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There are several people who are complaining that Google Maps is incredibly slow for them. If you have slowness issues with Google Maps, you may be in luck. A Google Maps Help thread has a Googler helping these users by troubleshooting issues with them.
Googler, Mike CH, believes there are certain firewalls that may be causing the issue. There seem to be two issues, the first is loading the map tiles and the second is trouble loading the JavaScript "brain" of the site.
Mike is asking these users to run traceroutes and disable their firewalls. If you are also having issues with Google Maps, you may want to participate in the thread.
Forum discussion at Google Maps Help.
Comments:
Jack
06/11/2009 09:11 pm
I have uninstalled the firewall, removed the hub and wireless connections, cleared all temp files, internet temp files, history, updated and run virus scan, spybot, and an ad ware remover. I have also choosen the HTML option. I would like to stick with google. I have the google toolbar etc. But this length of wait with IE7 is beyond belief. 4+ min on a dsl 4mb connection. PLease help. TIA -Jack-
ddawg
04/08/2010 02:43 pm
090410 re : Google maps load painfully slow after latest revision , this is caused by java 6 update 19 , i formated my pc and reinstalled from last months backup and google maps worked then java update was showing on notification area after update google maps dont work hope this helps pass info on spread the word ! from .. digital dawg
LoneWolf
07/17/2010 10:43 am
ddawg, same problem on my PC. After instalation of newest Java Development Kit (not Runtime Env, but DK), google maps service is very slow. I uninstalled JDK for test purposes - gmaps works fine.
Bob
12/20/2010 01:21 am
It is happening on my Samsung Fascinate phone from Verizon. The Web is reasonably peppy, until I bring up maps.google.com. Then it is as if the phone just cannot connect to Google. Buttons don't activate the right things. At one point a button marked "Map" brought me in a screen where I could compose a message. I don't know if they are somehow crippling the phone so users will want to use the Bing search and map features instead.
Nobizofyours
02/22/2011 09:30 pm
Disable our firewalls? Eff you, Google. Google maps worked just hunky dory on my govt computer a year ago. What'd you a-holes do?
Imenkins
02/25/2011 01:44 am
If it aint broke, why change it? It worked just fine before the latest revisions, now it as slow as a snail on Valium. Took me an hour just to pull up a satellite image of a town.
Canam
03/15/2011 10:14 pm
"Mike is asking these users to run traceroutes and disable their firewalls." Ahhh, no... Just fix it!
Mapfan
03/23/2011 02:39 am
I just started having this problem, only with the aerial views, not the maps - both at work and at home, so it aint my ISP. Bing maps is lightning fast in all views, so that's what I've been using. Kind of like it better anyway.
ToolsMcGee
03/25/2011 07:57 pm
I haven't used maps in like a year. You would think they would fix it by now.
SussexEvents
03/29/2011 10:51 am
I get this error when loading embedded Google maps shown on any website: SCRIPT5022: DOM Exception: INVALID_CHARACTER_ERR (5) http://maps.gstatic.com/intl/en_uk/mapfiles/325c/maps2/main.js, line 385 character 152 Maps fail to load fully, being offset, with no balloons or info windows shown. Error message says "Still loading...slow?" Everything was working fine until 3 days ago. The error is apparent on my desktop PC running Windows 7 and IE9. All other browsers are fine, and my laptop with w7 and IE8 is also OK. Remove the doctype def from the first line of HTML and map loads immediately. But I must define the DTD on my web site! I've tried clearing cache, removing Java 6 etc, reinstalling IE9 etc.
Fortuner
06/15/2011 11:22 am
If Bing maps can work well I can't understand why the problems with Goggle maps, especially when Google maps used to be fast. Far better to give up on Google and use Bing...
Shamboki
06/20/2011 10:32 pm
Switch to Bing Maps. Way Faster!
JDzr
07/14/2011 01:59 pm
I have been having a problem running the aerial images on Google maps for a while. Have moved over to Bing maps. Their aerial images (birds-eye views) are far superior and there is no problem loading the pages.
Valencia
07/22/2011 07:51 am
Google has meesed up a good map service trying to morph it into a search engine. Now I do a search for a hotel and GM pushes me a Booking link.... What has the link from Booking have to do in the search Google? I book my hotels using the Booking website, which works great! Want to earn money, charge the hotel, dont push me a third party. The maps no longer work well. Loading all the crap has spolied their advantages. I will look for another map service as soon as it comes out or just keep my trusted handheld GPS outise of the horrible "storm cloud" Any ideas for another maps service (Michelin?, Garmin?, Navcom?). Not even dare on a Bing Map ...
D_jakowenko
08/06/2011 05:21 pm
It took me 5 minutes to load a single satellite image, never mind scrolling. Scrolling around is impossible.
ocscorpio
09/20/2011 06:27 pm
Back to Mapquest it is! I shouldn't have to run traceroutes and leave my computer vulnerable by disabling firewalls just to use a site that worked perfectly fine up until a few months ago. Mapquest gets the job done just as well, and I don't have to go through that nonsense to get it to work properly, nor do I have to wait forever for a simple map to load.
John
11/04/2011 09:44 pm
It is an incredibly frustrating experience to try to use Google Maps for what ought to be the simplest of functions -- locating something on the map -- only to have it freeze or take ages to load. The iphone speed is even more dismal. If you can't do it properly then dont add so many options to your products. Do what you do well before loading it up. Back to mapquest. Thank god for competition.
Vphuong_dktd_bk
11/18/2011 02:32 pm
Yeah good bye google map. I will not waste my valuable time on such a product anymore. Disable my firewall?? Horse puckey. I will not risk my company security just for a badly designed website. I would rather pay for another service but thank God, Mapquest is there.
Charles
11/29/2011 10:28 pm
The imagry on Bing might be better, that said Bing is way more time late than Google Maps. I live in the Southwest part of Las Vegas, with the exception of 50% of the labels, actual imagry is within the last 6 months. Bing however is behind on imagry by 4 to 5 years. Large parts of the area that has been built up and completed prior to 4 years ago is still displaid by Bing as empty lots, including my own home which I moved into 2 years ago.
Summer Dregs/Carl C
02/13/2012 09:35 pm
"Run traceroutes and mess with firewalls when i can just go back to using MapQuest? yeah right.
Jason Dangelo
06/18/2012 04:09 am
Or you could just leave google, and the internet becomes 20x faster. This is why google-stock is plummeting, as is the creations they produce. See, they don't produce anything good themselves. They buy/steal others creations, like MS, and then have no actual clue how to make them work, just how to strip out the original owners identity and slap a logo into the buggy software.