Google unveiled their new Maps tool. I love it.
Mapquest and Yahoo Maps are quite good tools. I admit to using them very often. In my experience, they’ve been about 90% accurate. When I need to get to an unfamiliar place, you’ll see me whip out my sticky notes and jotting down the Mapquest directions.
But my one big complaint against these two tools is that they’re static. The maps are very good at spotting exact street locations, but if you want to peruse around the area, you have to use their maddingly slow recenter and pan tools. This is because Mapquest and Yahoo aren’t using a dynamic design with their display. It’s all just images.
Google Maps is all about dynamic. You can zoom, pan, and center in an instant. Everything is slick and smooth. The data still loads in chunks of images, but the map is still able to respond to requests and display the incoming images. This feedback makes all the difference. I was able to accurately pan and zoom from a full size view of the US to my neighborhood in Palo Alto in under 10 seconds. Try that with Mapquest.
Of course, Google also leverages its maps with Google Local, which allows you to search and pinpoint local businesses on the map. Directions are stylishly portrayed with markers that show you a local view upon clicking.
With just one glimpse, I’ve already made the switch to Google Maps. My only complaint is their current lack of support for unpopular browsers, like Opera. But I’m sure that will go away as it comes out of beta.