With a trip to the South West planned this week, I decided to work out my route.

I don’t own a Sat-Nav system, so I normally plug my route into Streetmap and print out 3-4 pages, one street view, one town view, one area view and sometimes, the complete route view.
However, with so much happening in the online mapping area, I decided to test a few of the services available. I looked at Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSN Maps, Ask Maps, Streetmap, UK-Map24 (Mapsolute) and Mapquest.

Google was great.

Yahoo linked through to the static version of Map24 within a Yahoo frame (although it was just the Map24 static version).

Ask was great.

Streetmap, as awkward as I have always remembered it.

Mapquest, marginally better than I remember it with its pointless images. At least now you can see your route.

Which leaves UK-Map24, by Mapsolute. It’s fun (loads of bits to play with), works well and has a BMW like smoothness about it.

Most of the maps left me with what I would consider as good enough directions to take with me on my journey. For ease of use, I choose Google Maps, but if like me you like a few bells and whistles, try UK-Map24.

Quick features of UK-Map24

• Flight route journey. Takes you on a 3D route of your journey before you put your keys in the ignition.
• By selecting detailed view of route, you can see a list of petrol stations on your route, hotels and selected other items.
• 3D view. By dragging the 3D viewer, you can change the angle of your route.
• View the map in static format or 3D format, ideal for use with low and high badwidth.
• You can add the Map24 form to your website at no charge.