Online map websites and their pros and cons

[Some_Person]

I'm sure all of us who commonly use resources like Google Maps don't only use that, and resort to other mapping websites for other reasons as well. Every website has its pros and cons, and here's what I think

Google Maps:
Pros: Street View, nice interface, mostly good directions
Cons: A lot of errors, what makes that worse is getting them corrected takes a lot of work or at least waiting. No state shields, just circles. No business route shields, or truck routes or anything like that. Also I feel coloring a toll road green could be useful like in Bing Maps.

OSM:
Pros: Editing is the easiest thing ever, if google had OSM's editing for their own maps then it'd be perfect. There's also more variation in road, Google just has 3 colors really. Also, it's nearly error free, and a lot of that is due to the fact that anyone can edit it, and theres no process to go through after editing it.
Cons: Not much, other than how there's no satellite view or street view, and its pretty plain. Like, all the shields for numbered routes are the same and the system can't handle multiplexes.

iOS Maps
Pros: State route shields
Cons: A lot...

Bing Maps
Pros: Birds eye view, less errors than Google for the most part, toll roads are shown good
Cons: There doesn't seem like any way for users or anyone else to help edit

I'm interested in seeing what everyone else thinks is good and bad about the various mapping resources there are

[NE2]

Where can I see iOS Maps?

[Some_Person]

Where can I see iOS Maps?

Only on an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with iOS6 or above installed. If you don't have any of those and don't know anyone else with them, the best thing I can think of is going to your nearest Apple store and playing with the devices they have on display

[NE2]

OK, so it's not an "online map website".

[WNYroadgeek]

OK, so it's not an "online map website".

Technically, it DOES require an internet connection (if I'm not mistaken).

[NE2]

But is it on the web?

[Alps]

There's an interesting point to be made here - online mapping software vs. mobile mapping software. Perhaps it does warrant a thread split.

[golden eagle]

Mapquest doesn't always give the best route. For instance, I once tried to get directions to drive from Jackson, MS to Detroit. It had me going up to Chicago, then cutting over eastward to Detroit. Every time I've gone, it's always been through Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati and Toledo.

[Scott5114]

[corco]

Too soon

[KEK Inc.]

But is it on the web?

You can only access a small part of the Internet in a typical unmodded web browser (Surface Web).

[Roadsguy]

I don't think "regular" and mobile maps really need different threads. I think the point is companies like Google or Bing and how good/bad their map software is.

[Dr Frankenstein]

But is it on the web?

iOS Maps is not on the Web, but all its data resides on the Internet (thread title says "online").

iOS pro: Impressive 3D view, even moreso than Google Earth's.
iOS con: Said 3D view is really just a toy and barely makes up for the map's inaccuracies.

[vdeane]

I don't think "regular" and mobile maps really need different threads. I think the point is companies like Google or Bing and how good/bad their map software is.

A mobile app isn't a website though.  In fact, mobile apps and websites are related only because both require the use of TCP/IP.

And on that note, I have a UDP joke, but you might not get it.  People always get TCP jokes though

[agentsteel53]

And on that note, I have a UDP joke, but you might not get it.

[1995hoo]

I'll add a con for Bing Maps: When I use Bing Maps in Firefox (my normal browser), it no longer lets me drag the line to modify your route, which is something I do quite frequently when I want to measure out distances via alternate routings. But it's worse than just not letting you modify the route–when I try to do it, as soon as I let go of the button it clears the routing altogether and dumps me back to the Bing Maps starting screen (except the map is zoomed in to whatever level was necessary to show the start and end points).

I just tried it in 64-bit Internet Explorer and it worked fine, which makes the conspiracy theorist in me wonder if it's Microsoft trying to push people to use their own product.

[Billy F 1988]

Google Maps | Pros/Cons

PRO
- Directions mostly accurate. About 95% if you don't mind some of the discrepencies.

- Street Map View very interactive

- You can mark the location and save it in Google Maps.

The only problems, though? The CONS
- There are a lot of discrepencies in directions.

- Picture is very JPEG-ish. Lot of lost quality during processing of the photos from the Google Earth vehicle. Must be fixed, even if we have to pay a small fee for it.

- Route orrientation errors. Lots of them. Check out "Incorrect highways makred on Google Maps" to see for yourself. Examples:
Montana Secondary Rte. 210 is marked as US 210.
One route in NC I briefly saw on GM the other day is marked as an Interstate corridor when it isn't.
NC 1993 is marked as the first four-digit US highway.
I can go on and on, but that's what "Incorrect highways marked on Google Maps" is for.

- Not very intuitive with MUTCD compliant state shields. Just uses squares and circles.

- Not a very user friendly Map Editor unlike OSM. Plus, you must be logged in to Google Maps to save your marked locations and edits done to the map.

- Needs a better color coding system. Can't really discern the difference between a US or Trunk highway from an Interstate or Motorway.

[vdeane]

Well, the lack of state route shields is in common with every other online provider except iOS and nearly every commercial paper provider.  Plus this is the US, not the UK - we don't have Trunk highways.  If they could actually be bothered to enforce the distinction between freeways and surface streets the coloring would be much better (note that route importance is also denoted by line width).

