If you're running a recent version of the Plaxo toolbar for Outlook or Outlook Express, you'll see the Click to Connect button and drop-down whenever you get an e-mail from someone. One of the options is to "Get a map or directions" for the person that sent you that message. It's handy when you need to visit someone's office or get driving directions to their home.
Click-to-connect button inside an Outlook e-mail message
Click-to-connect expanded to show the sender's contact info and relevant actions
Well now it's even handier, because when you click that link, you'll get a page with the map embedded inside it. You can toggle between showing your contact's work and home address (if the person has chosen to share that information with you), and you can also click to get driving directions from your own home or work address.
Embedded map page linked from Click-to-Connect
We chose to use Yahoo! Maps for our mashup because they provide automatic geo-coding (turning a mailing address into latitute/longuitude), so it was easy to say "show me a map of Mark Jen's work address" and bam!
Hope you find this fun and useful!
--Joseph Smarr, Plaxo Server Engineer
Thanks for building this. While this is a nice start, unfortunately it requires that you are a) online; b) using the Plaxo toolbar; and c) using a device that is able to run Yahoo Maps and Flash. This means you probably can't use this with a PDA or phone when traveling, even if you have a fast EVDO wireless Internet connection. Most mobile devices won't run Flash, and probably don't have the screen size to properly display a Yahoo map.
If only Plaxo could put the directions to and from each of my contacts, in plain text, into the notes for each Outlook contact. And update the directions as contacts are added, modified, and as I move. That would be a killer service that I would be willing to pay for. I undersstand Plaxo would need to pay to license appropriate data from Navtec or someone similar, but I bet with your installed base you could more than cover the licensing fees with increased subscription revenues.
Just my two cents. Hope it's helpful.