Finding Better Atlas of The World

Traditionally, an atlas of the world was used to show a nation's topographical features, major road ways and natural habitats. The most modern atlases are geared toward animal species conservation, natural resource allocation, mapping out the oceans, tracing endangered languages, detailing natural disaster prone regions of the world and revealing environmental dangers our world faces.

Sometimes gaining this at-a-glance bird's eye view can grease the wheels of change to help us protect our planet and create a brighter future.

Sometimes you can find an atlas of the world that reveals the current state of our planet. The State of the World Atlas does just that, displaying the most current statistics, profiles and realities about world politics, economics, food supplies, military power, energy resources, pollution levels and biodiversity.

In a nutshell, what a hardcopy atlas of the world delivers, which online mapping lacks, is that historical, worldview of mapmakers and cartographers who take the great time and effort to color code our world and combine data with maps in a sensible way, thus painting the larger picture.

If you are looking for an atlas of American history to inspire the kids, then consider Elspeth Leacock and Susan Buckley's "Places in Time: A New Atlas of American History" (for 7-14 year olds), which teaches kids about fascinating stories behind 20 little-known American places using oral narratives, old maps, drawings and contemporary accounts.

Don't forget to get Lynn Kuntz's "Celebrate the USA: Hands-On History Activities for Kids" (for 8-10 year olds), which will have you playing musical inventions like Ben Franklin or creating liberty wind socks from oatmeal boxes, glues, yarn and paper.

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Driving Routes Online

Driving can be a lot of fun if you know just the right route to take. How many times have you been stuck in traffic, shifting constantly, feeling the urge to shout out the window, when you could have just waited an hour in a nice cafe and had an effortless drive home?

Unexpected weather conditions, construction or accidents can also really throw a wrench into your plans. With online maps, there is really no excuse to suffer. You will need an accurate site to guide you, but which one should you choose?

Google search may trump Microsoft by eons, but Microsoft Live Search Maps gives the Google Map site a run for its money. The Live Search menu is easy-to-use and aesthetically pleasing by design. The menu on the left-hand side lets you search a specific place on the map, lets you get driving directions or you can share your online maps with others.

The routes are generally good, but may mislead you down a weird street or off a roundabout exit from time to time. The "Bird's Eye" feature is really cool, which started the whole zoom-in/zoom-out craze that the other map sites now use. Microsoft also has an interesting 3-D map feature that works with Internet Explorer.

Online maps are currently the best way to obtain driving directions and local business information. Since the world is constantly changing, with weather, construction, accidents, traffic congestion and detours altering the way we get from place to place, it is crucial that we have resources which can be updated in real-time to make our commutes easier and more hassle-free.

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Online Driving Directions

Most individuals understand that maps are so much more than a few lines or symbols on a piece of paper. Maps are the gateway to our understanding of the world, as well as showing migration patterns, continental climates and places of great biodiversity at-a-glance.

Presently, customizable online maps have opened a window of opportunity for having fun with maps. The course to our favorite restaurants and the cheapest gas stations can be plotted, or you can find local news. Modern day maps are so much more than basic driving directions.

Google Maps has become the template of choice for a number of local food maps. At www.menurequest.com, you can plot restaurants on a map of your city, as well as read/write reviews, make reservations and get driving directions. In Philadelphia, www.communitywalk.com is an amazing resource for local event organizers who want to ask a number of nearby restaurants to participate.

At www.toeat.com, you will find a number of dining options in your neighborhood. In major cities like NY, Paris, Bangkok and Chicago, you will find baked goods at www.yummybaguette.com. Or you may need to get your burrito fix at www.burritophile.com. Drinkers can appreciate www.drinktown.com, which lets you know all the local booze specials.

As you can see, street maps are so much more than just compendiums of driving directions. Today's online map is part travel advisor, part photographer, part encyclopedia, part Yellowpages and part friend.

You can read reviews of local businesses, learn about tourist destinations in a Wikipedia window or even find bus schedules. Google Maps. MapQuest, Yahoo Maps and MSN Live Earth are all competing sites vying for your attention. The best news is that all of this is easy to use and free!

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Online Driving Directions With Alerts

Before you drop $300 on that Garmin automobile navigation system, you may be wondering if you should stick with free online driving directions. After all, Yahoo and Google map developers are ambitiously working with cell phone application developers and carriers to offer mapping capabilities right on your mobile phone. In a few years' time, a car GPS device could become obsolete. Here are some practical pros and cons of the various map data sites.

Yahoo Maps driving directions allow online maps to be sent to mobile phones (for free), alerts you to traffic problems, lets you map multiple points and read local business reviews written by Yahoo users.

While other sites offer business reviews as well, Yahoo has the highest number of reviews, along with a 1 to 5 star rating system, which makes it much easier to sort through the data. You can also do a search based on ratings as well or type in something generic like "best pizza in Chicago" to get a list of top rated pizzerias.

Yahoo's construction and traffic information is notably reliable. However, like MapQuest maps, some of the Yahoo language can be awkward enough to get you lost once or twice. It is also difficult to re-route your way out of being lost. As well, Yahoo has the most paid ads in their local information search, so you may have to sort through some of the paid inclusion stuff to get to the objective reviews.

