I haven't had much time to work on this site recently but the latest developments to Google Maps are just too good to ignore. Earlier this year they dramatically improved map and satellite image quality and as of August the Geo-coder (which converts addresses into map coordinates) now covers Australia. So an already good product has become a great one, and the fact that Google provides it for free* is just astounding!

This is a quick example of what can be done rather easily - cobbled together from the code given in the API documentation:

Click and drag the map to move around, double-click to recentre and zoom in. Or just experiment with the controls provided... Zoomed right in some of the roads aren't quite accurate but this is still a really impressive system. Thanks Google!

And the future of my own simple maps? Well, for now I'll leave them in place for comparison but longer term the aim is to replace all with Google Maps.

* The Google Maps API is free to use subject to these terms and conditions, but Google suggests that at some stage these maps will come with advertising - only to be expected considering the cost of operating a service like this. For now, it's free - enjoy!