Spatial orientation is central to peoples senses. Symbols, icons and images in space make up what we look at. Diagrams maps and images can serve different purposes; lots of kinds of maps exist. In this talk I have been asked to talk about maps and discuss some of the things I see in Googlemaps “from the outside”. The ever-present UI issues of orientation and focus are so concrete with maps. Integration of information without overloading a UI is always a danger and especially with maps; Annotation, undo and telling a story are all topics that seem central to the directions online maps are going. I will base my description of maps on projects on visual language such as virtual campus and placemap at MIT.