Google Maps Now Has Hybrid Feature

Google Maps has added a new hybrid feature. Want more than the satellite pix? More than the map? Now you can have both. It's a floor wax and a dessert topping! It.. oh, never mind. You can try it at http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h .

You get a kinda-funky colored US (why is Indiana gray?) Enter an address and you'll get a satellite picture with the street names superimposed on the streets. So cool. How much detail you get as you zoom out depends on how far out you zoom. Zoomed in you'll get all street names, then major street names, then cities and highway names, then major cities, highways, and state names, then states, then countries, than continent names, etc.

I was less enamored with the driving direction version of this hybrid. The superfluous lines of the highways were distracting when looking at driving directions that go across states. For driving directions that go within one city or fairly short distances, it's easier to use.

One thing that Google Maps doesn't have to my satisfaction is landmarks. I'm fine with road names but I need to know what to look for. If you can tell me that I need to turn left at the Taco Bell or that I should look for the big green building, I feel a lot more confident about directions.

Big Green Buildings are probably not very trackable but has anyone mashed up a finder for several locations of something -- chain of restaurants or whatever -- and then smacked them onto a Google Map whenever one of the relevant locations showed up in driving directions or a map? Is there a Greasemonkey script like that out there somewhere?

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