Microsoft just announced the launch of their Virtual Earth service through MSN. The new mapping service gives users some unique perspectives by adding high quality Pictometry photography to the standard mapping fare. This will allow users to see storefronts whether they go looking for a McDonalds or a Hard Rock Caf.
Map24 by Mapsolute seems to be the best based on my impressions. Map24 uses vector map data from map vendors such as Navteq, Teleatlas or AND. They have a groovy real-time, drag and zoom feature that allows users to zoom in quickly to where they want to go. The detail is great too. The further you go in, the more detail you get and while it doesn't have pictures of store fronts like MSN's will have, as you move your cursor over the locations it give the information you need in a block that appears over the point. The drawback is sometimes real time moves a little too quickly and you have to make some adjustments here and there if it zooms too much or too little to get you what you need. Also, when looking for some places, like Paramount's Kings Island theme park up near Cincinnati, it didn't list it. It listed the roads around it, but a major stopping point in the area might be worth plugging, especially since the Jack Nicklaus golf course right beside it showed up. I didn't see a generic type of search like many of the others. I couldn't just type in Disney World or Kings Island somewhere and it comes up.
Keyhole is both incredibly cool and a little scary. They utilize satellite imagery and 3D graphics to create some sharp looking maps and detail with a variety of industries, including real estate, defense, homeland security, etc. The detail is amazing. You can see cars in the parking lot and zero in on the baseball field down the street. That level of detail is also a drawback for some because it could certainly be used to invade privacy. It wouldn't be that hard to zoom in on the local swimming pool or find someone sun bathing in the privacy of one's heavily fenced back yard. While some might say this is a bit paranoid, when lots of major corporations lose large quantities of information tied to credit cards and social security numbers.
MSN's new Virtual Earth has some promise in that realm too, utilizing those Pictometry planes and quality photography to enhance their mapping features. The current MSN Yahoo isn't terribly remarkable or unique either. They look very similar to MapQuest in style and function but they lack the detail. The zoom feature is scaled 1-10 and with directional tags at the corners and sides of the map to shift around the viewing area. This looks remarkably like the MapQuest feature. Their detail on finding addresses wasn't as good as others. The address I looked for though didn't show up in their search. They were close but they were the only one of the mapping tools I looked through that didn't show the address I was looking for. They provided some directories and they were pretty good when mapping the local Pizza Hut. I liked that feature a little better than MapQuest but less than the Googlemap or Map24. Yahoo hasn't really stated what the future has in store for their mapping too in light of recent work by MSN and Google.
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