Satellite navigation may soon consign paper maps to the great waste bin of history.
Maps are bulky, difficult to fold, and somehow destinations always seem to be right on the edge.

Despite having been around since at least 2300 BC, on Babylonian clay tablets, maps have now very much entered the digital age and are undergoing something of a revolution. These days you don't ask for directions, you pop your postcode into a website and up pops a map of your destination. You can even measure the distance you have to travel, to the nearest foot or metre if you want. You can get street maps centred on your house. Or you can feed your instructions into your car's navigation system and spare your spouse an argument. And there's another product from combining digital mapping with satellite navigation, the ability to track people and goods as they move around the world. Just how commonplace will this technology become and to what extent will it transform our lives?

There are now several software packages which allow computer users to display Ordnance Survey maps. As well as being able to display map data, download routes from internet sites, you can plan routes and find out information about those routes, such as the elevation profile, total climb, and distance. Many let you view a 3D representation of the route, which is great if you have difficulty visualising how hilly a route is.
You can also upload routes from the software to a GPS, so you can follow a route with your GPS. You can also download tracks from your GPS, to see where you've actually been, and how long it's really taken you. You can also print maps and routes on to waterproof paper.

Think of Google Maps as an enormous map of the world in which you move around. You don't have to wait for the whole pages to reload if you want to view adjacent areas.
The National geographic Mapmachine allows you to see different information applied to your specified location, such as population density or endangered species.
Placeopedia combines maps with thousands of encyclopedia entries from Wikipedia. Search or navigate to a desired location and click on any of the red placement marks to link to the relevant Wikipedia page.
A particularly strong route finder Map24 is packed with useful features to help you get from A to B. After generating a route map, click on the 3D view to see a animated simulation of your journey.