Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Free . Comprehensive . Easy to use . |
| Disadvantages: |
Maps need to change format to square . |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
I am crazy about maps as those of you who have read one of my previous opinions on “A-Z Maps” may have gathered.
Places that I visit regularly will have a Town Map all to themselves but other ones that are “one-off” visits warrant a trip to one of two web-sites, either “multimap.com” or less frequently, “streetmap.co.uk”.
Multimap will usually satisfy the needs of the average traveller when it comes down to locating a new destination and that is what this review will be upon, but of necessity, comparisons with streetmap will be made.
Recently, I needed to go to Batley, in West Yorkshire and also Slough, just off the M4 and alas, street-maps of these two places were missing from my collection! I also had to journey to Rubery, to the south of Birmingham. My Birmingham map covered this area but unfolding the thing in the car, at about 3ft square whilst driving, posed a bit of a safety hazard so…….? Visits to the multimap site ensued!
What can start off as a simple search may progress into absorbing hours as you explore their site, for there is so much there.
At it`s simplest, it will provide road and street-maps for any location in the U.K. All that`s needed are some basic instructions to locate your target. If you have the post-code that really makes the search child`s play. Enter it, click on search and within a few seconds the map will load. Don`t have the postcode but just the street and place name? Enter those instead and most probably that will be sufficient to get the same map as the post-code search would generate. You may find out that the search locates several places with the same name if you are looking for a wider area. So if you enter “Newtown”, the search will present you with a list of all the possible places called “Newtown” and you can then click on the one that you think is correct.
Geographic navigation about the map chosen is fairly straightforward. Various options are available. If you click on the map, it will re-centre itself about that point. Alternatively, you can move the focus of the map North, South, East or West. The scale of your chosen area can also be altered from as small a scale as 1:5000 or 1:10,000 right up to 1:200,000 or larger.
1:10,000 is best to get the street wanted and 1:50,000 will be best for surrounding roads. It`s dead easy to print off copies of the maps that can then be affixed to your dash-board for use when driving, although I would stop the car first before determining your position!
You can also get a full colour aerial photo of the map now. Coverage for this feature is of the 1:10,000 scale. More detailed map-photos can be ordered through them, making a useful present for your Dad, Uncle etc. For £19.95, you can order one with a decorative border,A3 size and personalized with your message. £24.95 will get you one of an area 500m square, sent direct on-line to your PC!
If you are unsure of which way to go or the best route to chose, directions from your start point to the finish point are easily obtained as well. They are usually quite reliable and accurate. A map to go along with the directions is also done for you. You`ll be told when to turn off, how far to go along a certain road as well as the estimated time of travel! If you need to travel to a third place en-route, the directions can be tailored to go via that location.
Multimap offers lots of other features, in addition to the basic U.K maps.
Their map coverage of the world is gradually increasing. Basic ones of most areas are available. I amused myself the other day by getting a street map of the city that I used to live in, in Sweden and revived my memories of the streets I used to drive along (I am a bit of an anorak, I know!)
What else is there - local weather, geographical co-ordinates, nearby businesses like hotels, restaurants and cottage lets are just a few of the options open to you. I found that their map of the London Underground came in very useful when planning a recent trip there. You can zoom in on an area of the tube and print off a little map for your pocket.
The popularity of Multimap seems to be increasing. They were awarded the title of “Best Internet Service” in the World Communication Awards recently and they are being used by ever more companies and businesses when links are supplied on web-sites to locate stockists, hotels, shops etc. Over 500 at last count including Ford, Mazda, Whitbread, Thistle Hotels, MFI and Land-Rover.
There is a lot more on this site and I suggest that you have a look. If you become a registered user, which is very easy to do, even more will be available to you like news letters, saving regularly viewed maps and up-dates.
As with everything in this world, nothing is perfect and there is a feed-back form that enables you to send in your comments and suggestions on how to improve or alter the site. Although the site is brilliant and free, the maps produced at a scale of 1:5000 and 1:10000 are not the best designed in the world, although they are perfectly adequate some changes need to be made to the colours used and sizes of map produced.
If you compare a 1:10000 map of the an area from Multimap with the same map from Streetmap.co.uk you will see what I mean. The streetmap one seems cleaner and crisper – roads are edged with black line and blank areas are left white, not coloured in as on the Multimap one but that’s a minor problem and probably down to personal preference.
A bit more annoying is the coverage that you get due to the map format chosen. Mutimap produce a map that is rectangular one – landscape in format whilst Streetmap make square ones. Multimap really need to convert to the square format to increase the coverage on a particular map. If they do that then Streetmap will fall even further by the wayside.
