Sunnyvale, California-based Internet pioneer Yahoo has made it easier to find local businesses using its free  online mapping service, adding 300 new cities encompassing 12,000 neighborhoods to its most detailed maps, packaged in a new, easier to use format which has added more information about points of interest and expanded global coverage, the company announced Wednesday. The update has changed several of the color combinations and shading techniques in order to make information on Yahoo Maps easier to read, in the company's latest additions to its online mapping service which already offers such features as driving directions in the United States and 34 European countries, satellite images and terrain overlays. Greater Global Coverage Led By Eastern Europe Map coverage of Eastern European countries has especially benefited from the latest changes within the Yahoo Maps service, although the upgrade expanded coverage worldwide, according to Gus Maldonado, Yahoo Local and Maps senior product manager, writing on the company Web site Wednesday. "Today, we’ve rolled out an update to Yahoo Maps that delivers a number of improvements including; new neighborhood data, expanded worldwide coverage, and stylistic improvements," Maldonado wrote in the announcement. Details of specific countries affected by the update were not disclosed, however all areas within Yahoo Maps use the new shading feature for better map readability, Yahoo said. More Detailed Neighborhood Information Yahoo has increased the number of North American cities with detailed map coverage, which it calls  "neighborhood data," by some 12,000 neighborhoods in 300 cities, according to Maldonado. The increased level of detail at Yahoo Maps shows more local businesses and attractions when a map is zoomed in to the closest levels. Among the new cities with more detailed neighborhood maps are Chicago, Toronto, Milwaukee, Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Palo Alto, California, adding to Yahoo's list of neighborhood and building footprints which began last year with New York City and San Francisco. Yahoo Maps users can search for neighborhoods by name, which are identified on the new city maps and differentiated with colors, using names such as "Lower East Side," "Uptown," "Manhattan," or "Lower Collegetown," according to Maldonado. More Schools and Points of Interest Added Yahoo Maps has increased local business coverage and expanded the number of attractions and points of interest included in the cities and neighborhoods added Wednesday, Yahoo said. Such attractions, ranging from schools  and rest stops to ski resorts, were added to make the service more useful to Yahoo Maps customers. In a further effort to make its map service easier to use, the labels used to identify cities have been changed to offer less interference to map viewers, who have in the past found certain city labels to block out portions of maps. Other legibility changes were made to Yahoo Maps in Wednesday's upgrade, including what Yahoo calls "Hybrid Road and Label" colors and lighter map titles, as part of style changes intended to improve usability, Yahoo said. Title for cities and other map locations within Yahoo Maps have been reduced in size between 30 and 60 percent, Maldonado noted. Yahoo Maps Adds To Local Business Coverage Other Yahoo Web mapping services include a free tool that allows users to upload their own maps and pictures and add many of the features Yahoo Maps offers for its own maps, such as zooming, panning and layering, in a beta test service Yahoo has called MapMixer. Online mapping has been a popular use for the Web since the emergence of MapQuest in the 1990s, a map publishing firm that popularized Internet-accessible interactive maps. MapQuest, which was acquired by America Online, Inc. in 2000, is still one of the top map Web sites, however it has faced increased competition from search engine leader Google, with its Google Maps, Microsoft with its Live Search, and Ask.com with its Maps and Directions. Yahoo Maps has also become a major rival to MapQuest, especially among mobile users, and the new features and expanded coverage added Wednesday by Yahoo are likely to be only the latest in an ongoing series of improvements. Related Links:
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11:07 pm on Mar. 7, 2008 (utc 0)