In a never-ending push to increase the user experience, Map sites such as Google Maps,Yahoo Maps, And Bing maps are constantly adding new features. With the onset of GPS systems, particularly ones that are pre-installed in new vehicles. The online driving directions sites are seeing decreasing traffic.

Perhaps in the future, we may see GPS systems fron Google Maps and Mapquest as stand-alone units and pre-installed in new vehicles. In the same manner as Tivo units are superior to the cable company supplied PVR’s (personal video recorers) They will be able to offer a richer feature set than are now available on commercial services such as TomTom and Garmin.

+Ronald Edwards

Google’s mapping service is so easy to use especially since my internet home page is Google. At the top of the screen I simply clicked on maps and was taken to an image of the United States. At the top left of the screen clicking on “Get directions” took me to two fields where I typed in my starting location; Charleston, SC and my destination which was Austin, TX. “Get directions” was highlighted in blue and clicking on it resulted in a route highlighted in blue spanning a route that included Atlanta, GA. I don’t want to drive through Atlanta in a car much less a motor home but with the Google map and direction service, alternative routes are provided. Positioning the mouse over each subsequent route changes the route’s blue line and one of those showed me an alternate through Jacksonville, FL which turned out to be almost the same distance and just a few minutes longer. I chose that route to avoid Atlanta and to enjoy a more southern route.

Specifics of the route are shown on the left of my screen and can be collapsed or expanded as needed. For this trip, it showed a southerly route on I-95 followed by a westward route along I-10. The total estimated mileage for the trip was given at 1266 miles and according to their calculations should take 20 hours and 53 minutes. Great. Positioning the mouse over each leg of the journey resulted in a marker that appeared on the map’s blue line route which gave me an idea of where I might want to stop along the way. Our first stop was in Kingsland, GA just shy of Jacksonville, FL.

Before departing Kingsland to continue our trip toward Texas, I once again looked up my route on Google’s map and directions service only this time my starting destination was where we were in Georgia. Overnight stops included Bonifay, FL and Saucier, MS and St. Martinsville, LA at RV Parks I had previously researched.

The remaining 395 miles to Austin showed the route going through Houston and though I was headed to Austin preferred not to go through Houston’s congestion. By clicking and holding the mouse button on the little circle in the middle of Houston on the blue route line and dragging, I pulled the route to a more northerly route through Conroe, TX where we made our last stop before arriving in the Austin area. According to Google, the change added six miles to my trip but eliminated tons of stress.

By combining the step by step computerized voice of my GPS system with the homework I did on Google’s Map & Direction Service, my dog Charlie and I arrived at our destination in central Texas without any great excitement or tales of adventure…my way to travel!

+Ronald Edwards

I was working on this new listing we got and didn’t have time for any distractions. It was a 5 million dollar house in the best area of Atlanta and getting that real estate sold was my primary goal. Finally, I did sell it (Four million six hundred thousand to be precise) and got a nice new cash flow. I was on my way to continue to the next listing, but everybody was trying to convince me to take a break and go on vacation. That idea didn’t even cross my mind, but as I started to think about it, it became an excellent idea!

I was a bit skeptical in the beginning regarding one important matter – how was I going to get there? A friend recommended yahoo maps. I have never tried it before, but it actually came in extremely handy! So, I was on my way to a long road from Atlanta to Miami, the reknown Sunshine city. The drive to the border between the states was so quick I couldn’t believe it, I got there in just a few hours. Afterwards, after reaching Florida, I kept driving according to the road signals in order to get to Miami.

Approximately midway of the trip, my Yahoo maps let me know that I have reached Orlando. I was amazed by all of the billboard advertisements regarding the Orlando theme parks and thus, I decided to give them a try! Being the spontaneous man I am, I started off with the Magic Kingdom theme park. If I was to describe the Magic Kingdom experience in one word it would be – AMAZING! I had one of the best times in my life! The incredible roller coasters, the tasty food and the Disney figures were all spectacular. After finishing off with Magic Kingdom, I continued my next day at Epcot. Although I didn’t connect with Epcot as much as I did with Magic Kingdom, it was still all a blast.

