Where can I find maps online?

More and more often when someone is coming to visit, they ask for a postcode so that they can look you up on an online street map or type your details into their vehicle’s satnav. The satnavs have their own maps, of course, and many of these are available on the internet.

Which online map you’re likely to want will depend on where you are, of course. Streetmap.co.uk is excellent, if (as the title suggests) you’re in the UK. Open the page up, feed it a postcode and it gives you a map.

Google Maps is similar, but available worldwide. Type in a postcode and it offers not only a map, but the option of an aerial picture - or, if you click on the image of the droplet (that indicates the spot you asked for), an actual photograph of the location.

If you use Google Maps, you can also click on ’directions’ and add the postcode you’re starting from, and it will give you directions from point A to point B - as well as a satellite photo of how to get there. You can change this to a more useful map by clicking ‘map’ on the top right-hand corner of the image or the Google Earth view, which tilts the satellite picture. It’s entertaining but doesn’t do much that’s practical.

Google isn’t the only company to offer free A to B directions. Motoring organisations the RAC and the AA both offer directions based on postcodes or areas, and these will include locations of traffic lights, congestion zones, speed limits and other traffic information.

They also include estimates on the time taken to travel a particular journey, but - be warned - they aren’t calculated in real time and take no account of traffic. From my own experience, it would probably be a good idea to double the times stated.