Stop the presses! Google Maps has just been launched. (Via MetaFilter.)

First impressions. This is frigging amazing, with smooth scrolling and zooming: you’re not constantly reloading pages like in MapQuest. Huge mapping surface. And drop shadows.

No Safari support yet, but it’s coming.

I’m impressed by the detail. They’ve got my area, which is kind of a rural backwater: they’ve got the roads all named, but strangely not the towns. Oh well, data’s rarely perfect — especially when it’s just a beta launch. And for a beta this is awfully impressive.

So, what do you think?