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November 02, 2005

Yahoo! Maps: drag 'em, search 'em, hack 'em

Today we're giving you a first look at the next generation of Yahoo! Maps which, we think, has a lot of features you're gonna like. We've really worked hard to make the product as intuitive as possible while building in some major upgrades in the interface, interactivity, and functionality. Have a look:

Aside from being far more interactive (click and drag!), there are some major differences we think you'll like.

  1. Multi-point driving directions. Get yourself from point A to B and on to C all in one map.
  2. Integrated Yahoo! Local. Includes our local search, a browseable interface, easy access to business ratings, reviews, and events.
  3. The new overview map (in the upper-right hand corner) helps you get your bearings. The little grey box representing your big map is even drag-able. Use it to move around rapidly without losing context.

In addition to the major features, we added a lot of small touches, including address auto-complete from your Yahoo! Address Book, using your home area or most recently used address to start, and the mini-map and left panel, which can be hidden when you want to focus on just the map. Oh, and the maps are easy to bookmark too. There's no URL obfuscation.

We've got your Flash and AJAX here...

Our launch wouldn't be complete without developer APIs. We've got stuff for hard core hackers and map enthusiasts alike:

  • Simple API. To get a custom Yahoo! Map up and running with our Simple API you need only a text editor and a web site.
  • JavaScript-based APIs for Flash or AJAX let you choose the tools you'd like. You can host the maps on your site and include any features you like. Grab an application ID and get started with Yahoo Maps APIs.
  • Building Block APIs make a lot of the heavy lifting easy. You get features like geo-coding, Yahoo! Local, traffic information and map images.

To get an idea of what's possible, check out the sample applications on our developer network.

We hope you'll give our APIs a try and see how easy it is to develop applications with Yahoo! Maps. Don't forget to join the Yahoo! Maps developer mailing list to ask questions and participate in our developer community. And after you've built something cool, don't forget to show us what you've done.

Michael Lawless
Product Manager, Yahoo! Maps

Vince Maniago
Product Manager, Yahoo! Local

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Comments

I'm definitely excited about trying your maps out, but they are showing up real bugging on my system (Firefox on a Mac). I can't even get a map to stay on screen!

Posted by: Dustin | November 2, 2005 09:51 PM

Congrats guys! It looks quite nice and I can't wait to play with the APIs a bit more.

Posted by: Scott Gatz | November 2, 2005 11:02 PM

nice, though I was hoping for international maps.

Posted by: Miguel Paraz | November 2, 2005 11:23 PM

Wow, the map/interface look stunning and the application is super easy to use.

If one could suggest an improvement, it would be nice to get a possibility for something similar to Google Maps satellite map or hybrid version, where you get an idea of the topographical features of the area.

Posted by: Jimmy | November 3, 2005 12:38 AM

Why you don't preload maps out of screen like Google ? ...For more speed drag display ;o)

But, very nice tool ! :o. I hope you will offer it for France ;op

Nb: I have a strange scale jumping while I use scroll mouse button

Posted by: Olivier D. alias ze kat | November 3, 2005 03:18 AM

I like all the new nice features. However, the loading speed here is not as good as G-Map...

Posted by: alpha | November 3, 2005 06:24 AM

Looks nice. But itīs a little bit similar to msn virtual earth...

Posted by: gsyi | November 3, 2005 01:22 PM

I must say the Yahoo map service seems really nice. What caught my attention was the way the mouse scroll is captured for zooming in and out of the map. nice work.

Posted by: Tommi | November 3, 2005 02:00 PM

Isn't it interesting that the term AJAX was just coined in Feb. '05, and already has become a Standard.

Yahoo Maps' Traffic Feature is helpful and practical.

Unlike Google, Y! is not allowing real-time movement of locations by dragging.

Is "AJAX" being used yet, or is this server side DHTML?

Many locations typed into the search bar are returning a "no found" reponse, but the same addresses can be accessed by Zooming In on the location - so perhaps that bug could be worked out ASAP.

>>> Your search for ???? could not be found.
Here is the closest match in this city.

Posted by: search-engines-web.com | November 3, 2005 02:06 PM

As one of the Yahoo! Maps 2.0 mashup authors on the applications page, Upcoming Events, I want to let my fellow programmers know that the new API is gigantic pearl in the Web 2.0 API ocean, and the support that you get from Yahoo! is nothing short of stunning. I wrote an integrated Flickr Contacts Map application using the Flickr API and the old Yahoo! Maps web services API, and the new API simply blows the old API away.

In contrast to many of the Web API's out there that force you craft an XML file and shoehorn your application into that claustrophobic paradigm, Yahoo has opened the doors to customization wide open by allowing you to integrate their functionality directly into *your* application. In addition, the API's are logically crafted with great obvious care paid to allowing the programmer to add value where they want to, without the burden of doing setup work where they don't.

A public thanks to Yahoo! for providing the new Yahoo! maps API to the developer community and for working so hard to make it a killer platform for application development.

Thanks,
Robert

P.S. - To the understandbly cynical readers out there I will point out now that I am not affiliated with Yahoo! in any way and that there is no profit motive in my obviously overwhelmingly positive comments in this comment/post.

Posted by: Robert Oschler | November 3, 2005 06:50 PM

Very nice!!!

Few things missing here are anyone would love to have

1) The ability to search for business locations without having to get to a map of the location. For eg: If I want to search for Safeway, San Francisco I have to get a map of San Francisco and then search for flowers. It isnt a one step process.

2) Also if business locations aren't available on the viewable area, but outside of it, maps just says nothing available. It would be ideal to list all the nearest business locations within a certain radius and auto dragging to the nearest one.

Posted by: Jay | November 3, 2005 07:41 PM

Any explaination for the listing of "the dude's fish store" on the address of Google? Who is the guy on the (Google) phone number 650-6235633 and what does Yahoo have against him?
http://www.siliconvalleysleuth.com/2005/11/yahoo_maps_pran.html

Posted by: SV Sleuth | November 4, 2005 01:09 PM

Great job fellas! I'm impressed at how easy the API is to use, even for non-programmers like me. Finally someone is giving Google a run for their money.

Posted by: Christian Watson | November 5, 2005 07:15 PM

Mac users should upgrade to Flash player 8; it works much better with all Flash apps, especially the new yahoo maps.

Posted by: Andrew S | November 8, 2005 04:09 AM

Jay,

You can quickly search for local content by just typing "Safeway San Francisco" into Yahoo Search, either from the website or the toolbar.

Posted by: Nick | November 8, 2005 01:12 PM

On personal opinion, I find this very helpful.
Guys, I have also posted some more relevant info further on this, not sure if you find it useful: http://www.bidmaxhost.com/forum/

Posted by: ocnsss | March 30, 2007 05:22 PM