When was the last time you heard someone say they wished there were more features on the page in a Frappr map?  Never, in my experience.  Via email (the company blog hasn't been updated since December) I learned tonight that you can now chat with other members of your map.

 I wasn't logged in when I clicked through a map I belong to from my email, and thus entered the chat as User 4565.  Doesn't that seem strange?  Still, I imagine that some communities might find this useful in some ways.   It's a far cry from even MySpace IM, where there are presence indicators, individual IM, sound.  Frapr has always seemed pretty asynchronous to me - meaning that the value of it wasn't dependant on being online or on the site at the same time as other group members.  We'll see.

Frappr has taken off like wildfire, but I hear complaints about visual and feature overload all the time.  Especially in a professional or even serious context.  Many of the features are great, the basic premise sure is.  I participate in several Frappr maps - I just wish the system was more elegant.  Maybe they should hire Emily Chang's design firm like competitors Community Walk did, or whoever designed Wayfaring.  Both of those have different functionality, they aren't interchangable at all - but there are some similarities and Frappr could sure benefit from taking its functionality, paring down the feature load or handling it better, and upgrading the aesthetics.  A subscription option to get rid of the AdSense and regular blog updates would be nice too.  But perhaps I'm not the market they are after.

Sure would like to see more mapping mashups use Yahoo maps, since they have better coverage of the Global South.  Try looking up anyplace in Africa on a Google Map.  Pretty frustrating.  Not so with Yahoo.