After having reached the hotel and finishing packing the luggage, I continued my ride to the Sunshine city. I was constantly looking over at Yahoo maps to make sure I don’t lose the right direction. After about 5-6 hours, I start smelling this great beach smell. Seeing all those beautiful ladies, I quickly understood that I have reached my destination – the one and only Miami Beach.

In conclusion, the trip was absolutely amazing. If you’re considering taking a trip, just do it! Miami is a great place to visit if you’re looking for a tropical vacation. Most importantly, don’t forget to configure your Yahoo maps!

+Ronald Edwards

Today this is the most widely used route planning tool. This is mainly contributed by the high quality features it comes accompanied with. It has highly intelligent features that are easy to use for everyone. The best thing about this service is the fact that one does not need to pay for anything to access. Mapquest’s main business is providing mapping and direction solutions to internet browsers. In the USA alone, one to five internet users use it daily. All over the world, millions of users use this tool to get mapping directions which cover almost every street and road on our planet.

When looking for a location using this tool, all that one needs is to go to the maps tab. After that, the next thing is to type the address, the city and also the state. If it a business location that one is looking for, then it is important to fill in the business option when conducting the search. For instance, if it is a restaurant that one wants to search for in Huston, all that is needed is to type the name of the city and the name of the state respectively. If one knows the zip code, it is also important that it is filled as well. After filling all that, the next thing that follows is clicking on the ‘get map’ option from which within a few seconds one will be presented with a list of all restaurants in Houston.

What makes this tool popular with many people is of course it’s ease of use and also it’s efficiency. For instance, if one wants wants to see the aerial map, all that is needed is one to click on the aerial map option. If it is traffic, one needs to click on the traffic bar to be provided with the results. When it comes to making things a bit easier for the regular traveler, this tool has not been left behind. It has a route planner which shows the fastest route, the toll free way, the shortest and also the highway free route. It is designed in such a way that it makes the traveler have the easiest and yet most enjoyable traveling.

All aid sand done, everyone who wants to locate places and travel with ease will definitely find Mapquest classic a very useful tool. It comes loaded with all the relevant features that make the user get the very best best.

+Ronald Edwards

Learning with Google Earth

Either an experienced user or a beginner, Google Earth is offering tremendous opportunities to learn new things by making available a range of tutorials helping you manage and control new data and information. In this view, you can perfect your knowledge by following the latest Google Earth tutorials on: Street View, 3D Trees, Historical Imagery, Navigation, Searching for Places, Drawing and Measuring, Placemarks and Tours, Exploring Mars, Moon and Sky or Tour of Moon in Google Earth. Also there are advanced tutorials for understanding and using Google Earth: Recording a Tour, Importing KML, KMZ and GPS Data or Geotagging Photos. If you follow a civil engineer or architecture career, 3D Buildings tutorials will be of a great help for you; so be prepared and follow one of the latest tutorials released in this field: Intro to Google Building Maker, Create 3D models with SketchUp, Geo-modelling with SketchUp and Building Maker or Modelling with Site Context.

Google Earth Technology and Maritime Fleet Management

GlobalView, a fleet management system of Applied Weather Technology, announced the launching of a Google Earth technology based application, enhancing ship routing identification and by this way helping shipping companies to reduce fuel consumption, monitor safety aspects and be timely informed about the course of their ships.

Google Earth and Geo-Wiki, interactive guardians of the environment
Geo – Wiki, in collaboration with Google Earth have lately developed an internet tool providing accurate information on global forest cover and global land use. An ecological oriented tool, the web application developed is trying to touch the global sensitivity on environment protection by involving an interactive system of data base contributors. Basically it encourage participation of all people to a better monitoring of how earth is changing and get people involved in this crucial issue of global climate change and biodiversity conservation.

Bathymetry, the new Google Earth tool for discovering our oceans floor
In 2006 overlapping data sets leaded to the conclusion that long lost Atlantis has been rediscovered. However, the information was lately infirmed by Google Earth invoking the abovementioned overlapping error. This event challenged Google Earth developers to create a more accurate system for inspecting the ocean floor called bathymetry.

Therefore, in collaboration with entities like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Scripps Institution of Oceanography or the US Navy, Google Earth is on the way to finally give an answer regarding one of the most famous ancient world’s mysteries: where exactly was Atlántida? Was it in the Atlantic or in the Mediterranean Sea? Hopefully Google Earth will finally give us an answer.

