Although it takes a little while to load, Fresh Logic Studios' Atlas map system is pretty amazing. The application allows for worldwide directions, zooms in with incredible detail and has a very spiffy interface. I did some basic testing to see how robust the system was, and I'd say that with the possible exception of Ask's maps (which are US only for the moment), Atlas is the best of the bunch (particularly for Europe).
My first task was to map directions from Munich (Germany) to Milan (Italy), a trip I'll be taking next month after SES London. The initial search wasn't very effective (it mapped a trip in the US from two similarly named cities), but luckily, Atlas has right-click functionality that allows you to pinoint a location (much like Ask) and select directions to or from it.
Fairly impressive, but not nearly as cool as what came next...
Once you sign up for Atlas' membership system, you can see movie times, wifi access, gas prices, traffic, events and local bloggers (all based on user-contributed or scraped data). It's got a lot of the coolest mashup features built right in. One item that's missing is the ability to link directly to the URL - you can choose to "email" a page and the link will appear in your email application, but there's no direct link mechanism.
I would have to say that overall this system is remarkably impressive in scope and design. All I want now is an API :)
Perhaps its just me, or the fact that I live in Canada, but I couldn't get the XXXX thing to give realistic directions.
My favourite was directions from my mother's house to mine. 1st it couldn't locate my street (OK the street is less then a year old, but other tools have it in their database), so I tried my old house and it worked. However, the directions took via Michigan and back again, so I had a trip of over a 1,000 miles while the actual distand is about 10 miles.
Tried some smaller European towns and cites and kept ending up in the their American similarily name location.
Its nice Rand. It is a bit slow compared to G and msn/live. The arial was a bit fuzzy but got down to the same level as msn for my business location. It was from a different arial than MSN and G, evidentally taken on a business day with cars and traffic visable.
As a local business, we have found significant advantage by printing directions on a web page rather than relying on any of the web direction sources;
A. Directions off the web are not always accurate B. By mentioning directions from all regions (north, south, east, and west) we are able to add town and region names. For local oriented search this adds a surprising number of searches to our site with business service/town name...as opposed to how we optimize (business service/state and/or city name). It adds valuable traffic and conversions.
I have an idea for an app for my site based on this and other arials.
We are located in a terrific area compared to competitors. There are local businesses/sites to see that could be identified off the arial. In fact we are adding an "our neighborhood" to our site with pictures of various attractions nearby.
I'd like to attach an identifier to the spots off the arial to these attractions w/ a link to pics and description (walking distance from our site)
Doable? I think so. Need a developer to assist.
Dave
email at seorefugee or at [email protected]
Rand, try map24.com, It's one of the best for Europe. The maps have very high detail and I just LOVE the abilty to zoom in and out very quick.
Skipsel, you're right. Very fast. I love the 3d view too, seems to make directions a little more real. Now they just need terrain maps and/or satellite imagery. Still an overall impressive service.
Impressive, yes. But their servers seem mighty slow. Hopefully its just traffic from the recent buzz and/or they're realizing they need to ramp up very soon to keep up with demand.