2y ago

Did anyone else get an update from Google Maps to show a globe instead of a projection?

I'm pretty sure this is A/B testing on their part, but curious to see if anyone else is in that case

17 comments

Now this is the type of conversation I can get behind!
- Username definitely checks out!
Eh? It's been a globe for years and years. You can even zoom out and view other planets and moons.
- Probably country dependant, I have been stuck with Mercator for the last few years.
  
  Also depends on the platform, the mobile app is the last bastion of flat-earth truth /s
  
  If you turn on satellite and zoom out you even see current cloud cover
I've definitely seen this before (if you zoom out beyond the level where a projection makes sense, it switches to a globe). I was actually a little surprised when I tried it just now, and it stayed on the projection at any zoom level; I thought the globe was the only behavior until I read this and checked it.
- Yeah, I think it does this on desktop but not on mobile. I remember it already doing this like 10 years ago
It was a globe forever on desktop. Changes to a projection when you zoom in enough.
They surely have a fallback in case someone's PC did not support rendering the globe fast enough
Forgot google maps was on Desktop 😅
For me, it's gone back and forth between a globe and a projection a few times over the past 5-10 years or so.
I've seen it before, but never thought to seek out the projection, but I could set the maps to "Globe View" under the layers button in the down left corner. It's much nicer now :)
never in my life have I seed this
- On est certain de ça ? Peut-être qu'il y a plusieurs personnes derrière le compte "Camus" !
Mercator projection is best, with gnomonic and equirectangular coming in at distant second and third. Globe perspective projection has niche uses. All others are useless/solve a problem that is irrelevant.

17 comments