Reading Roars!

Online directory service Yell.com, headquartered locally, has enhanced its mapping functionality. You can now zoom in and out of a map, click and drag to move it and select an aerial photo view.

I gave it a whirl. I searched for the company name Carluccio’s in Reading - where else - and hit the Search button. A mere three seconds later, I got a positive search result: Carluccios Ltd on Forbury Square. That’s the one!

A biggish map of Reading was displayed when I clicked on Map/Directions. Conveniently, a yellow arrow showed me the location of Carluccio’s. On the map, there were also small red icons of shopping carts in various places. Were these abandoned supermarket trolleys? No explanation could be seen. I zoomed out and the trolleys disappeared. Hmm, I thought. Maybe this was a real-time map and the trolleys were collected in a nanosecond.

I clicked on Aerial photo view and an aerial version of the same map was presented. The yellow arrow was still there. Not sure how useful an aerial snap is, unless you are intending to parachute in for a coffee, but it’s great to see Reading from above nevertheless. And, as you can drag your way across the town using your mouse, you can have fun trying to spot your house, too.

Now, I think I will get that coffee…