Online Mapping Services

For the past few years I've been using http://www.multimap.co.uk for any maps / directions required, but unless they've got something up their sleeve I think they are gonna be in trouble as both Google and Microsoft release alternatives.

Google Maps recently launched their UK version (in beta anyway) and it blows multimap away. For starters they have bigger and clearer maps, but the real difference is you can scroll around the map by simply clicking and dragging around - very neat. Admittedly however they do have some problems, the directions are often a little misleading (especially at roundabouts) and they don't have any satellite images on the UK version yet.
One impressive feature is the merging of the mapping information with local search results. For example type "pizza near your postcode" into google maps and it will show you all the pizza places it knows about near your location which is pretty useful!

I think however that even Google may be a little worried having just seen this video of Microsoft's answer: Virtual Earth. This seems to improve on Google's service in a number of ways.

• You can now use the scroll wheel to easily and smoothly zoom in and out of the map
• You can perform multiple local searches and see the results on the map at the same time
• And very neat - The search results dynamically update as you scroll around the map area
• They also take the overlay option that multimap has offered but allow you to see the whole image overlaid with map data.

They also briefly show some 45 degree angle images which provide a different perspective to other online satellite images.

I guess the one problem with this is when (or if) it will be available to cover the UK - I hope it doesn't take them long!!