Google Maps is a great thing. There is no question about it. But it is not perfect. Surprisingly, it suffers from the same gripe I have with map books and atlases. I can not read the print. It is simply too small, no matter how much you zoom in. This is true both on a computer and on an iPhone. On a PC, the proper balance of Full page and text zoom can help, but there is no similar solution on the iPhone.
iPhone Maps
iPhone Maps Zoomed
As you can see here, no matter how much I zoom into Chapel Hill in the iPhone’s Maps app, the text size stays tiny. The screen stays uncluttered, but I am still lost. How could this be fixed? One option is to to allow for adjustable font sizes. If a cluttered map with overlapping text a serious issue, how about some kind of pop-up box when a street is tapped? There must be a creative solution out there. Google just needs to find and implement it.
Until then, iPhone maps are just some pretty pictures for me.
Hmmm…
Zooming into an iPhone Map
That last sentence gave me an idea for a workaround. Screenshots, where you take a picture of what is on the screen by pressing a certain button combination, are the key. Take a screen shot while you are in Maps, then go to the Photos app where you can zoom in the entire image, including text. So, how do you get a screenshot on the iPhone? It is not as hard as you might think. While holding the sleep button on the top of the phone down, click on the home button. Voile! The screenshot will appear in the Photos app automatically.
While this solution may not be elegant, it works. I would try this out at home, before giving it a real-world text. There is no need to be lost and asking yourself how to do that darn screenshot thing.
Let me know what you think? Any better ideas?
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Better Ideas? Sure.
Try the triple tap gesture (it’s worth reading the iphone guide first to understand how to move and adjust the view)
I have the same problem. I cannot read the micro-font and the Map is pretty much useless for my old eyes. You may have discovered this already, but I noticed that as you zoom in the font grows for a moment and then goes back to tiny. I then tried zooming but holding my fingers on the screen and lo and behold the zoomed text stayed large for as long as I had my fingers on the screen and I could finally read it. In fact, you can zoom in and out holding your fingers on the screen and the text grows and shrinks as you do. As soon as you release your fingers, the font goes back to tiny again. It’s not exactly user-friendly, and downright dangerous while driving, but at least I can read the text now.
-Mike
Hello if you do the three finger tap it will zoom text as well