Does anyone USE the big map? Is it just TM,TM,TMI?

Why do we have the big map? Does anyone use it?

It came up twice when I teleported somewhere. I don't know what I did. Can I turn it off and just teleport straight?

I looked at the map and saw where there were people. I went there, but everybody spoke German (which I don't speak). So it's random, right? You have to already know where you're going.

Right?

I use the big map often. Mostly to get my bearings......for some reason I like to know which direction "home" is.

I know the names of the sims that all my favorite spots are in, and so I take a look at those sims on the map to see if anybody's at those places first. I also use the map to plot courses when I'm flying, sailing, or driving. I use it quite a bit actually. But I use it more now than I did when I was newer, yeah.

I use the map every day. I check to see if people are at specific locations, I sometimes play "random tp" with it, I stalk my partner, etc.

It's a really handy tool for knowing how many people are in a sim when you arent there..I can remotely see if anyone is in a shop, for example. And for any friends who let you see where they are online, you can find them. And if I'm flying across a few sims I can turn about and use the map to find the runway again so I crashland there instead of in someone's house...And for just knowing where things are...I just like knowing how the SL planet is laid out, sometimes.

I use it all the time. Sometimes to see where I am (what continent, if there's places I know nearby, etc), an sometimes to TP directly to some sims. There's a few I've never bothered to get LMs for because I'm so used to pulling them up on a map search.

I use it all the time. It was the first thing taht got me into sl. Now I depend on it for information. It had better not be displaced by something else. It's also fun to tp to where a green dot is shining. Quite often, it's a lonely male ...

Jig wanders off distractedly

I ~never~ use the big map.

Landmarks for the win.

I use the big map constantly its a great asset for tping in precise or scoping out whats going on without wasting tp jumps. I get real tired of the Woooooosshhh of teleporting sometimes. (Im sure i can turn it off somehow but im usually to tired to care)

ha ha ha!

Now I don't feel so bad.

I use both the Big Map and the Mini all the time.
Start off with the big map to get a look at whats around. Is this sim part of a bigger group of sims? Is this place empty because all the land is for sale? I find the newer big map much more vivid with more detail then it used to be. Plus how else would you know if there are sex shops on Zindra if you didn’t have the big map open to see all those shops with the word SEX floating over their land?
I use the Mini for things like finding or following friends or to see if someone is above or below me.

I never use the big map.

The mini map provides me plenty of information for camming in on naked people.

I use the big map many times a day. I suspect the difference between users and non-users is that users like to know where everything is in relation to everything else - more 3d brains. If you just tp without looking why do you need a contiguous world? It might just as well be separate spaces. I suppose the answer to that is "to accomodate everyone."

I use the map.

Knowing where everyone lives, I can kinda see who's around, too, looking in areas I know. It's fun

Wow. It never occurred to me that you could do this. But of course, now that friends are "yellow," it would be pretty easy to sort of parachute oneself into the middle of a group of people you know, who might be doing . . . well, ANYTHING!

Ohh . . .

On second thoughts . . .

I use it all the time, it's real handy for exploring, flying (aircraft), and driving.

Friends are only yellow on the minimap, not the big map


I use the Big Map a lot because I manage a continent of sims too large to normaly see all at once. Helps me keep track of where the big crowds are.

Oh poop. So where's the fun in THAT?

It would be cool if the big map could have a pop-up 3D effect and let you see it at an oblique angle and fly the camera around.

Sort of like Google Earth applied to the SL grid.

I agree. Using the Map gives me a greater sense of being in an actual 'place', than blind Landmark jumping could do.

Also, as DaQbet wrote, the dang thing is just so gorgeous to look at (since Philip and his team upgraded it).

I use it several times each day, for these reasons as well as the reasons mentioned by other.

You can have, and give, map-tracking rights. It used to be that any friends automatically had that ability. It was always sort of annoying yet sort of interesting when friends rained down upon me; now I really just dislike it (lack of practise heh).

The new Map was Phil Liden's project after M took over.
He was looking for suggestions on more projects.
I'd love a 3D Map.
Why not drop Phil a line?

I always open Map when I get to a new place. SL is for me a 3D world and not a set of regions to be TPed around in.
I use Map to check activity im sims that I have an interest in.

I use the mini map when I am with someone and wanna be sure we are not overheard.

Search is a much better tool for finding places and people you are interested in. Find a place that interests you in search and then use the map to see if there's anybody there.
I love the map and use it frequently for exploring. I also get very excited when I have built something new and it shows on the map for the first time.

I'll give a serious answer to that even though I know the question was at least partly in fun.

It can be handy when you walk into a crowded place to notice yellow dots among the green and know that your friends are nearby... a little precursor to serendipity. When the crowds get thick you'll see yellow dots on the minimap quicker than any Av radar can report the names, and of course the overhead nametags are nearly worthless in a dense crowd.




*muses*

Overhead nametags ... damn ... now THAT is thing from SL I wish I could see in FL.