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Finding our way every day—to business meetings, luncheon appointments, concerts, or wherever—is one area of our lives where many of us have come to rely on a computing device. The Maps app comes pre-installed in Windows 8, and it offers some very easy-to-use and useful features.
Using the Maps app, you can pinpoint your computing device’s current location (especially handy with laptops and tablets); get directions from point A to point B; get an aerial view of the world; and figure out how to avoid traffic on your morning or evening commute. The ability to zoom in and out for greater or lesser detail can be helpful in finding your way on a map. You can even get information about businesses and attractions, or jump quickly to online search results or related websites to find more details.
Imagine that you’re headed out on a road trip with a paper map in hand. First you find your starting point, and then by unfolding and flipping the map around (trying not to whack the driver in the face), you figure out your route, if you’re lucky. Today, electronic maps make life much easier. When you open the Maps app, you can zoom in and out to get more or less detail with a click, quickly find your current location, and then move the map around to find nearby locations with a simple click and drag action.
There are two views in the Maps app: Road View and Aerial View. The Road View is similar to a traditional road map with streets, bodies of water, and various landmarks represented as a simple two-dimensional illustration. The Aerial View is an actual photo of locations from the air, showing greenery, roads, and other topographical features. The view you display depends on what information you need.
If you want to see a particular location displayed in the Maps app, you can simply enter an address using the Windows Integrated Search feature. The information you enter can be the name of a public landmark such as Hoover Dam, a city or town such as Denver, or a street address.
From the Start Screen, begin typing a search term such as “pizza”.
In the Search results, click Maps.
If there are multiple results, they appear at the top of the screen; click a result to go there.
Right-click to access Map tools to refine your search or get directions.
Right-click to display the Search field again.
One of the wonderful features of the Maps app is the way it can tie into the Internet to provide details about a location, such as the hours and payment options for a restaurant or customer ratings for a hotel. You can even go to a website of a business by clicking a button in the Maps app.
With a location showing on a map, click the Information button.
Click the Directions button to view directions to the location or click the Website button to go to a related website.
Move your mouse to the upper-left corner of the screen, and click the Maps app in the Recent Sites area to return to the app.
If you live in a highly populated area, such as a major city, you can use the Traffic feature of the Maps app to display color codes for real-time traffic problems, as long as you have an Internet connection. Green roads are relatively clear, yellow roads have slowed traffic, and red roads have serious problems, with traffic slowing significantly.
Looking at a map of a location can be helpful, but finding a route from one place to another is one of the major uses of a mapping program. By entering a start point and end point, the Maps app can calculate the route, tell you the total miles and time it will take to make the trip, and give you step-by-step directions.
Tip
To remove the route and clear the To and From fields, right-click to display the toolbar and then click the Clear Map button.
