802981 - Cannot navigate maps.google.com in browser app on the device

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Web Compatibility :: Site Reports, defect)

Description

[(inactive after 6/18) Alive Kuo [:alive]]

STR:
type 'maps.google.com' in browser app's address bar, press ENTER.

Expected:
Go to maps.google.com

Actual:
What browser app shows is www.google.com

Note:
It works on desktop b2g.

Comment 1

[Ben Francis [:benfrancis]]

Erm, that's weird.

This must be Google redirecting HTTP requests because they think our device isn't supported.

This either needs a UA string hack (Gerv?) or outreach to Google (Chris?).

Comment 2

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

You can test if it's a UA string problem using the Phony extension to fake a different UA.

Gerv

Comment 3

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

Reproduced on r2d2b2g, which has the standard B2G UA. 

If it needs a UA string hack, it _also_ needs outreach to Google :-)

lmandel: do you know of a way to test alternative UAs on B2G? about:config doesn't seem to work at the moment, and I don't think there's a version of Phony...

Gerv

Comment 4

[Ben Francis [:benfrancis]]

Who needs to kick off outreach to Google once we confirm it's a UA string issue?

I could possibly help with that, but I'm guessing we have a formal route for this? Chris?

Comment 5

[Lawrence Mandel [:lmandel] (use needinfo)]

I'm confused. The description says that this works on desktop b2g. Does desktop b2g use a different UA than on device and r2d2b2g?

Gerv - You can use Phony on Android to test the B2G and Fennec UAs.

cc Joanne Nagel about our existing channel with Google.

Comment 6

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

Visiting maps.google.com on Aurora on Android with the Firefox OS UA from Phony gives us the right site. Also, sending the iPhone UA produces something not-very-iPhoney. So whatever they are testing, it's not the UA AFAICS.

Gerv

Comment 7

[Naoki Hirata :nhirata (please use needinfo instead of cc)]

marking as qawanted to try to figure out why this is redirecting.

Comment 8

[Lawrence Mandel [:lmandel] (use needinfo)]

I can reproduce this issue on Firefox for Android (Nightly) using Phony to spoof the UA to the Firefox OS UA.

Mike - Another maps issue that I had missed sending.

Comment 10

[Andrew Overholt [:overholt]]

For B2G v1 we're going to solve this with a UA override (see bug 816823).  We'll leave this bug open for evangelism.

Comment 11

[Ralph Giles (:rillian)]

I hit this with maps.google.ca today.

https://github.com/mozilla-b2g/gaia/pull/7739

Comment 12

[Lawrence Mandel [:lmandel] (use needinfo)]

(In reply to Ralph Giles (:rillian) from comment #11)
> I hit this with maps.google.ca today.
> 
> https://github.com/mozilla-b2g/gaia/pull/7739

Given that we can't and don't plan to override the entire Web, I don't think we should add any UA overrides for Canada specific sites at this point.

Comment 13

[Ralph Giles (:rillian)]

This is the cost of overrides, and why the real resolution is evangelism.

We have a substantial number of developers in Canada. Why does one locale matter but the other doesn't?

Comment 14

[Lawrence Mandel [:lmandel] (use needinfo)]

(In reply to Ralph Giles (:rillian) from comment #13)
> This is the cost of overrides, and why the real resolution is evangelism.
Sorry, I don't get your meaning. I will say that overrides dilute our evangelism message and I think should only be pursued where we expect to have significant user benefit.

> 
> We have a substantial number of developers in Canada. Why does one locale
> matter but the other doesn't?

Only target launch locales have been considered at this point. I'm not saying that we should never target Canada (this would benefit me as well) just that this override would not have a large impact on the v1 target launch market.

Comment 15

[Ralph Giles (:rillian)]

(In reply to Lawrence Mandel [:lmandel] from comment #14)

> Sorry, I don't get your meaning.

> I will say that overrides dilute our evangelism message

Ok. I don't have much experience with getting google to make such changes.