Online driving directions are not always perfect. In the worst case scenario, you may discover an error in your map data while you are navigating a new street, leaving you utterly lost and helpless. To avoid problems, it is best that you cross-reference your driving directions with a few of the other sites and try getting an alternate route printed out just in case.

Pay attention to the mileage and reset your odometer as you complete each step so you will know if you have traveled past a designated turn. Leave yourself plenty of time to make it to your destination, since construction, accidents and weather may complicate your trip.

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Popular Online Maps

MapQuest was the first of the online maps and has changed the least over time, yet it remains the most popular site for driving directions and local street maps. Google Maps is quickly inching up in popularity, which is fair since they are the innovators of the satellite imagery and aerial photography, yet some speculate that their tie-in with the search engines is corrupting web traffic data. The major players in the mapping industry each have their own special perks.

So what about maps of sightseeing? MapQuest does not offer satellite images currently, although if you have the addresses, you can plot out multiple points on your sightseeing tour to discover an efficient route. Google can show you extremely close-up views all around the world from Nairobi and Lima to Baghdad and Tokyo.

Yahoo also takes you right to the heart of the world's most far-flung continents using a number of sources for its images, although Google and Ask have more display pixels. Conclusively, Google Maps probably has the most comprehensive database of real-world images and the fastest response time for your sightseeing needs. In fact, there are entire websites dedicated to "sightseeing without leaving your living room via Google satellite maps."

Online maps will continue to progress faster than we can review their sites. The general rule seems to be: once one site gets it, they all catch on. Even so, you will always overhear someone say, "I hate MapQuest because it always gets me lost," or "Google Maps is creepy; how you can spy on people via satellite?" Or perhaps you'll hear "Yahoo Maps local listings rock" or a "MapQuest's gas prices are awesome," or "I love the map sharing capability of Google."

Perhaps on your next trip, you can try plugging directions into each of the maps to see which site speaks to you.

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Google Map Help Using Online Tools

Millions of people use the maps Google offer, each and every day. While the basic functionality of Google Maps is quite straightforward, you may still desire map help to unlock all of Google's secrets.

After all, recent innovations have added many new features, allowing you to create and share maps, view satellite maps, drag and drop the street maps and search for local businesses. Here are some tips and tricks to help you navigate Google Maps like a pro.

You may also need map help customizing your trip to suit your needs. One of the latest joys of online mapping, particularly for longer trips, is that you can change your route to take a more scenic drive. Say you are driving from Nashville, Tennessee to Asheville, North Carolina but you decide you would like to traverse through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park along the way.

To customize your route, hover your mouse over the portion of the route just above the park. You will see a little white box that says "Drag to change route," which you will drag and drop to your location.

Google will stick a new place-mark there that looks like a pause button and will adjust the route, recalculating driving time and directions. This is also very handy if you see construction or traffic on your route that you would prefer to navigate around.

Travelers often need map help finding notable landmarks. You may not necessarily know the address of the Eiffel Tower, but you can zero in on the location by typing in "Eiffel Tower." Now say you are in the car driving but you have no idea where you are.

You can turn your cell phone into a GPS device using Google Maps for Mobile right on your cell phone. (Check out the video for this on the Google Maps site). You may also want to explore the country of Japan to decide where you would like to visit, just by typing in "Japan." You can also search for zip codes, airport codes, latitudes and longitudes.

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Maps Yahoo Offer Better Traffic Information

The maps Yahoo offers have changed over the years. The look has gone from a MapQuest Maps look, with many data entry windows to more of a Google Maps layout, with the large, interactive map featured to the right and a few search boxes to the left.

Some people want to stick with the familiar MapQuest layout, quickly typing in addresses to receive information. However, others prefer the drag-and-drop or satellite maps of Yahoo. Currently, Yahoo is the third-leading provider of online maps, just barely trailing Google and MapQuest. Yet proponents of the site are fierce supporters of Yahoo, stating that the traffic and business information cannot be surpassed.

You may be thinking, "Well Google has business listings too. Why should I look at the maps Yahoo makes for local information?" One distinction you will notice is that most of the real estate on Yahoo is dedicated to business listings, with only a small map. So if you are looking for local directories of businesses, then Yahoo would probably be best, whereas driving directions are more prominent on the maps Google offers.

You will also notice that Yahoo Local has more paid ads, which account for the top three listings, as well as a few listings on the bottom of the page. User reviews are provided for each local listing, with a 1 to 5 star rating format to help you choose the best local business to suit your needs.

One current problem is that Yahoo sometimes returns non-relevant listings. For instance, if you type "dog bathing service," you will also get paid listings from animal hospitals, pet food stores and dog walking services. In that respect, Google may give you more targeted listings.

As of 2009, some new features have been added to Maps Yahoo. Initially, there were only driving directions for the US and Canada, but now they have added more than 34 European countries to their database as well. You will notice their look is a little different too; fashioned like a Google Maps, rather than a MapQuest map.

You can now select different terrain overlays, construction overlays and building footprints for major cities like NY and San Francisco. Users can search multi-destination directions, enter one box address entry and an interactive print page for easier functionality.

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