Maps of Bangalore. Anywhere?

Well most of us have seen the satire on Mapquest in Mad Magazines. Some of us have lived the same. And they are as true as they come. Maps around us are horrible, specially in older cities of the subcontinent where there was not planning at the start of its various towns. Yet over the years various attempts have been made to correct that and come up with legitimate maps for most of the cities published in books and even on the web. Some are freely available and others are a paid service.

We start with the freely available maps of cities, for example Bangalore as i have been experiencing some trauma with the maps available. The maps available are illegible, they are mere scans of printed maps and that too not proper ones. They seriously lack organization in terms of information and are inadequate in many ways. What one needs while browsing a map is clarity of information, detail as much as possible and a few points of reference based on which the person can position himself or his destination in the city. All maps i have come across so far lack this basic necessity.

For instance, most maps i came across showed a major right and a left turn while commuting from Ulsoor to Mekri circle sometime after passing Ulsoor lake, but in reality the road is pretty much straight and at least 50 years old with no need for any drastic left or right turns. I really wish some government institution or various MNCs which are involved in creating GPS Maps for Europe can take this up and put some sense into Local Cartography. As far as google goes, their Maps only hold good when in US or Europe, as for South East Asia, its as good as watching MF Hussain in a gallery, mere Art Form and Market Strategy with no particular end use.