Interactive mapping method and system

1. A method comprising:

receiving, over a network, a set of address locations in a given order;

presenting the set of address locations as a list of directions, the set of address locations being visibly displayed on a display of a user device;

presenting the set of address locations graphically on a map that is visibly displayed on the display of the user device, wherein the map includes a route connecting the set of address locations according to the given order, and wherein the map further includes a marker for each of the address locations;

providing a query string within a pair of marking characters in a uniform resource locator (URL) in a browser address;

retrieving information describing a current map view using the query string in the URL;

updating the URL to include information describing the current map view; and

providing the URL to a second user; and

presenting the current map view to the second user using the URL.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

creating a new order of the set of address locations from the given order by dragging an address location from the map to a different position in the list of directions;

updating the list of directions according to the new order of the set of address locations; and

updating the map according to the new order of the set of address locations.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

adding a new address location to the set of address locations;

updating the list of directions to include the new address location; and

updating the map to include the new address location.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

deleting a selected address location from the list of directions;

updating the list of directions to exclude the selected address location; and

updating the map to exclude the selected address location.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

creating a round trip by adding an end address location to the set of address locations, wherein the end address location includes the same address as the beginning address location;

updating the list of directions to include the end address location; and

updating the map to include a route to the end address location.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying a current map view and its associated text information from a corresponding screen view in response to receiving a print map command from a user;

rearranging the current map view and its associated text information to create a print view; and

printing the print view.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the text information comprises:

a start address;

an end address;

a list of driving directions from the start address to the end address; and

a list of points of interest shown in the current map view.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

entering an address location in an address field; and

auto-completing the address location using information gathered from a list of recently visited or previously saved locations.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

entering an address location in an address field; and

auto-completing the address location using information gathered from a user's address book.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium tangibly encoded with a computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions, that when executed by a computing device, perform a method comprising:

receiving, over a network, a set of address locations in a given order;

presenting the set of address locations as a list of directions; and

presenting the set of address locations graphically on a map, wherein the map includes a route connecting the set of address locations according to the given order, and wherein the map further includes a marker for each of the address locations; and

providing a query string within a pair of marking characters in a uniform resource locator (URL) in a browser address;

retrieving information describing a current map view using the query string in the URL;

updating the URL to include information describing the current map view,

providing the URL to a second user; and

presenting the current map view to the second user using the URL.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 further comprising:

creating a new order of the set of address locations from the given order by dragging an address location from the map to a different position in the list of directions;

updating the list of directions according to the new order of the set of address locations; and

updating the map according to the new order of the set of address locations.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 further comprising:

adding a new address location to the set of address locations;

updating the list of directions to include the new address location; and

updating the map to include the new address location.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 further comprising:

deleting a selected address location from the list of directions;

updating the list of directions to exclude the selected address location; and

updating the map to exclude the selected address location.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 further comprising:

creating a round trip by adding an end address location to the set of address locations, wherein the end address location includes the same address as the beginning address location;

updating the list of directions to include the end address location; and

updating the map to include a route to the end address location.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 further comprising:

identifying a current map view and its associated text information from a corresponding screen view in response to receiving a print map command from a user;

rearranging the current map view and its associated text information to create a print view; and

printing the print view.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the text information comprises:

a start address;

an end address;

a list of driving directions from the start address to the end address; and

a list of points of interest shown in the current map view.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 further comprising:

entering an address location in an address field; and

auto-completing the address location using information gathered from a list of recently visited or previously saved locations.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 further comprising:

entering an address location in an address field; and

auto-completing the address location using information gathered from a user's address book.