Google Maps in Landscape Mode is A Bad UI Design
A few days back I was planning a trip with my family. I had to cast Google maps to my TV so that everyone can view map on big screen. This is when I realized how much Google maps sucks in landscape mode.
The image shown above is a screenshot taken on my phone so the map is visible here but when we cast to TV, the resolution is reduced and you can hardly see map on TV let alone navigate it. Granted this is not issue of maps but I still think the design can be improved even for the phone.
The obvious improvement can be reducing the search bar to a button with search icon. It can be moved to top right corner along with other icons. I don't understand the reasoning behind search bar laid out across screen when it is used only once in beginning. Another improvement can be moving the bottom bar to left of screen and make it a sidebar. Both these changes would drastically improve visibility of map in landscape mode.
I think landscape modes are most ignored aspect of app user interfaces simply because they are not used as often as portrait but still for a company of size of Google landscape UIs should also be a priority.