Yahoo joins the 2nd generation mapping game!
Yahoo have recently joined the like of Google and Microsoft by launching the beta of their new online mapping service.
Unlike the big two however, they have decided to use Flash for their application rather than the basic AJAX approach.
I don't think using Flash is a problem (as nearly every web user has the plugin installed!), but the yahoo interface does not seem as 'snappy' to me as the other ones out there!
I find it interesting to see the different emphasis the companies are taking. For example, the new Yahoo service doesn't appear to include overhead satellite imagery (as far as I can see), but seems to be better at driving directions than the others.
You can add as many stops as you want in the driving directions by simply entering each address in term and hitting go! I also like the way you can show all the 'direction step' pictures together (as opposed to one at a time with Google).
Some other neat things with this Yahoo site is the fact that everything you do automatically updates the URL in the browser's address bar, removing the need to click a button to get a 'permalink' for a map!
They also have a neat 'Live Traffic' tickbox to immediately show traffic information on the map. I know this sort of thing is available for the others via third party 'mashups', but this is the first time I've seen it built in directly!
There's also a 'Send to Phone' link which seems interesting, but seeing as this is a US only service (as usual :( ) I've not been able to try it out!!
So overall it seems a pretty good application with some neat features, but I think I still prefer some of the others! If only you could get one with the best points of all three! :)
Of course its all a bit of a mute point really, as Google is STILL the only one available here in the UK!!
While I'm on the subject of Google Maps UK, they have made some changes in the past month or so that improve the interface a bit! Firstly when your not looking at directions, the map now expands to fill the full width of the screen (a bit like Microsoft's VE), making more map area visible.
Secondly, when you search for a location, in the popup box you now have the option to set that as your default start location when using the application in the future. (Again I think they've copied this from a VE feature)
And finally, they've fixed it so that when the directions are long, you can scroll through them without loosing the map off the top of the screen!
Unlike the big two however, they have decided to use Flash for their application rather than the basic AJAX approach.
I don't think using Flash is a problem (as nearly every web user has the plugin installed!), but the yahoo interface does not seem as 'snappy' to me as the other ones out there!
I find it interesting to see the different emphasis the companies are taking. For example, the new Yahoo service doesn't appear to include overhead satellite imagery (as far as I can see), but seems to be better at driving directions than the others.
You can add as many stops as you want in the driving directions by simply entering each address in term and hitting go! I also like the way you can show all the 'direction step' pictures together (as opposed to one at a time with Google).
Some other neat things with this Yahoo site is the fact that everything you do automatically updates the URL in the browser's address bar, removing the need to click a button to get a 'permalink' for a map!
They also have a neat 'Live Traffic' tickbox to immediately show traffic information on the map. I know this sort of thing is available for the others via third party 'mashups', but this is the first time I've seen it built in directly!
There's also a 'Send to Phone' link which seems interesting, but seeing as this is a US only service (as usual :( ) I've not been able to try it out!!
So overall it seems a pretty good application with some neat features, but I think I still prefer some of the others! If only you could get one with the best points of all three! :)
Of course its all a bit of a mute point really, as Google is STILL the only one available here in the UK!!
While I'm on the subject of Google Maps UK, they have made some changes in the past month or so that improve the interface a bit! Firstly when your not looking at directions, the map now expands to fill the full width of the screen (a bit like Microsoft's VE), making more map area visible.
Secondly, when you search for a location, in the popup box you now have the option to set that as your default start location when using the application in the future. (Again I think they've copied this from a VE feature)
And finally, they've fixed it so that when the directions are long, you can scroll through them without loosing the map off the top of the screen!
posted by Gezz at
10:53 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home