Yahoo Maps adds new information, better resolution

By Tim Conneally, BetaNews

March 7, 2008, 3:03 PM

Yahoo announced on Thursday that its Maps site had improved its amount of content, adding new information for 300 North American cities and 12,000 specific neighborhoods.

Point-of-interest information has also been upgraded, highlighting such features as schools, rest areas, and ski resorts. Yahoo also says it has also improved worldwide coverage, especially in Eastern Europe.

But while more information does appear to be more readily available, many cities still cannot be fully zoomed into. Right now, their magnification appears to be about 30% less detailed than its cities covered by street-level detail. And even when Yahoo Maps is at its closest, it still does not get as close to the ground as Google Maps' 2D map, not to mention Street View, which provides a view arguably as close as one can get without going inside of buildings.

With regard to stylistic changes, Yahoo Maps is improving upon those it made in May 2007, when it launched its new style, courtesy of Cartifact. New changes added Thursday also include hybrid road- and label colors being changed to increase legibility, city label density being increased, and map tiles getting a 30-60% size reduction.