Yahoo! is playing catchup with Google as usual, and as usual, nothing is better than competition for the customer. The battle of Web 2.0 between Google and Yahoo! is churning out interesting product after interesting product, and I would run to go work for either of these companies without a second thought. In any case, Yahoo! launched a new beta version of its Maps today, and it is fantastic.

There are a few really noteworthy features that you should know about:

1. It is built entirely in Flash. They could have gone the AJAX route (which would certainly have been perceived even more as tail chasing) but to be quite honest, for mapping applications as rich as these, Flash seems perfectly appropriate. It’s also smooth, completely cross platform, and quite usable.
2. There is no satellite imagery overlay. This is a very nice, fun, feature of the Google maps, though not really critical for all the practical applications such as driving directions, ATM locations, etc.
3. Yes, I said ATM locations. Yahoo! took the maps to the next level and included directories of common important locations and features including ATMs, gas stations, restaurants, schools, etc. This is a feature missing from Google Maps that I have been longing for. Finally the maps are complete, like my Vindigo service or car SatNav system.
4. The API is open, just like Google’s. That means it won’t be long before the Chicago Crime Map makes its way to Yahoo. This Flickr Photo mashup is pretty nice, as is this Upcoming.org one. Very, very important Web 2.0 quality.
5. Live traffic data is added at the flick of a checkbox. Very nice feature. Please get this whole system connected to GPS and in my car somehow. Please.
6. Deep linking URLs. One drawback of most RIA’s (Rich Internet Applications) that use Flash is that there is one URL where the Flash loads, and no way to link directly into a specific location, say, Yahoo! Maps Astoria ATM’s. But Yahoo! thought this through and built the system to have a unique URL for every state change. I’m not exactly sure how, but not only can you coopy and paste those URLs, but the whole history and back-button work perfectly. UPDATE: I just realized that the deep linking only goes to the location level, so my included link was meant to show the Astoria ATMs, actually only zooms in down to Astoria. Very, very nice. Unfortunate.

Nice work Yahoo! Keep it coming.

[via kottke.]