[Dr Frankenstein]

I was going to say that too... not a lot of map providers uses proper state shields to begin with. I only know of Apple Maps and MapArt atlases, and a modified OSM renderer.

[Roadsguy]

- Not a very user friendly Map Editor unlike OSM. Plus, you must be logged in to Google Maps to save your marked locations and edits done to the map.

You need to log in to OSM too.

- Needs a better color coding system. Can't really discern the difference between a US or Trunk highway from an Interstate or Motorway.

Orange:
-Freeway
-"Expressway" (whatever that means... )

Yellow:
-National Highway (only US routes)
-Major Artery
-Minor Artery

White:
-Whatever the basic white is (I forget); seems to be the equivalent of OSM's "residential"
-Terminal road (narrower)
-Driveways and parking aisles (I don't think they were there yet when I used Map Maker)

That's all from my short experience with Map Maker.

To all: OSM's trunk is basically the non-eastern US's expressway, but used way more loosely (i.e. this* is an expressway, this** is not, both are trunk)

*OSM doesn't seem to have a link-to-where-you-are thingy, so... US 222 from I-78 to the PA 100 multiplex split west of Allentown
**PA 100 from I-78 to US 222, also west of Allentown.

[Henry]

Google Maps | Pros/Cons

PRO
- Directions mostly accurate. About 95% if you don't mind some of the discrepencies.

- Street Map View very interactive

- You can mark the location and save it in Google Maps.

The only problems, though? The CONS
- There are a lot of discrepencies in directions.

- Picture is very JPEG-ish. Lot of lost quality during processing of the photos from the Google Earth vehicle. Must be fixed, even if we have to pay a small fee for it.

- Route orrientation errors. Lots of them. Check out "Incorrect highways makred on Google Maps" to see for yourself. Examples:
Montana Secondary Rte. 210 is marked as US 210.
One route in NC I briefly saw on GM the other day is marked as an Interstate corridor when it isn't.
NC 1993 is marked as the first four-digit US highway.
I can go on and on, but that's what "Incorrect highways marked on Google Maps" is for.

- Not very intuitive with MUTCD compliant state shields. Just uses squares and circles.

- Not a very user friendly Map Editor unlike OSM. Plus, you must be logged in to Google Maps to save your marked locations and edits done to the map.

- Needs a better color coding system. Can't really discern the difference between a US or Trunk highway from an Interstate or Motorway.

Another con: You actually need a Gmail account (which I don't have at the moment) to have full access to the Google Maps features. I also feel that making the toll roads a different color from the free ones, as well as adding state route shields, would make it better.

Then again, I'm thinking that there must be some sort of royalty fee involved for placing actual state route markers on maps, similar to music and film. If I'm wrong, then I apologize.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Then again, I'm thinking that there must be some sort of royalty fee involved for placing actual state route markers on maps, similar to music and film. If I'm wrong, then I apologize.

IMHO, I'm pretty sure this stuff is public domain, just like the stuff from the federal government.

[NE2]

MUTCD: "Any traffic control device design or application provision contained in this Manual shall be considered to be in the public domain. Traffic control devices contained in this Manual shall not be protected by a patent, trademark, or copyright, except for the Interstate Shield and any other items owned by FHWA." (The Interstate shield is trademarked to prevent businesses from using it in confusing ways.)

Unless any state changes this, their shields are also in the public domain. In any case, most of them are simple enough to be uncopyrightable, especially in the simplified form they appear on maps.

[vdeane]

It's probably not considered to be worth the effort.  Many places don't say "NY X" or "PA X" but rather "Route X" so the distinction matters mainly to us roadgeeks.

[kphoger]

- Needs a better color coding system. Can't really discern the difference between a US or Trunk highway from an Interstate or Motorway.

Orange:
-Freeway
-"Expressway" (whatever that means... )

Yellow:
-National Highway (only US routes)
-Major Artery
-Minor Artery

White:
-Whatever the basic white is (I forget); seems to be the equivalent of OSM's "residential"
-Terminal road (narrower)
-Driveways and parking aisles (I don't think they were there yet when I used Map Maker)

That's all from my short experience with Map Maker.

To all: OSM's trunk is basically the non-eastern US's expressway, but used way more loosely (i.e. this* is an expressway, this** is not, both are trunk)

*OSM doesn't seem to have a link-to-where-you-are thingy, so... US 222 from I-78 to the PA 100 multiplex split west of Allentown
**PA 100 from I-78 to US 222, also west of Allentown.

Except there is wide variation from place to place around the world.  In México, there are orange routes which are basically potholes connected by two-lane asphalt.  Guatemala City's thoroughfares change color as you zoom in, and not all that long ago were all white.  The N3 in the Congo is orange when you zoom out, yellow when you zoom in, yet it's just a dirt road through the jungle, all but impassible in the rainy season–whereas the portion of Mexican federal highway 53 that reaches Boquillas del Carmen, a good-quality gravel road, is shown in white.