All in all – a brilliant site and growing by the day in popularity by business and public alike. It`s no wonder that they are growing in appeal.
| More Reviews |
 I COULDN'T FIND MY WAY OUT OF A PAPER BAG
Review of multimap.com by
LICARUS
Advantages: CAN FIND MY WAY OUT OF A PAPER BAG NOW!
Disadvantages: NO EXCUSE FOR NOT GOING TO WORK
I have recently found one of the most useful tools imaginable on the Internet (aside form Ciao of course). The site in question is www.multimap.co.uk. Ok I hear you say, not the most stimulating of sites, BUT wait hang on there a minute, can ANYONE reading this HONESTLY say they have never been lost? Unsure of where they are going?? No I didn’t think so!
As some of you will know I work as part of the district nursing team which involves travelling ...
...huge area, and often I am at a loss as to where I need to be. Enter multimap.co.uk – a site I rely on and refer to, as do many of my colleagues, who phone me to find out where places are.
The site provides street maps and travel directions for the UK, Ok so any street map will tell you that – BUT enter the postcode of the place you seek, and it will show you the map, with the specific area pinpointed! Try it with your own postcode if ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful |
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very helpful
17.06.2001
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 Directions-Not us guv'nor
Review of multimap.com by
o.gerbilpants
Advantages: maps are pretty good;
Disadvantages: the directions
Yes yes, Multimap is very good for maps and the other authors are right in their praise of this part of the service. Unfortunately I have to disagree with everyone else and say that the directions on this service are basically useless!!! I feel that I am justified in saying this because I got lost in the depths of the countryside round Guildford. I was late for an appointment by a mere 2 hours. (Sadly this is no exaggeration).
There are two parts ...
...of the instructions and a step by step part which give a small map of each stage. Both which are equally useless.
Enough of my whinging. Let me point out the basic problems of this part of the service. (In order of importance/irritation)
General/overview mode
1. Roundabout directions are given as "Bear Left". I understand that this is because to get off a roundabout you do in fact "bear Left". BUT IT DOESN'T TELL YOU WHICH EXIT TO "BEAR LEFT" ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful |
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very helpful
02.10.2001
(10.10.2001)
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Which Way
Review of multimap.com by
jimbuck
Advantages: Solves your road travel problems
Disadvantages: Site is a bit slow
Imagine the situation. On the following Monday you have that important interview out of town and you know how to get to the town but you have no idea how to get to the actual place of the interview. You know the address and post code but that it is all. It looks like a trip to the local bookshop is called for in the hope that they have a street map of the area that you want but they don’t have one.
Fear not, all is not lost because if you ...
...therefore access to www.multimap.co.uk.
You are greeted with a pleasant looking home page welcoming you and offering you travel directions to wherever you want to go on mainland Great Britain including the Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Anglesey and the inner Scottish islands.
This is the place where all your road travel arrangements can be solved not just by showing you the route to take but taking you right to the door of your destination, by providing ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful |
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very helpful
23.04.2001
(10.05.2001)
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 No excuses for getting lost now
Review of multimap.com by
WAD1-2-3
Advantages: excellent site
Disadvantages: none
...so easy to use.
Multimap.com gives you free, interactive maps, Ariel photographs, London Underground maps, weather forecasts, links to local information and travel directions.
There’s also online mapping for businesses and if you have a WAP you can get street maps, travel directions accessed to your mobile. The site is FREE of course and it’s very simple to find your required map, what I like is the scale is big so it’s easy to ...
...go. The Ariel photographs of London are very good and are worth a look, some of the view are very impressive. The site is well organised and the search engine is excellent and makes finding your location very easy. You can enter a place, address or a post-code. Feel free to give them feedback, I e-mailed them to say how the site was just so excellent, and was really grateful. About four weeks a go when I went to London for a weekend, it was quite ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful |
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very helpful
15.05.2001
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directions for dummies
Review of multimap.com by
mudvein
Advantages: it is very clear
Disadvantages: it is only for england
Imagine the situstion you are an idiot and you do not know how to get to teh place where you are meeting your girlfriend.Luckily you are completely fluent in using computers what do you do?
Do you go to www.192.com well they fdo have good facilities to find people but their directons aren't too good. The answer is simple you go to www.multimap.com. In this site you can type in a name of a building, or the name of a street or even the postcode. It ...
...at different times e.g. it might be better to take a different route at rush hour.
Another great thing about multimap is that you can find overhead pictures which are much more clear than any other websites that i can find. They are so clear that you can see trees and cars. You can even set it as your desktop wallpaper or print it out.
I find this website extremely useful as it helps you to find the way to any arkward places. Although iit is only ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful |
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helpful
03.05.2001
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