TL;dr In Landscape mode, Re-Center button cannot be pressed. Workaround: say "OK Google Re-Center" bit.ly/GMapsRe-center
Repeat by: .
Turn phone to Landscape mode.
Enter a destination.
Press Start to enter Navigation mode in 'following mode'
Change the display to 'free mode' by either
⊕ pinch zoom
or
⊕ swipe left for the next turn
See: Zoom gestures - Google Maps Platform Documentation
The button labelled "△ Re-center" will appear.
Attempt to press △ Re-center will. Sadly no action will happen.
Swipe up on △ Re-center button and the bar at the bottom that shows travel time and distance will swipe up!
Workarounds:
Say OK Google followed by Re-center
or
Reorient phone from Landscape to Portrait mode and press Re-center button.
Debugging session:
To show the problem with more information for Maps' developers, I turned on the phone's Developer Options setting.
I enabled the following debugging options:
Show Taps
Pointer Location
Show Layout Bounds
I turned the phone to Landscape mode, as the bug does not appear in portrait mode.
I entered a destination of Jones Beach Field 6 which is short for:
Jones Beach Field 6, Jones Beach State Park, Ocean Parkway, Wantagh, NY
A great place to walk or ride a bike, even in winter
I pressed Start to enter Navigation mode, and swiped left until I reached the Jones Beach Traffic Circle. The swipe left changed Google Maps from 'following mode' to 'free mode', which results in the "Re-center" button appearing on-screen.
Tap on Speaker icon to show tapping works.
Tap on Re-center button to show that tapping button does not register (note white circle which registers tap).
Swipe Re-center button up to show it swipes up bar at bottom which shows travel time and distance.
Say "OK Google", followed by "Re-center", and observe "Re-center" button disappears.
Video of test session: with Audio including OK Google (2022-11-10 removed for more free space)
Test session with unpressable Re-center button and OK Google ... Recenter workaround
Images from test session:
Swiping up from between 'n' and 't' in Re-center
Note blue swipe trail and white touch circle
Bottom bar with travel time, travel distance, Estimated Time of Arrival
and Spotify mini-player, is being dragged upward
The "Re-center" button just before it disappears, after saying: OK Google and Re-center
Note Google Assistant bar and icon on bottom of screen
Re-center button has disappeared
Map is transitioning from 'free mode' back to 'following mode'
Version Information:
As of January 28th, 2022 the Maps app on Google Android has a bug in Version 11.14.2 (#1066350973)
This running on Android version 8.1.0, Current version: OPSS28.85-17-6, Security patch level: February 1, 2019. The last available patch :-(
References:
Google Maps
Navigation SDK for iOS Documentation Automatically Recentering the Map https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/navigation-sdk-ios/recenter_map#:~:text=user%20explicitly%20presses-,Re%2Dcenter,-.%20You%20can%20automate
Google Maps Platform⇒ Documentation⇒ Android⇒ Maps SDK for Android⇒ Controls and Gestures⇒ Zoom Gestures
https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/android-sdk/controls#zoom_gestures&:~:text=Two%20finger%20tap%20to%20decrease%20the%20zoom%20level%20by%201%20%28zoom%20out%29.
Google Maps Platform⇒ Documentation⇒ Android⇒ Maps SDK for Android⇒ Maps SDK for Android overview
https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/android-sdk/overview
Plus Codes
https://maps.google.com/pluscodes/
Google Assistant
Products⇒ Google Assistant⇒ Docs⇒ Conversational Actions⇒ Built-in intents
https://developers.google.com/assistant/conversational/build/built-in-intents
Android Developer Options
Android Developers⇒ Android Studio⇒ User guide⇒ Configure on-device developer options⇒ Enable developer options and USB debugging
https://developer.android.com/studio/debug/dev-options#enable
Android Developers⇒ Android Studio⇒ User guide⇒ Configure on-device developer options⇒ Drawing ⇒ Enable Show Layout Bounds
https://developer.android.com/studio/debug/dev-options#:drawing&~:text=Enable%20Show%20Layout%20Bounds
Android Developers⇒ Android Studio⇒ User guide⇒ Configure on-device developer options⇒ Input ⇒ Enable Show Taps & Enable Pointer Location
https://developer.android.com/studio/debug/dev-options#input
Jones Beach
Jones Beach Traffic Circle, 1 Ocean Parkway, Wantagh NY 11793
Plus code: HFWR+8Q Wantagh, New York
License:
Re-Center button failing in Landscape mode on Android in Google Maps App © 2022 by Christopher Lent is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0