The map works just fine. I play with the HUD off and when I need to find my bearing I will open the map. I know it works just fine because I use it to go places without any problems.

Other than having precision that would make the GPS system envious I don't have any problems with the map.

NPC: "Let me mark that on your map"
Hero: "Oh, you mean the nearly useless 3D one (complete with obstructive clouds app) on my iPhone? Sure, knock yourself out".

I actually enjoy the ingame map forces you to explore more than just a little

Did you play Morrowind? It's map was less revealing than Oblivion's.

The map is cool, but i don't want it. Chuck Noris is cool, but i don't want him in Skyrim.

Took me a bit to get used to it, I don't really like the camera much on the map, or third person.

Its not as bad as you say though.

I have a feeling Todd Howard doesn't quite care how practical a feature is, as long as it's ****ing shiny.

I like it, but they should have included a 'classic map' version for people who would of become frustrated and a greater degree of zoom

the map svcks ass. looking down from that angle really makes it hard to judge distance somtimes, and clouds just obscure everything half the time anyway. so much practicality went out the window in favour of shiny.

a colour coded topographical map mod would be awsome.

Use the sat-nav spell. Ha ha

The map isn't as useful as the one in Oblivion but I for one am thankful for that. It has led to me not using fast travel and actually exploring the world for myself. And I haven't had any problems finding where I need to go so... obviously it's useful enough.

Ohhh stop being big babies! Go explore the world, the roads are useless anyway, get off the beaten path and have some fun!

Honestly though I have had no trouble when I want to keep to the roads, if it's really hard to find stick to a river it will eventually lead you to a town and a road! That's how we survive in Skyrim we don't need no pansy maps!

Wow I feel special now, cuz I can see the roads on the map. I must have 40/20 vision lol

I think it's a cool idea, and looks impressive, but could definitely have been implemented better. Stop rendering the damn clouds for one. Also come up with some way to make the map markers work for people using stereoscopic 3D (if you guys without 3D think the map is bad, you have no idea...). I'd like to be able to rotate my viewpoint in addition to panning around, might help me determine which side of the mountain an objective is on, though I saw a mod (or .ini tweak or something) that lets you zoom in as far as you want, I'm guessing that would help a lot. Some sort of overlay though that made the roads stand out would probably make me use fast travel less - as it is I never walk anywhere because its such a hassle figuring out a viable root, which is a shame because its such a gorgeous, immersive world.

Yeah. While the map is pointless frilly overkill that detracts from the basic function of being a map......it is not useless.

The main problem with the map is it doesn't show roads, the zoom is hardly adjustable, and you can't see any trails to where to get up mountains.

You pretty much have to use the clar-annoyance spell to find your way up the mountains, which is kind of BS because it eats magicka like crazy and you can't sprint while casting for some dumb reason.

I've got the physical map and the large map poster that comes with the guide but it shouldn't be neccesary to pull it out every time I want to do a little exploring, the least they could have done would be to highlight the roads and paths.

Functionality > Aesthetics.

Always.

This is the same problem as the idiotic menu UI that exists just to showcase the fact that they have a 3d model of the item in your inventory, or the skill constellations, with absolutely no regards for the people who will actually need to USE it at some point.

I'd rather have all-text menus I can quickly traverse than this.

You can rotate, if you're on PC then you right click while dragging, I believe. I've seen an LP on xbox that did it, too.

For PC users, you can remove the map's blur and clouds, allowing you to see more detail (and roads; well ones that aren't covered in snow anyway) by adding this to your Skyrim.ini (not SkyrimPrefs.ini!) file:

[MapMenu]sMapCloudNIF=0bWorldMapNoSkyDepthBlur=1fWorldMapNearDepthBlurScale=0fWorldMapDepthBlurScale=0fWorldMapMaximumDepthBlur=0

If you want to zoom in further, and rotate in full 360 degrees, add these lines under [MapMenu]:

fMapWorldMaxHeight=130000.0000fMapWorldMinHeight=150.0000fMapWorldMaxPitch=360.0000fMapWorldMinPitch=0.0000fMapWorldZoomSpeed=0.3500

I think my favorite part of the map is when you use your mouse wheel to zoom in....

And all it does is move the map one inch closer to the screen. Talk about trolling.

To me the map doesn't look too pretty, but it gives you the general sense of where alot of places are located. I find the exploration to these destinations make it mystery as to what I'll run into next.

[nevermind xD]