experience, piece by piece, until it was just completely terrible. Which brings us to today. =)
It doesn't matter how many smart engineers and ux designers can see the obvious, if one person from upper management can't :( (See also: G+ real names policy)