GoogleMaps (Google Local)

I have to admit. I feel a little sorry for MapQuest. For years, it dominated the online map niche. They were true innovators, and are probably the single most important reason I haven't bought a paper map in many years. You might not be aware, but most alternatives, like Yahoo! Maps, actually licensed and re-branded MapQuest.

I have now completely abandoned MapQuest in favor of Google Maps.

GMail might be the application that precipitated the current onrush of AJAX applications, but GoogleMaps is the most universally useful. GMail is great and everything, but you can still use email without it. There is no real web-based alternative to GoogleMaps. There have been a couple companies that achieved a similar interface by using Java, even before Google, but they're slow-to-load and more kludgy.

In GoogleMaps, Google achieved what most believed impossible, a quick, responsive, mapping application that lets you quickly drag your way around the map, zoom in or out, overlay satellite photos, use plain-speech address searching. All in your browser.

Recently, GoogleMaps has integrated with Google Local. This is a very good thing. You can easily search for businesses in a particular area like "dog groomers in eastern Tuscaloosa". This comes as great news for all those eastern Tuscaloosa dog groomers.

http://maps.google.com/