+Ronald Edwards

Having never gone on a long road trip before my friend and I found it imperative that we bought a high quality road map. We went to Walmart and found a large road map made by Fodors. A week before leaving we checked the weather to avoid any diasterous snow storms and plotted our trip in red pen on our newly purchased map.We also packed our snow gear, skis, entertainment, food, and casual clothes (for hitting the Denver night life).

And thus are road trip began from Milwaukee, WI. Our first stop was only an hour and a half in the trip in rockford, IL. Even though it was only a mere twenty seven degrees outside my friend and I each got a scoop of ice cream from the cutest ice cream parlor in the World. After appeasing our sugar tooth we pulled out the map and go back on I-39. Eventually we hit I-80 where in no time at all we found ourselves crossing the mighty Mississippi River. Neither my friend or I had ever seen this enormous river before and we hopped out of the car to take pictures and breathe is the fresh and cold river air.

After crossing the Mississippi we were in Iowa, which offered little amusment to the eyes and seemed to last an eternity. Finally we reached Nebraska, and after a full day of driving we decided to stop in Lincoln and crash at a friends who attends the University of Nebraska. Although she only had one futon my friend and I were more than pleased to lay our heads after a full day of sitting up in the car.

After waking up to our alarm at 8am we grabbed a small bite to eat and loaded back in the car to get to Colorado! My friend and I thought Iowa was long and boring, but that was nothing compared to Nebraska! The state never ended and had little to no elevation along I-80. Finally we saw signs promoting Colorado. So I pulled out our map and instructed my friend to turn on I-76 entering the upper right hand coner of the state of Colorado. Once we saw the Colorado state sign my friend and I did a small victory dance and blasted some music. After only a couple more hours we were finally in Denver! Although the trip was long and arduous at some points, it was totally worth it. The skiing was the best I have ever experienced and car ride allowed me to spend some quality time with my best friend.

We have already planned another trip to Colorado next year. Although flying may be quicker and easier for some people, I would choose a road trip for the sites, cost, and experience.

+Ronald Edwards

Because of the fact that I suffer from plantar-fasciitis, I can’t really walk the entire length of the strip. So I usually rent a car. I found an unreal deal on a suite at a casino, but it’s about 1/2 mile off the strip. This time I’m donating $200 to get a picture of me and Dr. Oz. I have booked the plane tickets already, but now I need to book a rental car. I don’t really gamble, but I love to see the shows. And if you look, you can find all-day buffets for as low as $19 a day.

The last time I went, I had an old, outdated GPS, I can’t even remember the brand. But it finally died, so I bought a new Garmin Nuvi. It is so much better than the old one. I always take may GPS with me on trips, even if I don’t rent a car, because of the search capability. I just hope the weather is good, because if you go at the wrong time of the year, it could either be snowing, or over 100 degrees.

+Ronald Edwards

“What’s that you say? Visit two vacation spots?” Yes… the choice is certainly a hard one for you.

However, it would be a real shame to go to one spot and totally ignore the other ϳust because you don’t have driving directions.

This is one of those decisions you ϳust have to make.

The United States is a driver’s paradise. To get almost anywhere, you need a car. New York vacation is something that ought to be done at least once in your life, no matter if you are a resident of the US or not. For the metropolis that never sleeps, New York is absolutely a sight to lay eyes on. With the nearly uncounted number of activities you can do and see, you ever leave feeling that you have ϳust scratched only the surface. Most visitors only have a short time frame in the city, so it may be wise to plan your New York vacation carefully, because the city is compact and several places of interest still take time to experience. This is one of the most famous tourist spots due to the vibrant and colorful New York City. There are a number of things to do in the city and every one will find something of interest while in the state. There are wonderful natural and historic wonders, outdoor activities, world famous shopping and dining destinations and many more things on offer for the tourists.

The most famous shopping city in the US is no doubt New York. Probably due to such tv shows as Sex and the City, it’s very much the fashion capital of America.

New York is the biggest city in the USA and the scale and variety of the shopping in the city is unmatched. The main shopping areas are on the island of Manhattan and these include Madison Avenue, Fifth Avenue, 57th Street, Times Square Shopping and the Lower East Side.

