Thursday, March 26, 2009

Illustrated Tourist Maps Online

When visiting any city it is always good to be able to find your way around, and having an accurate, illustrated map is an invaluable tool. Most every city will have some map to go along with it, but having an illustrated tourist map is better than just a plain old city street map. There are many reasons that having a detailed, illustrated map of a city is good. Here are some reasons why an online illustrated map is better than a generic street map.

Navigation of an online map is easier than using a street map. Being able to zoom in and out, and scroll in any direction on an online map is a great option that is totally unavailable on a paper street map. This is an option that allows you to see close-up and detailed information that might otherwise be difficult to read or hard to find on a complicated street map. Being able to change the view enables you to zoom in to get detailed information about a location and then zoom out to see the location in context to the bigger picture. This is incredibly helpful, because sometimes you want the details of where streets intersect, and sometimes you want the larger picture to see in what part of a city a location is.

Instant updates are great. Having to replace a map every time you visit a city, or making a plan to go to a location that is no longer there is inconvenient. With an online tourist map, you get the updated map every time you go to the website. This makes it an invaluable tool for visiting a city, because if a street changes, a business closes or the layout of the city is altered in any way, you have instant access to that information. There is nothing more annoying than going to find a restaurant, business or attraction that is listed on a vacation map and finding that the place is no longer there.

Attractions are easier to find on illustrated tourist maps. Oftentimes a city may have streets with similar names or confusing names, and being able to identify the place you are looking for with ease is a wonderful option. In this way, an illustrated map is much easier to deal with and can save a lot of headaches when it comes to trying to locate attractions in a city. As new attractions are added, or old ones are closed, an online illustrated map will be able to accurately reflect that. Also, you get the benefit of having tourist attraction laid right out in front of you on the map, and it saves the trouble of having to coordinate tons of fliers and then find them on a tiny little city street map.

Businesses are easier to find on an illustrated vacation map. Prominent city establishments are much easier to locate on an illustrated map, and anything that is not actually represented on the map is also easier to find, because you can contact the establishment and ask for a landmark that is on the map. In this way time, energy and fuel is saved by allowing you to plan trips and find locations without any trouble. If a business is near a location that is represented on the shopping map, then you can easily find the place you are looking for by getting directions in relation to that spot. This makes traveling around a city much easier and more fun than trying to use a plain old street map of a town.

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