Mapquest Links (improvement?)

[+ibycus]

It occured to me that the links to the mapquest site could be made much more useful, if &zoom=7&size=big were added to the end of the auto-generated URL. This would auto-zoom the maps to a reasonable level (so one can actually get some idea of the context of the waypoint without manually zooming in)

size=big just makes the map a little bigger.

As an example,

This is the current way vs what I am proposing

What do people think? I personally can't see any disadvantage to it, although I am somewhat of a newbie to the sport, so maybe I am missing something.

[+geckoee]

The small size is nice for people with lower bandwidth. If you have a high band width connection it doesn’t take very long to click the "big map" button, but if you have low bandwidth it could take a while to load the bigger image.

 

If you are familiar with the city the cache is near, the closer zoom is nice. It makes it easy to find a street to park on. However, if you don't know the area, the big map will give you a better overview, allowing you to place the cache mentally with reference to somewhere you are more familiar with.

 

Map scale and size are something that varies from person to person. I think it may be best just to stick with the defaults.

[+Scout Master]

click the "big map" button

I havent seen a BIG MAP button in a month or so ???

Or am I missing something

[+geckoee]

Oops, Looks like Map quest got rid of it.

 

I like the Microsoft MapPoint maps. You can change size and zoom, and it uses cookies to store your preferences! … so if you like big maps, next time you click a link to a map... big map!

 

It also has street level maps of the US, Mexico, Canada, and most of Europe!

 

But it is the evil Microsoft Empire.

[+ibycus]

However, if you don't know the area, the big map will give you a better overview, allowing you to place the cache mentally with reference to somewhere you are more familiar with.

But which scenario is more common? I really don't know to be honest, but I would have thought that if you are planning on going after a particular cache, you would likely already have *some* idea of what city it's near.

 

The default zoom, even though I know Calgary relatively well tells me nothing about where abouts in calgary it actually is. There just aren't enough landmarks on the map for me... I guess If you're in the middle of nowheresville, it might give a better idea...

 

But the question remains, what is more common? somewhere near a city, or somewhere in the middle of nowhere? I really have no clue, as I say I really am new to the game. Maybe an option to let the cache owner decide on an appropiate zoom level?