MSN Maps is now Windows Live Local and has updated and now looks more like Google Local. You can now drag the maps and place markers on them. The maps show a lot of information about what is in the area. They are also one of the easiest to read. You get turn-by-turn directions with the option of showing a map of whichever turns you want (click on "Custom Printing"). They have links to traffic maps and city guides. You can also map addresses in many European countries and Canada. If you know a place name (city, landmark, etc.), it can find it worldwide. They have added aerial photos and "Bird's Eye View" (a closer look at an angle) to the options.

You can now Google the world at Google Earth. Google Local is much better for finding things, though. You can find an address or a place of business. You can switch from a street map to a satellite map or combine the two. The combined view is great for figuing out what the place looks like that you are trying to find.

And now

has gotten into the act. You can get a map, get directions, and you can even look up businesses in the Yellow Pages where you are headed to. You can find nearby businesses along with their addresses, phone numbers, directions, and a map.

Multimap.com includes symbols for golf courses, parks, and hospitals. It names lakes and parks so you can see what is nearby. Informaiton below the map includes the latitude and longitude for the map center, the local weather, and a link to a map of the nearest airport. They have the best coverage for countries other than the U.S. Street level maps are available for most developed nations and main road coverage is otherwise available.

Bell Laboratories have put a site together. Maps On Us has some of the best graphics for maps of any of these sites. You can customize the maps, but you can't change the name of the marker (it gives you the address). They also have directions and yellow pages for even more information. You need to sign up before you use it.

If you want to find a place name, such as a city, town, village, mountain, hill, river, lake, isand, neighborhood, or subdivision, try Place Names.com. They will link you to street maps, topo maps, satellite photos, flood maps, and environmental hazard maps. You will also get the latitude and longitude for the place. Other types of places include airports, sandbars, bays, buildings, cemeteries, churches, administrative divisions (counties, subdivisions, etc.), crossings, dams, hospitals, lakes, locales (shopping centers), parks, post offices, reservoirs, schools, streams & rivers, summits, and towers. Census Statistics are provided for each state and county.

Once you figure out where you are going, you might want to check the traffic situation. The U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration has a great web site for finding traffic information. Click on the state you are interested in and you get a selection of traffic websites to choose from. Traffic.com also has traffic reports for major metropolitan areas in the US. Of course Yahoo! has to get in on the action. Yahoo! Maps has traffic in dozens of metropolitan areas. AccuTraffic links to each individual state's traffic or DOT page. Coverage is spotty.

Terra Server has topographic maps and aerial photographs. You can zoom in and out and switch back and forth between aerial photos and topo maps.

If you have any comments, if you find a link that doesn't work, or you have a link you think I should add, send me an E-Mail at Meckelnburg@prodigy.ne t