I don't get the chessboard patterns very often. I think I generally get them when I have too many things downloading while I'm trying to use Google Maps.

Due to slow network, move the map or zoom will recharge images

I didn't have anything downloading...

I understand you Philipp, 100%!
Since few weeks, on maps.google.COM, it's really long to load images. On ".fr" its long but not as longer as ".com"

I don't know where it comes from :-/

This may not be the problem you're seeing, but if you've made certain tweaks to Firefox settings in order to try and speed your web access (like opening more pipes than the default) it will actually cause bad things with Google Maps – such as seeing the missing tiles more often.

I can confirm what Frank Taylor just wrote. Firefox extensions that are supposed to "optimize" its network settings may cause this.

I have no Firefox extensions, but I do have caching turned off. No caching causes a really annoying issue with Google Maps similar to the chessboard. Instead of the gray boxes appearing, seemingly random squares of map are displayed which makes it even more confusing.

Not regularly, but did see this for the first time recently. Persisted through zoom levels, possibly providing a hint as to the method of data storage across servers/data centers.

Happens to me all the time – and I'm not using Fasterfox anymore, or messing with caching, or anything else like that.

It's generally a network/browser issue. I sometimes get it but I just zoom in and back out to "refresh" the map. I don't think it's any "bug" at all with the Google Maps infrastructure.

Alex: The "random tiles" problem is a cache corruption bug in Firefox. We have seen it since 2005, but it has not been fixed yet :(

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=342013

Everyone: I will keep monitoring this thread to see if there is any pattern.

Disclaimer: I work on Google Maps.

I have had this problem for as long as I can remember. Google actually has a page detailing a possible fix for it but it never helps. What's strange is that it only happens on map view but never with the satellite imagery (at least for me.) It also only happens for me on one of my computers and both are configured identically with the same extensions, etc. You're not alone. Hopefully either Google finds a fix or Firefox fixes it on their end. Either way, the sooner the better!

my connection is super fast and my computers a hot rod with everything updated etc, but I get this checkerboard crap every time. The weird thing is that some other computers I've used DON'T. I hope you figure out the source or at least get Google's attention to address this dumb problem.

I also sometimes get a pattern from a diffrent zoom level, which looks kinda wired when you are looking on Germany and see almost whole Finland and Sweden where Rügen and the German baltic sea should be ...

I often see this bug, but I don't think it is bug. Because the website speed is slow, these pics aren't opened. And I am in China.

I'm getting these patterns quite often no matter what computer / internet connection I am using.

Hi Philip, i get these tiles quite often. I always assume it depends on the traffic on the google server? Or on the 'line'...

www.nederkaart.nl

My set-up for reference: Windows Firefox 2, latest stable version, accessing maps.google.com from Germany, English version. But I got it since ever, and that means other Firefox versions too. My add-ons are: German dictionary (a native Firefox extension for the spellchecker) and the official Google Toolbar (PageRank enabled). I also have a disabled official Google Photos Screensaver extension. The chessboard consists of either gray titles, and the endless loading message in the browser status bar, or of chessboards filled with that text in the style of "sorry no data at this zoom level."

How do you find out if all other FF settings are normal? Hmmm.

Philipp, you would almost have to compare your about:config settings to what comes with a fresh install of Firefox.

Or, you can just type "about:config" into your address bar and look for all settings that say "user set" under the "Status" column rather than "default".

Particularly check those which begin with "network.http" as I'm guessing messing with those could potentially cause problems like this.

I reset some of the "http.max-connections" values now and will see how it goes...

Philipp,

I get the EXACT same thing as you. Lately, Google Maps has been acting weird in that way – I'll just be missing important sections of the map. It's been pretty annoying. I use Linux/Firefox 2 with no extensions and most of the default settings, although prefetch-next is disabled. I hope Google fixes the problem soon.

Another problem, you can't perform a search until all images are loaded :-/
I hit the "search maps" button but nothing happen if the page is still loading.

I have seen this issue before. But a couple of days back, I saw this issue crop up on Hybrid / Satellite option, at all zoom levels over a metropolitan area. The tiles claimed that no images were available at that zoom level, which was obviously not true as I have seen the images before and after!

I'm so glad you brought this up! I get this problem around 70% of the time – I usually have to refresh the page a few times to see every tile, or move the map sideways and then back. It's so weird that such an excellent product should be allowed to fail at the final hurdle so often... It's especially annoying for me because I use Google Maps on my site. :-(

I often get some tiles that say the map or image is not available at that resolution even though it has been at other times.
They should have better error messages.

Google maps is often intolerably slow. I often avoid it. I would probably use it much more if it worked.
They should have a light weight version with fewer bells and whistles.

yes, i get this quite often as well.
   its not just you Philip