Yahoo Maps

Key takeaways

Yahoo Maps belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Yahoo Maps to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Yahoo Maps from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Yahoo! Maps was a free online mapping portal provided by Yahoo! Functionality included local weather powered by The Weather Channel, printing maps, and local reviews powered by Yelp. It was shut down on June 30, 2015. For a limited time until 2019, Yahoo! Maps could be accessed in the United States on Yahoo Search, albeit powered by Here WeGo. However, that is no longer possible.

Map data The street network and other vector data Yahoo! Maps used later on was from HERE, and included several public data sources. Detailed street network data is currently available for the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and most European countries. Country borders, cities, and water bodies are mapped for the rest of the world. Low-resolution satellite imagery is available worldwide. 1–2 meter resolution is available for most of the contiguous United States and select cities worldwide.

History

Yahoo! Maps originally launched circa 1998. The data was provided by Vicinity Corporation. A new Adobe Flash-based version called Yahoo! Local Maps was released in Beta in November 2005. In April 2006, aerial and satellite views were added. On May 16, 2007, Yahoo! released a new map style designed by the cartography company Cartifact. Data and imagery were also supplied by Cartifact, including shaded relief showing land surface features and land cover coloring indicating major environmental zones. At some point before May 2007, maps of India were added to Yahoo Search, which is a non-Flash interface to Yahoo Maps. In addition to reasonably detailed Indian coverage (not available through its Yahoo Search engine), to allow users to browse/search within Yahoo!. In May 2010, Yahoo! reached a deal with Nokia whereby Nokia's mapping service (later known as Here) would power Yahoo! Maps. This came into effect in October 2011. In 2014, a mobile site for Yahoo! Maps was released. On June 4, 2015, Yahoo! announced that Yahoo! Maps would be shut down, along with Yahoo! Pipes, at the end of the month.

Functions The main Yahoo! Maps site offered street maps and driving directions for the United States and Canada. It had the following notable features:

Address Book: Registered Yahoo! users can store a list of commonly used street addresses, making it unnecessary to type them in again. A recently entered address can be quickly recalled by selecting one from a drop-down list. Live Traffic: Traffic incident markers and current highway conditions can be viewed on the map. Find On The Map: A local search by business name or category can be typed into the "Find On The Map" box to locate it in the current map view. A list of clickable points of interest categories is also available. The results can be further refined by user rating or related category. Driving Directions: Driving directions can be displayed on a map or in printable form, with optional turn-by-turn maps, or as simple text. Links to driving directions can be emailed, and text directions can be sent to mobile phones. Multi-point driving directions: Multiple addresses can be entered and manually reordered for complex driving directions. Draggable maps: The map view can be manipulated by dragging it with the mouse or tapping the arrow keys. Zoom level can be controlled via the mouse scroll wheel, "Page Up"/"Page Down" keys, or the map's zoom bar. Widgets: Several widgets over the map include a navigator widget, a map type (with satellites), hybrid cars, controllers, and zooming levels control. Satellite Imagery: Labelled (hybrid) and unlabelled satellite imagery is available worldwide. Overview map: A collapsible overview map provides context, with a draggable grey area controlling the main map view. International Coverage: Outside the US and Canada, Yahoo! Maps Beta can recognize city, province, and country names, and provide a small-scale map or satellite views. Right click to set waypoint: an origin, destination, or midpoint can be set by right-clicking on the desired location on the map. Draggable markers: Any marker can be dragged to the 'Get Map' text entry area to add that location to a route.

Developer API Until December 2011, developers could embed Yahoo! Maps into their own web pages (to create a mashup) through the Yahoo! Maps Developer APIs. The Yahoo! Maps APIs came in three basic flavors:

The Flash APIs, which used the Adobe Flash platform. Three variations, allowing the developer to write in JavaScript, ActionScript, or Adobe Flex 1.5, were available. The Ajax API Archived 2015-06-05 at the Wayback Machine, for interactive maps that use capabilities inherent in web browsers, without using the Flash plug-in. Ajax applications are written in JavaScript. The "Simple" API Archived 2014-10-15 at the Wayback Machine, basically an XML data format, an extension of GeoRSS, for displaying point of interest data on top of Yahoo!'s main map site. The Flash and Ajax APIs also supported display of GeoRSS formatted data. Yahoo! offered a number of low-level APIs to support maps, for geocoding, getting a map image, searching for a local business, or retrieving traffic information. Some other Yahoo! services, such as Flickr and Upcoming.org, have their content available through web services, with interesting potential for mashups.

See also Comparison of web map services Traffic Message Channel

References

External links Yahoo! Maps Yahoo! Local Yahoo! Local and Maps Blog Yahoo! Maps API Documentation Yahoo! Maps API Discussion Group Yahoo! Maps API Gallery Yahoo! Maps API Gallery (older) Archived 2007-10-12 at the Wayback Machine

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Yahoo Maps

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Yahoo Maps claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Yahoo Maps before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Yahoo Maps ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Yahoo Maps

In research: Yahoo Maps appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Yahoo Maps in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Yahoo Maps is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Discontinued Yahoo! services, Internet properties disestablished in 2019, Internet properties established in 2002, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Yahoo Maps outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Yahoo Maps in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Yahoo Maps means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Yahoo Maps out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Yahoo Maps in simple terms?

Yahoo! Maps was a free online mapping portal provided by Yahoo!

Why does Yahoo Maps matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Yahoo Maps?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Yahoo Maps.