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13 August 2007

Map Seeaarch - but who wins?

Seeaarch is a quick fire, map and directions search website that uses 4 mapping solutions

Map Searches
  • Yahoo
  • Google
  • Live
Directions
  • Yahoo
  • Google
  • Mapquest
Though a quick test reveals a clear winner.

Seeaarch Results - Winner
note: moving the columns is possible to show each one more clearly.

Yahoo gets confused but tries (finds an American route)
Google does the job - as you would expect
Mapquest failed to find the start location

Mapperz requests directions from
10 Downing St, Westminister, London, UK
to SW19 1AR (Wimbledon)

So there a quick and effective test.
(So why not just use Google Directions?)

When Planning a route, whether it is in the UK, Europe or any other part of the world, don't just rely on one solution.
The AA Travel Planner is more effective than any of the above in the UK. The driving times are more accurate and the congestion travel information is more up-to-date.
For Europe try Yahoo Maps

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3 Comments:

At Monday, August 13, 2007 1:18:00 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not a clear winner at all. It would appear the testing tool is in error. Specifically suspect is the way it interprets and passes the search terms to the respective map or directions sites. When the same example is used directly on Yahoo!Maps and Mapquest, each does a fine job of providing directions from 10 Downing to Wimbledon. Te Seeaarch tool parses the input incorrectly or passes it incorrectly (likely the latter). Note that no matter what addresses are used, whenever the Seeaarch tool is used to get Yahoo!Maps directions, the map displayed is always of the Raleigh, North Carolina, US area. The text directions, however, are correct. Likewise, When the Seeaarch tool is used to get MapQuest directions, it always passes invalid parameters. Try the same directions lookup on Mapquest directly and it works rather nicely. One suspects the Seeaarch comparison tool is not really ready for use. Certainly it's not wise to draw conclusions based on the limited use of a faulty tool. It's also possible that the Seeaarch creators are completely aware that Seeaarch favors Google Maps over their competitors. A case might be made that the tool was intended to just that by its creators. Hmmm...

 
At Monday, August 13, 2007 2:39:00 pm, Blogger Mapperz said...

Good to see you found a bug.
Hope the creators of Seeaarch fix it.

Mapperz just examines the 'users' perspective.

Mentioned that there are still better driving directions out there if you know where to look.

 
At Tuesday, August 14, 2007 3:24:00 am, Blogger Unknown said...

not seeing the bug now. Guess it has been fixed.

 

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