Comments on: 3 online mapping services compared

By: ronan

ronan — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 20:50:21 +0000

I dont think resolution really matters that much its the usibility and accuracy, when will google be rolling out accurate maps for Ireland? that work like uk maps or US maps with addresses etc…
anyone know?

By: ingvar

ingvar — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 11:36:49 +0000

does anyone know how to resolve the issue w/ google maps that causes the computer to shut down and then restart once you get to a certain resolution of the map ? googles online help service is useless.

By: EWI

EWI — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 01:03:57 +0000

For full-screen viewing (and being able to access all the major services at once) I’ve found that nothing comes close to Flash Earth:

http://www.flashearth.com/

By: McAWilliams

McAWilliams — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 17:13:37 +0000

I have to agree with everything Neil said above Yahoo seems to be the best I have seen for my area which is only slightly north of himself here to be exact in Bray Co. Wicklow although google has improved since I last checked a year or so ago.

By: MacManX.com | Blogroll Dive: 3/5/07

MacManX.com | Blogroll Dive: 3/5/07 — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 08:44:19 +0000

[...] Tom compared “three major online mapping [...]

By: Exhibition at return to pearse

Exhibition at return to pearse — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 13:41:41 +0000

[...] a completely different type of photography (aerial/satellite), Tom Raftery compared the mapping services of Yahoo, Google and Microsoft. He concluded that Google’s services was [...]

By: neil

neil — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 13:05:05 +0000

For my location (Greystones, Co. Wicklow), Yahoo was by far the best with highest resolution, most high-res cover (extending as far south as Newcastle village), and most recent images.

Google came second with lower-res images than Yahoo, that only covered part of the town and are a few years old at best (in a town whose built-up area has grown hugely in recent years)

Microsoft was by far the worst, with no high-res images for the area (they don’t even have high-res for Dublin city centre)

By: Don Crowley

Don Crowley — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 19:52:01 +0000

You forgot maps.ask.com, but in your case Tom, I wouldn’t blame you. In some rare cases their satellite imagery is the best.

Live.com -> take a look at San Francisco: maps – the most beautiful of them all, satellite – very good, traffic information – excellent, ‘But’ API – non existent, rest of the world – rubbish. On the plus side if they would make a serious effort to improve and build an open API which does not need dotnet etc. it would be amazing.

Google satellite imagery is bad in Ireland, In Germany and Holland it is very good, In Paris it is amazing. Maybe the Irish tourist board could help Google. That is what happened in Holland anyway.

Yahoo is a real pity. On Flickr their maps are a bit of a let down.

Also in Ireland Google would do well to roll out maps.google.ie just like they rolled out maps.google.nl in Holland (which is really great).

By: Tom Raftery

Tom Raftery — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 10:53:39 +0000

I know that the major problem with Google maps is that they use Navteq who are less than brilliant on the recency of their offering.

I dunno Richard, my GPS unit (Garmin 660) uses Navteq maps which are as up-to-date as the Microsoft and Yahoo! offerings. Perhaps Google needs to update the ones they are licencing from Navteq.

By: Keith

Keith — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 10:01:27 +0000

Was recently looking for maps to a church very much in the middle of nowhere in south Tipperary. Google was by far the worst and only had the main national roads. There wasn’t much to separate Microsoft and Yahoo but I went with Yahoo in the end as I thought the maps looked marginally better.

By: Richard Hearne

Richard Hearne — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 09:59:43 +0000

I know that the major problem with Google maps is that they use Navteq who are less than brilliant on the recency of their offering.

By: Milan

Milan — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 20:57:23 +0000

In Oxford, Microsoft wins hands down.