On Madison Avenue you’ll find such shops and designer boutiques as Barney’s New York, Calvin Klein, DKNY, Dolce & Gabbana, FAO Schwarz, Gianni Versace, Giorgio Armani, Madison Ave. Books, Prada, Valentino, Yves St.

On Fifth Avenue (which runs parallel to Madison Avenue) you’ll find even more top class high street stores. The list includes Bergdorf Goodman, Bulgari, the Disney Store, Gucci, H. Stern, Louis Vuitton, the NBA Store, Saks Fifth Avenue, Tiffany & Co. and plenty more. Don’t forget to have a quick look around Saint Patrick’s Cathedral or the Trump Tower while you are in the area, preferably before you start shopping.

And a few other places include Bloomingdales (aka Bloomies), has all the requisite big-name designer labels; SoHo, though originally an arts district, it has become famous as a shopping destination; and the biggest store in the world Macy’s which has anything and everything.

New York, NY is a vacation destination packed with things to do. This compact metropolis contains five areas: Staten Island, the Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Famous tourist attractions include Ellis Island, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, the Bronx Zoo, Broadway, Washington Square Park, Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and New York Botanical Gardens. New York is also known worldwide for its shopping. With driving directions, you can easily explore the place.

For those who have an appreciation for nature, Grand Canyon National Park is a superb vacation destination to visit by receiving driving directions from local tourist guide. It is located in Arizona, along the Colorado River. The canyon is actually an incredibly steep 6000 foot deep gorge that is 446 km long. There are two areas in this park, the North Rim and South Rim. The South Rim is more popular among tourists and includes the following lookout points: Grand Canyon Village, Hermit’s Rest and the Watchtower. Lookout points on the North Rim are Point Imperial, Bright Angel Point and Cape Royal. Not only is there sightseeing, vacationers will also be able to raft, hike, ride mules, camp and take helicopter rides.

It is probably the most popular and natural tourist attraction of the world. The monumental Grand Canyon, about 277 miles long and 18 miles wide, is located in the north-west of Arizona. At its deepest point, it is more than a mile from rim to river. Most of the Canyon lies within the Grand Canyon National Park. It contains three geographically separated regions: the South Rim, the North Rim and the inner Canyon.

Management at Grand Canyon West report that map-creation sites like Google Maps are not generating correct directions to the Skywalk. Use these, which are Park-approved:

1. South on US 93 towards Phoenix
2. Go over Hoover Dam and continue South on US 93 for 40 miles
3. Turn left (North) on to Pierce Ferry Road for 28 miles
4. Right turn (East) on to Diamond Bar Road 21 miles

5. Diamond BarRoad will end at the ONLY entrance to Grand Canyon West, which is the Grand Canyon West Airport.

En route, consider these side-trips:

Lake Mead

Lake Mead, located 30 miles east of Las Vegas, is the largest reservoir in the U.S., measuring 500 feet in depth and 110 miles in length. To get to the Lake, take a right offSH 95 at the Alan Bible Visitor Center. Park entrance fee is $5. Tip: Head over to the Las Vegas Boat Harbor and check out the huge Coy fish that live around the dock.

Hoover Dam

Currently, you drive across Hoover Dam via a two lane road. That changes in the fall of2010, when all vehicle traffic will be diverted to the new bypass. For now, consider parking at the visitor center’s garage ($7 all day pass) and enjoying the Dam on foot. Tip: Take the Hoover Dam guided tour. Ticket prices are:

• Adults (Ages 17-61) – $11.00
• Seniors (62+) – $9.00
• Juniors (ages 4-16) – $9.00
• U.S. Military – $9.00
• U.S. Military (in Uniform) – Free

• Children (Ages 0-3) – Free

Photo buffs: Go to any of the Arizona-side pull-outs for greatpanorama shots.

Make sure to rent a high-clearance vehicle (SUV); check the condition of the spare tire (the last 10 miles to the Bridge is rough and rocky); and top off the gas. Great side-trips include Lake Mead and Hoover Dam. In addition to rental car and gas expenses, costs include parking; park entrance fee; and Skywalk tickets. Other great ways to get to the Skywalk include all-inclusive bus and helicopter tours (with free hotel pick up and drop off). Rent a high-clearance vehicle like a SUV (sport utility vehicle) and double-check the condition of the spare tire to make sure it’s fully inflated as getting a flat tire is not uncommon.

