Online mapping services compared

Filed under: Web services, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!

Online mapping services compared

by Jordan Running Apr 24th 2006

A lot flew beneath my radar last week, including, unfortunately, a great post by TechCrunch's Frank Gruber called Comparing the Mapping Services, in which he compares, with some nice screenshots and tables, the big five online map services: Ask.com, Google, Yahoo!, Windows Live, and MapQuest. Gruber praises all of the services, but in the end he says (spoiler alert!), "Overall, Yahoo Maps was by far the best application tested. Its fast Flash interface, multipoint directions, live traffic information, and easy send-to-mobile feature make it the hands down winner. It also features the most robust API options." What's the best online map service for your money?

Tags: ask, ask.com, comparison, Frank Gruber, google, live, local, mapping, mapquest, maps, microsoft, roundup, techcrunch, windows, yahoo

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

William C Bonner said 11:25AM on 4-25-2006

It's interesting to hear that the flash interface is what the reviewer liked, as it's exactly what made me hate the new yahoo maps interface.

I use Yahoo maps for most of my first try mapping, and then I compare it to google on individual things, and have generally liked the google interface for images.

Neil T. said 6:27PM on 4-26-2006

Yahoo Maps Beta absolutely sucks in the UK. Its satellite imagery has very low detail and its road mapping only shows major roads and is about 20 years out of date, by my reckoning.

Google Maps is the best I've tried so far.

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