By the cost of overrides I meant that you do have to "override the entire Web", as you put it, or be partisan, which I think it your argument.

I wasn't aware that the US was a launch locale. That's great news.

Comment 16

[Lawrence Mandel [:lmandel] (use needinfo)]

(In reply to Ralph Giles (:rillian) from comment #15)
> By the cost of overrides I meant that you do have to "override the entire
> Web", as you put it, or be partisan, which I think it your argument.

That's correct. However, I don't know that this discussion has taken place with the broader development community. I'll take this to the dev-b2g list.
 
> I wasn't aware that the US was a launch locale. That's great news.

I assume that you drew that conclusion from the inclusion of Google .com domains in the UA override list. In fact, google.com is listed in the top few sites for most (all?) locales on Alexa. (AFAICT, Alexa doesn't further breakdown Google properties by sub-domain.)

Comment 17

[Ralph Giles (:rillian)]

Ok, thanks for explaining.

Comment 18

[Lawrence Mandel [:lmandel] (use needinfo)]

I started a discussion about the criteria on dev-platform. https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/mozilla.dev.platform/334JAOSSMVw

Comment 19

[efrat]

Hi guys, has there been any progress with this issue? :)
Thanks

Comment 20

[Lawrence Mandel [:lmandel] (use needinfo)]

This looks to be fixed. After removing the UA override on my Unagi (v1.1), maps.google.com displays the mobile version.

Jason/Aaron - Can one of you please confirm?

Comment 21

[Jason Smith [:jsmith]]

(In reply to Lawrence Mandel [:lmandel] from comment #20)
> This looks to be fixed. After removing the UA override on my Unagi (v1.1),
> maps.google.com displays the mobile version.
> 
> Jason/Aaron - Can one of you please confirm?

Doesn't work for me. I'm getting the exact same behavior as specified comment 0 on a 6/19 b2g18 build with override removed.

Comment 22

[Lawrence Mandel [:lmandel] (use needinfo)]

Thanks Jason. After clearing data/cookies from my browser I can reproduce the issue.

Comment 23

[efrat]

Hi guys, has there been any progress with this issue?
What's the ETA? :)
Thanks

Comment 24

[efrat]

maps.google.es
maps.google.co.ve
maps.google.com.br
maps.google.pl
maps.google.co.uk
maps.google.co.il
maps.google.de

*All of the above also cannot navigate in browser app on the device

Comment 25

[Karl Dubost💡 :karlcow]

Contacted Alex at Google today through the usual channel.

Comment 26

[Karl Dubost💡 :karlcow]

This seems to be solved. :)
I tested after removing the UA override. And I can access the map, search for a place, and get directions in between two cities.

Comment 27

[Karl Dubost💡 :karlcow]

And fixing it. Will add to the new remove list

Comment 28

[Mike Taylor [:miketaylr]]

WFM. Yay!

Comment 29

[efrat]

Hi Mike, 

The worldwide version https://maps.google.com/ is working fine, however, all of this sites still cannot navigate in browser on the device:

maps.google.es
maps.google.co.ve
maps.google.com.br
maps.google.pl
maps.google.co.uk
maps.google.co.il
maps.google.de


Tested on: 
User Agent String: Mozilla/5.0 (Mobile; rv:18.1) Gecko/18.1 Firefox/18.1

Model: nice
Software: Boot2Gecko 1.1.1.0-prerelease
Platform Version: 18.1
Build identifier: 20130930063730
Update channel: default


Actual results:

When we browse to maps.google.es, for example, we see the google search bar and not the map of spain, the same as the google.es website

Comment 30

[Karl Dubost💡 :karlcow]

hmm Interesting. 
Indeed. I'm contacting Alex.

Comment 31

[Karl Dubost💡 :karlcow]

Email sent. Thanks efrat for the report.

Comment 32

[Karl Dubost💡 :karlcow]

This is working. Closing again. :) Contact at Google worked.