The aim of this study was to identify potential usability
problems with Web mapping sites and gather qualitative
information to suggest guidelines for the design of future
sites. Four different Web mapping sites were evaluated in
this study: Google Maps (abbreviated in this paper as GM,
available at http://maps.google.com/), MSN Maps &
Directions (MD, http://maps.msn.com/), MapQuest
(MQ, http://www.mapquest.com/) and Multimap (MM,
http://www.multimap.com/). These well-known sites
were chosen because they all consisted of an interactive
2D map application with zooming and panning options.
Additionally, users were able to search for different
locations and directions for routes.