What's mapquest?
Posted by urbanX (Member # 1450) on :
Poor Mapquest.
Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :
I zoomed in on a couple of places where I know the roads are fairly new, and the data was up to date.
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
Checked my neighborhood, and they're at least a year out of date. Cool enough idea, though -- I like the scrollable map.
Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :
Well, the map is certainly purty, and I think I like the ability to paste the source and destination directly into the same field -- which should save on data entry, at least -- but I'm not quite sure how I feel about it otherwise. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
The maps are cool and I like the interface.
However, I asked Google, Yahoo, and Mapquest for directions from home to work. Google's weren't bad, although Yahoo's were better.
Mapquest's were just BIZARRE.
So, another choice is good, and we'll see what it comes up with in the future.
[ February 08, 2005, 08:17 PM: Message edited by: rivka ]
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
I like it just for the easy interaction with the map -- grab and drag. That'll make getting just the view I want much, much easier.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
I'm impressed by its business finder -- "cinemas in Oregon, Wisconsin" returns pretty good results, for example -- but a little baffled by its selection criteria. For example, the above query returns everything in Madison, then two theaters nearly 40 miles away -- but omits a cineplex five miles east, in Stoughton. But querying "cinemas in Stoughton, WI" returns the Stoughton cinema in addition to all the others with the odd exception of the closer of the 40-milers.
Go figure.
[ February 08, 2005, 08:27 PM: Message edited by: TomDavidson ]
Posted by Jeni (Member # 1454) on :
I also like the grab and drag and the maps do look nice. I'll be truly impressed, though, when an internet map search can correctly locate my house.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
They likely use the google local service to get that info, Tom, and that seems to rely on scraping web pages for address info, so its likely something to do with how the Stoughton cinema lists its address info, or possibly a problem with their distance calculator.
Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :
I so want to buy stock in Google!
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
I just tried "from where I am right now to where my grandpa is right now" and it couldn't do it. Hmph.
Posted by Puppy (Member # 6721) on :
Does this map make anyone else feel like the world is really SMALL? I mean, when you can zoom in like that, see city streets emerging and then expanding ... I don't know, it feels almost like it's a manageable size Like I should be able to walk anywhere I want to go.
Posted by Lalo (Member # 3772) on :
I'm so sorry, Tom... Were you expecting it? Know I'm here for you, buddy, if you need it.
Posted by Jay (Member # 5786) on :
Not bad. It does miss the river going through the middle of my hometown though.....
Posted by Miro (Member # 1178) on :
quote: Does this map make anyone else feel like the world is really SMALL?
Definitely, considering it only has one continent. I went to look for Europe, and it wasn't there!
Posted by Puppy (Member # 6721) on :
Heh heh, it's only beta Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Okay, I just got directions for my husband to an appointment, and did the satellite thingy for fun when done. Went to look at our apartment, and it's kind of scary! You can see our car, and the tarp that our cheap landlord put on the roof a couple of weeks ago when it was raining and the roof leaked! Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
Yep, they've updated the satellite image for my area, too. But mine is still at least 3 months outdated because a house down the street that's since been demolished for a duplex is still there.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
A few weeks ago the maps quit showing for me. I wonder what I did? I tried disabling adblock and anidisable to no avail. But all google-maps' maps are just featureless gray spaces for me. Anyone have any clue how I messed it up?
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
For a long while, I've been using the map features built into google earth, and for the heck of it I've begun checking some routes that I take regularly. On two or three occasions, google's mapfu showed me a way to go that's much better than I had been using. I am very impressed.
I've found yahoo's to be quite confusing, especially in places where the highway or route itself, i.e. US Hwy 99, takes a number of turns and gyrations, and yahoo never even mentions them! Very disorienting! You have no idea to be looking out for signs that a turn is coming up.
Posted by aiua (Member # 7825) on :
If you're looking for Europe, try Google Earth Posted by Miro (Member # 1178) on :
I was really confused reading this thread until I realized that it's no longer 2005.
Riight.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
Google Maps is the best.
True that.
DOUBLE TRUE.
Posted by Celaeno (Member # 8562) on :
erosomniac, that was definitely the best part.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
Check out satelite image of Dick Cheney's residence (1 Observatory Circle, Washington, DC). Not even Area 51, the Pentagon, or the White House are more obscured.
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
It's so we won't see the fleets of lobbyist limos flocking there.
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
So, why can you see come houses clear as day, and others are all blurry? Our entire city is blurry. Well, technically, I suppose where my husband works is considered in the city limits and you can see it, but where the residential part is, it's all blurry.
Posted by Miro (Member # 1178) on :
It could very well have to do with the atmospheric conditions at the time the photos of that area were taken. Also, increased smog in the middle of a city could obscure the picture.
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
Uh, I don't think a town of 4,000 really creates that much smog. And I don't think it has anything to do with atmospheric conditions, as the images from half a mile away are perfectly clear.
Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
It has to do with strategic importance. Those satellites do double-duty, you know. You don't need nice, high-res pictures to do cartography.
My house is also blurry, as is downtown Milwaukee. However, the PORT of Milwaukee, the Airport and surrounding communities are all clear as day.
Posted by rCX (Member # 8503) on :
Mapquest dead! Google killed it!
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
quote: It has to do with strategic importance. Those satellites do double-duty, you know. You don't need nice, high-res pictures to do cartography.
Huh?
I'm sorry, I don't understand.
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
Okay, are saying that things of high strategic importance are clear as day on purpose? I would think that it would be the opposite. I mean, I really don't think it's a good idea to give terrorists high resolution images of the exact layout of our nuclear reactors. Maybe it's just me, though.
Posted by Boon (Member # 4646) on :
No, what it means is that they don't take high quality pictures of things that aren't important enough to warrant it. And if the pictures have been taken...
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
You can see DETAIL in the pic of our area. Like, you can see that we must have been loading or unloading the trunk, because it's up. And that the tire skid in front of our complex is indeed new.
Maybe it's the missile silos further up on the hill we happen to live on? And JPL nearby?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
We live JUST inside the "clear as day" portion of our area, at the far southern edge of the section of Dane County that's considered deserving of satellite attention. A half-mile south, it's all fuzzy.
What's funny, though, is that a Google Maps search on our house tags not our house, but the neighbor just to our west. Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
And it still doesn't know what to do with Sri Lanka. Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
In fairness to Google, Sri Lanka doesn't know what to do with Sri Lanka.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
And your point is...
Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: In fairness to Google, Sri Lanka doesn't know what to do with Sri Lanka.
I almost laughed out lout. Should that be a new internet acronym? IALOL?
Posted by Miro (Member # 1178) on :
quote:Originally posted by Kayla: Uh, I don't think a town of 4,000 really creates that much smog. And I don't think it has anything to do with atmospheric conditions, as the images from half a mile away are perfectly clear.
Well, then forget the smog. It could be atmospheric conditions, though. The blurry areas and the clear area may have been photographed on different days. Check out this map. The areas here were photographed in different seasons.
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
And I don't think it has anything to do with atmospheric conditions, as the images from half a mile away are perfectly clear. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
Hmph.
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
You can see our car, and the tarp that our cheap landlord put on the roof a couple of weeks ago when it was raining and the roof leaked!
![[Confused]](confused.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)