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They don't feel a need to obey speed limits

What percentage of motorised vehicle drivers don't feel a need to obey speed limits? Two thirds? 80%? 87%? As subgroups of vehicle operator go, cyclists are not the problem - the majority of cyclists would have difficulty breaking the limit in a 15mph zone, nevermind anything higher.

If I took some of the routes its suggesting for me to get about the outskirts of london I'd be arrested for going the wrong way down one way streets.

Still impressive considering local companies such as the RAC can't even give such clear directions.

if by London you mean Cumbria, a county in the north of England, far far away from London and by Nuke plant, you mean Spent fuel reprocessing plant then you are correct.

bet they havent looked in their top pocket in the shirt thats in the wash, that's where i always find things

For Europe, I'm quite a big fan of Map24.

They have a Java applet interface that is nowhere near as clunky as it ought to be. It lets you scroll and zoom interactively, loading detail on the fly.

The same technology is licensed by the RAC, whos version covers more of Eastern Europe. For giggles, I asked it for a route from Birmingham (UK) to Minsk (Byelorussia) avoiding motorways, and it worked a treat, even finding appropriate ferry routes.

www.rac.co.uk is the best for Europe IMHO, it uses a java applet to let you zoom and pan in real time. The more you zoom in, the more detail it shows you. You can also print out a list of directions with a little map of each junction, which sometimes helps with the more complicated roundabouts.

Give it a try with, for example, Manchester to Oxford, or Battersea to Chelsea.

the RAC blows mapquest, yahoo, and all the others clear out of the water in its superiority.

Ditto here in the UK, we have been using this system for at least three years.

Trafficmaster

This data feeds most of the radio, TV, PDA, satnav and breakdown agency traffic reports. You can view live reports here:

Royal Automobile Club
Automobile Association

A network of cameras, which look like blue lampposts on trunk roads (highways) and fly-swatters on motorway bridges (interstates) digitally capture registration numbers (licence plates) and time how long it takes to get from A to B, or A to C etc. If a significant portion of numberplates arrive at A but don't arrive at B or C, then the computer presumes that there is a blockage somewhere near A. It also uses averaging to spot changes in normal traffic flow which indicate delays rather than blockages.

Interestingly, the trunk road system can be easily socially hacked with very major results. There are many classic cases of Trafficmaster being confused by temporary major changes in traffic flow, particularly infrequent events such as village fetes, town picnic days, jousting re-enactments, fireworks etc. If a bunch of cars all go past camera A and then turn off to park in a field for two hours to watch fireworks, the system will flag up point A as a traffic blockage!

I've known some mischevious parish council members specifically plan their event parking arrangements around buggering up Trafficmaster, making sure that the parking entrance is *after* the blue lamp camera... :-)