+Ronald Edwards

First, it was easy for me to take a look at the routes that were calculated. There were three different routes highlighted for me. These included routes involving going on I-85 to I-95, a route involving going on I-20 to I-95 and a third option from I-85 to US-29. I chose the first option because it involved the least time for driving.

MapQuest has helped me out by showing me the specific directions that I would use when traveling up toWashington. I was informed that I would spend about 500 miles traveling on I-85 before getting onto I-95 by merging in the left lane at a spot right outside ofRichmond.

The site allowed me to drag the blue outline that my route was in so I could move it into different directions on my route. I was able to add a stop inCharlotteto visit the NASCAR Hall of Fame and Museum and a second stop inDurhamto catch a Durham Bulls baseball game. The site allowed me to add these stops in my route and to get me back on the way home.

The icons at the top of the map page allowed me to take a look at hotels, restaurants, attractions and shopping centers all around the map. I was able to find a Holiday Inn off of Exit 175 on I-85 right outside ofDurham. It also listed details on the Dog House, a hot dog stand that was located a few blocks away from my hotel inDurham.

I received plenty of information on different exits on the highway when I was traveling. All I had to do was to zoom in to the map to find specific exits on the highway. One exit I used as Exit 12B on I-85 inVirginia. I used this to get into the town ofSouthHill to get gas and to even try my luck with some Virginia Lottery tickets. Unfortunately, that part didn’t work so well.

I got to enjoy all kinds of things while I was inWashington. I visited the National Mall, checked out theSpyMuseumand Newseum, visited theArlingtonCemeteryand even attended a Nationals baseball game. A great thing about this was that I could open up a separate map ofWashingtonon MapQuest and then look up directions from my hotel to these spots.

Some of these spots were very close to where I could either just walk there or take a Metro train. The site still helped me find directions. It even listed details on the neighborhoods that I would have to go into. For example, I was told to go out to Navy Yard to get toNationalsPark. Fortunately, I found a Metro stop there.

MapQuest was very useful for my trip toWashington. It allowed me to find where I was going and even gave me a few attractions to check out while I was at it.

+Ronald Edwards

I had never visited any of the countries that I was going to visit, or those that I had been to had been a very long time ago and in a completely different location than where my cruise ship was headed for. So I grabbed my itinerary and made a list of all the ports where the ship was due to call at and exactly how much time I had at each port.

Of course, I wanted to make the most of my trip, so I turned to online help in order to effectively plan my cruise. The first thing I realized that I needed was a list of things to do within travelable distance of each port. What better place to look than Google Maps? All I did was visit the maps website and type in the name of the port. The page zoomed in on the rough location and from there I just chose the “search nearby’ option. This is an easy feature to use if you know what kind of things you like to do. For me, the things I searched for was restaurants, beaches, golf clubs, health spas and water sports as these are the things I am most interested in. From here, I could find the nearest activities so I could plan a fun day out and get to see each country in the way that I wanted to.

I never like to get lost. I manage to get myself lost even in my own hometown, so using the streetview feature on Google Maps is really helpful. At each location, I was able to drag that little yellow Google man onto the map and then I could see a streetview of the location that I was going to. Unfortunately, it didn’t work all that well, because there are many countries where the Google team hasn’t been with their fancy cameras so the option to use streetview just wasn’t available. In places like Madeira, Africa and much of Malaysia, I found that I couldn’t use the streetview feature, but even so, there are photos of important landmarks. All in all what this gives is a good idea of what to expect in each place. When I was planning on what to do in New Zealand and Singapore, for example, I was able to ‘walk’ down all the streets near the places I wanted to go so I could see the places where I should avoid or the places that looked interesting.

My fun with Google Maps didn’t stop there! I took my smart phone with me on my 6-month cruise, and I was lucky enough to be able to get quite good 3G reception in most areas. This meant I could turn on my GPS and my 3G and use Google Maps to help me navigate through the towns that I visited on my travels. I didn’t get lost once, and can honestly say that Google certainly managed to make my life much easier with their maps service!

+Ronald Edwards