For Us Serious Map Lovers Only

Has anyone visited MapQuest lately? They changed their format to where you can just drag the map rather than have to reload one new section at a time. Very nice! Google Maps was the first one I had ever seen that had this drag it technology, however you could never get the names or numbers of a road unless you were zoomed in far enough. Also there wasn't much color differences between highways and smaller roads.

The new MapQuest system seems to work with better detail than the Google maps even when zoomed out more. You can still do things like find every pizza store on a Google map, but the new MapQuest is worth checking out. Haven't tried the find the pizza mode yet on MapQuest if they even have such a thing.

RTRandy said:

Has anyone visited MapQuest lately? They changed their format to where you can just drag the map rather than have to reload one new section at a time. Very nice! Google Maps was the first one I had ever seen that had this drag it technology, however you could never get the names or numbers of a road unless you were zoomed in far enough. Also there wasn't much color differences between highways and smaller roads.

The new MapQuest system seems to work with better detail than the Google maps even when zoomed out more. You can still do things like find every pizza store on a Google map, but the new MapQuest is worth checking out. Haven't tried the find the pizza mode yet on MapQuest if they even have such a thing.

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They also added another feature, unless it's just something I never noticed before. You can now map out a route with multiple stops, and each leg of the trip gives its own directions, plus you get totals for mileage and driving time for the entire trip. Maybe I just never noticed that before, but I sure like MapQuest!

I always disliked Mapquest (and for that matter, most of the other online maps). Google's sattelite view and hybrid view were fun and occasionally even useful, and it's Ajax technology that allowed smooth scrolling, was a huge advance for online maps.

But if you really like maps, then getting an OFFline mapping program is, IMHO, the way to go. I have a small laptop I bring with me, but it's loaded with a map of all of North America (Streets & Trips) and Europe (Autoroute).

Both of these are Microsoft products, and I won't claim that they're perfect either; far from it. Dancogan's complaint of not getting enough detail at broader views is one I have had with every electronic map. Another annoyance is that what you see on the screen isn't necessarily what you'll see if you print it out (in densely populated maps, the choice of which street names that are shown can change).

There are errors in every map database, but it seems to me that Streets & Trips has fewer than Mapquest. OTOH, Autoroute (a product Microsoft only sells in Europe, same program as S&T, but with a different database) has a database that doesn't include a lot of the smaller roads. You'll see villages that, even at highest magnification, have no roads or connections to the outside world with some regularity.

S&T has been able to do multiple stops for ages, and it also checks an online database, if available, for road work and detours. It seemed fairly accurate on my ride across the US to the National rally this summer. And while I haven't used Mapquest in a while, it had a pretty poor reputation for the quality of the directions it gave; I've been very happy with the route instructions from S&T. And while S&T can be tailored a bit regarding what kinds of roads to choose and avoid, more control here would be welcomed.

I cut my teeth on Mapquest, moved to Yahoo!Maps for a while, and latched onto Google Maps when they were first introduced. I am a recent dabbler on Google Earth too.

Then, just recently, I stumbled across Windows Live Local:

http://local.live.com/

I'm not exactly recommending it, since I'm really too new to it to fully grasp the pro's and con's. One kinda cool feature is the "Birds Eye View" which gives you a sorta-Google Earth type view of the location.

I like this newest version of MapQuest, except that as I drag the view it sticks quite a bit. I also NEVER ask MQ for directions- I just draw my own map based on what it shows me.

The_Veg said:

I like this newest version of MapQuest, except that as I drag the view it sticks quite a bit. I also NEVER ask MQ for directions- I just draw my own map based on what it shows me.

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I'm not sure, but I think the sticking part may be more related to your connection speed to the internet. My DSL seems to do ok with it and I'm sure cable would be even smoother.

Randy