My favorite mapping product on the internet is Google Maps. I use if often and said honestly, nobody else comes close in speed and ease of use. Live Maps comes close but still doesn’t cut the mustard, so to speak. Yahoo! Maps puts very annoying animated advertisements in their mapping product and MapQuest is simply old and clunky to use – not to mention it is also chock full of annoying animated advertisements.
Finding places by partial information
A search for busch gardens florida brings you the exact result you wanted.
A search for supermarket 33617 (i.e. the type of business and ZIP code) brings up supermarkets for that ZIP.
A search for apartments boston ma bring up the apartments for Boston Massachusetts.
If you know the ZIP code you don’t even need to enter a town and state to get a map. For example 4943 E Busch Blvd 33617 will show up just fine in Google Maps.
From here to there
All mapping products on the internet can give directions (they wouldn’t be worth your time otherwise) – and admittedly Yahoo! Maps makes it stupidly easy to do. But it’s just as easy with Google by clicking Get Directions on the left, OR by using from: and to:.
For example, if I type in from: tampa fl to: key west fl, that’s it. Directions are made and they’re ready to go.
Bonus: On this same result screen there’s a drop-down menu above the text directions on the left, to where you can select getting there by car, public transit or walking. (The walking one is particularly useful in metro areas.)
More options when going to print
Google Maps has got Street Views and in this instance they’re just awesome to have (assuming the area you’re traveling in is covered). Also like its competitors it has Text only, Text/Map hybrid, Maps, etc. You can mix and match to whatever you wish.
Even though I am an admitted 100% GPS “fanboy”, I still use Google Maps often because I like having a larger overview of the trip before I go. Furthermore you can alter the route by clicking and dragging it. Can’t do that on a GPS. Not yet, anyway. 
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I love Google Maps. I have one problem and wondered if you could help. Sometimes when I click or maybe drag the mouse on the map all the streets get highlighted in blue and makes it hard to read. I don’t know how to shut that off.
Any clues?
That would be b/c you have ‘Streetview’ enabled. Click the Streetbutton next to ‘Traffic’ and the blue lines should disappear.
Hope this helps.
What Drew said. The only time I know when Google Maps gets “blued” like crazy is when the Street Views is enabled. Disabling it by clicking the “Street View” button should get rid of the blue stuff (you can re-enabled it afterwards).
The online-mapping industry has become extremely competitive which ultimately is good news for consumers.
Seems like more trouble than it’s worth. . . .
How do you figure that?
I like Live maps a little better for searching for places. It’s categorized which is nice to find restaurants. With Google you have to search for everything.