Problems Embedding Google Maps in Blogger

I decided to add embedded Google Maps showing routes to some of my recent Sustainable Adventure posts but I had some problems.

First, it's quite hard to get the zoom/scale to come up properly on the embedded map. It would either be zoomed out too far or zoomed in too far. Presumably the zoom in the embedded map is related to the zoom when you ask for the link/embed code, but there doesn't seem to be a simple correlation. With trial and error, zooming in and out and resizing the window, I could usually get it more or less right.

In some cases it seemed to help to copy the link address, open a new tab/window and go to that address. I'm not sure why that would help. Maybe it was just coincidence that it happened to work after doing that.

One of my maps refused to show the route. The map itself would display (although missing one tile). Eventually, after playing with it and making a minor change to the route it started working. (I gave up on trying to get the zoom right on this one, I was happy enough to just get it to work.)

It's sad how much the success of an "expert user" comes down to trial and error and randomly poking things. The equivalent of kicking the machine. Isn't software supposed to be consistent and predictable? The problem is that if the software gets complex enough (as most software is this days) then it becomes impossible to control/know all the inputs and state, so it ends up seeming random, unpredictable, and inconsistent. Yuck!

I searched for other people having this problem but I didn't find much. Is it something I'm doing different? Issues related to Blogger? But lots of people use Blogger. Maybe I just didn't hit on the right search terms.