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Best Online Mapping Site?

Posted by timothy on from the interfacing-with-the-real-world dept.

bbulzibar asks: "I've been using MapQuest most of my life, but now as my mind is slowly expanding, I want to see if Yahoo! Maps is a better service for driving directions. According to one article I have read, Yahoo! is better at displaying maps, but what about calculating directions? Does anyone have any experience with differences? For example, Yahoo! and MapQuest give differing routes to go from Bloomington, IN to Madison, WI." I particularly like MapBlast's "Line Drive" direction style -- what's your favorite online mapping software?

5 of 603 comments (clear)

  1. Definitely MapQuest by sakeneko · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've caught them in exactly two errors in four or five years of regular use. I'd gladly pay a monthly membership fee for them if they weren't a free service. (SHHHHH!!! Don't tell them.) ;>

    --

    Catherine

  2. Maps for walking routes? by bokelley · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Something I have been looking for is a mapping site that will let me plot a route - say from 42nd and Madison to 14th and 6th - as I would walk it, not as a car would have to drive it (that is, ignore one way streets and such). Generally, because I want to find out how far I have to walk to get to a meeting or something.

    Extra credit would be if I could draw a diagonal line through a park (since I can cut through). Or if it estimated walking time the way it done driving time.

    Any ideas?

    --
    warning: epoll_wait is not implemented and will always fail
  3. Microsoft Streets and Trips by someguy456 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I hope I don't get modded down into oblivion, but I really like Microsoft Streets and Trips. I have the 2002 edition that came with Microsoft Works Suite. Online maps are slow (I'm on modem) and they don't feel right. I get the feeling that they are limited to certain rectangles. With S&T, I can get the feel for the whole map. I can scroll to the edges just as easy/fast as I would scroll on a web page or spreadsheet. From the routes I've gotten from around my area, I can't say either (Yahoo, MapQuest, S&T) is any better than the other. For example, they all insist on me taking highways, even if it takes longer to get there (yes, I know about scenic, shorter, faster,etc, but it didn't make much of a difference)

    --
    Robert Bindler
    A Computer Science student's views on technology.
  4. MSN! (asbestos undies on...) by frenchgates · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I love MSN best for maps because it is the only one I've found that lets me expand the map display to actually use the resolution of my monitor instead of scrolling the postage stamp map around.

    --
    Syntax error: loose != lose, affect != effect, then!=than
  5. Re:Some UK map sites by moreati · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If you have a recent java installed, then map24 knocks the veritable socks off all the competition. It displays an interactive vector map, complete with smooth scrolling, zooming and mouse over feature description.

    The formatting of the route planning directions leaves a little to be desired, but that's the biggest fault I can think of. On the whole it compares favourably even to MS Autoroute - except it's free, always up to date and cross platform.

    If you don't have java it falls back to a static image.

    Regards

    Alex