Without saying anything on the value of this specific service, I'm always surprised about the prices that companies choose to charge for what is essentially an online versions of a books (yes, I know, the site provides more features than a book. But all-in-all, you go to that site looking for the same information you would normally go to find in the book version).
I can't comment on other services, but I'll comment on Mapa:
Perhaps to you, the service is essentially equivalent to a book with maps, and that's just fine - they will still gladly sell you a book. There are people, however, who need the "extras" that the maps on the site provide:
1. They are updated about every month - I'm pretty sure your 5 year old book will have many innacuracies.
2. It will find the best (fastest, shortest) route between two given locations for you - with a book you have to do it manually.
3. Many times you don't know the exact spelling of the street name which makes it very hard to find it in a book - the map applet has "fuzzy matching", which will find you the correct street name even if you mistype it.
4. You can quickly find a route to where you want to go and print it along with the instructions - again, something that would be tedious with a book.
Besides the map itself, they also have many interesting articles and recommendations for places to visit, restaurants etc.
All in all, it seems to be the case that there are enough people willing to pay for all these. I remember an article on ynet about half a year ago that Mapa was already making money from this service. It was barely in the black at the time, but it's probably more nowadays.
Alexander Maryanovsky.
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