Microsoft MapBlast

When computers were invented they brought a curse and a blessing that we haven't been able to eliminate. In spite of its negative aspects, the appearance of the Internet, as as this is the most popular application for users, no matter whether they are individual or businesses, has marked a tremendous breakthrough. By using the Internet sites one can buy, sell, get information about almost anything in any field of activity, reunite with former colleagues/classmates etc. One of the services launched on the Internet is MapBlast. The type of servicecovers anything that has to do with geographical orientations including both directions and maps. Since Microsoft redirected Vicinity's MapBlast, web site visitors to MSN, Maps & Directions can benefit from this service, too.

The site redirection came as a result of Microsoft's acquisition of Vicinity MapBlast. Even if already very numerous, the visitors to the Microsoft online services have increased partly because of the appearance of MSN MapBlast.

Good Housekeeping rated MSN MapBlast 8 out of 10 for the accuracy, detailed street coverage and easiness of use for 11 Western European countries, Canada and the United States.

MapBlast was a web mapping service launched in the mid 1990s. It was designed by Vicinity Corporation and permitted website owners to include maps in their own web pages.

Anyway, what does the MSN MapBlast service have to offer the site's users? When you want to go to some unknown place, you can get directions using the MSN Mapblast. Several countries among which Canada and the United States can be explored at road level; you can create a map of your own vicinity and incorporate it in your home page; you can find your way in a new neighborhood and locate the places you need to go to .

In spite of the increasing number of users attracted by MSN, many of them seem dissatisfied with the directions and map service offered by the MSN MapBlast, since the integration in the Microsoft structures a few years ago. Some say that the new service lacks some of the functions that MapBlast.com used to provide.

The new site was created using Microsoft MapPoint technology as the basis for the desktop products and the MapPoint Web Service. You can use the MapPoint Web Service from your own web site. The old MapBlast format nevertheless survives in the new MSN approach and format.