Find your way with mapping programs

Get to your destination quickly and easily

By Sharon Oosthoek

Mapping software and web sites have made getting from point A to point B easier than ever.

Looking for a store or address in an unfamiliar area becomes straightforward when you can check the directions on your computer before leaving home. You also no longer have to wait until you get to the nearest tourist office for a map of the city you’re visiting. Print maps at home before you leave and chart the major attractions, hotels and restaurants in your destination.

Find addresses instantly online

MapQuest and Yahoo! Canada Maps are among the most popular map sites on the web. You can quickly find the location of an address. Enter a destination’s details and within seconds you’ll be sent to a colour map. Not only can you zoom in and out for closer street information, but you can also get turn-by-turn directions to print and take with you.

Some sites allow you to calculate the distance from your starting point to your destination as well as the time it will take to get there based on the directions.

Steven Bernstein recently put to good use all those functions when he was looking for child care for his daughter while he was out of town on business. “We used a map program to find out how close the daycare [centre] was to the apartment we’re renting,” he says.

Help children locate their home and neighbourhood

Toronto resident Ben Minbashian prints maps for his daughter to help her orient herself in their neighbourhood. He then helps her glue images of familiar landmarks — their house or her school — onto the right spot.

“We also go to Europe a lot and we want to show how far relatives are from us and where the plane goes. We use mapping programs for that,” he says. “Or, when the kids ask where Mom or Dad come from, we print off a map of Holland.”

Plan detailed trip or jogging routes with map software

A program such as Streets & Trips is a practical tool to have installed on your computer. While the program isn’t free, it provides useful tips such as how much gas you’ll use getting to specific locations, and the program allows you to map multiple destinations.

You can also find restaurants, landmarks, hotels and public transportation stops in North American cities with this software.

Paul Mero of Toronto uses Streets & Trips to create jogging routes. He likes mapping routes that don’t correspond with roads, such as footpaths through parks and along the edges of rivers.

“One of the challenges is figuring out how far you’ve run and what your time is. Traditionally, people will jump in the car to figure out how far they’re running,” Mero says.

“And you don’t want to do the same route over and over again. It gets boring. With this software, you can map out a bunch of 5-kilometre or 10-kilometre runs, and pick which one you feel like running that day,” he says. “You can also print them out and share them with your friends.”

Tailor maps to your family’s requirements

Maps are useful for far more than family road trips or driving directions. Here are some instances where you can incorporate these handy mapping tools into your everyday life.

• Print maps to your child’s party to enclose with the invitations.
• Map the carpool route that is used to transport your children and their friends to extra-curricular activities such as swimming lessons or hockey practice. Print a copy for each parent.
• E-mail directions to your house when sending an electronic invitation.
• Find out how far it is to walk different routes. Plan a “walking route” for each day of the week or to share with your walking group.
• If you are an avid biker in a big city, use a map to find alternative side-street routes to your destination and to avoid the larger, busier streets at rush hour.
• New to a city or area? Use maps to find out the major routes to stores, your new job and recreational facilities.

Consult additional resources

For all their usefulness, mapping programs do have their limitations, says Doug Mayhew, manager, public relations, Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) North and East Ontario. But essential driving information that you won’t find, such as border-crossing wait times, are available online. Mayhew recommends checking out the Canada Border Services Agency’s site.

Road construction and detours do not appear in mapping programs. But in Ontario, for example, the Ministry of Transportation’s Traveller’s Information site gives reports about road construction, winter conditions and road closure. Its COMPASS system, which is on the same web site, offers photographs of traffic conditions on some of Ontario’s major highways.

The CAA’s online TripTiks service, available at your branch’s site, also provides members with similar information.