As one of the very early dabblers in writing custom Virtual Earth applications, which I did before there was even an official API, I definitely like to see what kind of applications people are building with the online mapping APIs now provided by Virtual Earth (aka maps.live.com) and Google Maps.

There are two that I use frequently.

The first is an application that has gotten extremely mature called MapMyRide. This uses Google Maps at it's core. I can pick points on a potential bike ride and it will follow the roads, indicating mileage and give me directions, show me the elevation gains/losses along the way and do so much more.

The second is based on Virtual Earth and is a storm tracker provided by myweather.net, which I access through the website of a local t.v. station, WPTZ. Here's a link to use it directly.

In fact, as I've just looked at it to get a screen shot, I see that there is a nasty storm with hail coming right at me. So it's time to pack it up for the afternoon!