Easily search and browse maps with Maps, lightweight effective map utility

Maps is a lightweight utility, providing the user an easily-graspable interface where searching places and browsing a powerful OpenStreetMap-powered map for cities, countries, regions, etc is to be achieved in a matter of seconds.

Launching Maps, exposes a clean clear interface filled with a global map and top-bar located controls.

Zooming IN/OUT features a double-sided maneuvering, both controlled (by double-clicking on the map, the map's detail size is increased in "measured" steps) and "free" (dependent on the mouse scroll wheel, performing a "full" mouse wheel's cycle, maximizes the focused map point immediately).

Maps is, by default, enabled for Search, usable to type words in the Search area (thus allowing the user to locate a city, country, etc), furthermore, Directions offers the handy ability to geographically link two map points, in situations like from x location to y location.

In order to accurately automatically locate a city, type its name in the Search area, action that exposes a dialog featuring matched suggestions (like for instance, typing paris in the Search area, displays, as suggestions, Paris, the French city, Paris, the US location, etc).

A definitely interesting aspect of Maps is its visual "real-time" pairing of triggered city suggestions with "highlighted" map places, such as, searching paris, exposes 4 text-based suggestions, text suggestions visually linked with numbered black-ish tooltips on the maps, latter tooltips representing the text-based suggestions on the displayed map; consequently, the user can immediately locate and identify the proper searched location.

Clicking the top-right More, allows the user to add visual markers on the map by hitting the Mark place button, action that pushes a tooltip on the map, from where further actions are to performed, such as dragging&dropping the marker on a desired place on the map and adding a preferred title to the marker (clicking Marker under Places, allows the user to edit its title, pressing the Enter key updates the marker's text content).

Showing and hiding marker is to be achieved via the top-right toggle Show markers.

Maps comes with directions support under Directions, meaning, by writing a city into From and a city into To area, exposes the step-by-step road to-be-followed from one location to another via graphical direction-enabled optimal suggestions.

Maps 12.07.4 is available for free via Ubuntu Software Center.

Worth mentioning
Maps has been created as part of Ubuntu App Showdown.