海角大神

The search company responsible for countless hours of sitting by a computer screen can help you burn calories, too.

To plan jogging routes and track mileage, running enthusiasts are turning to independently produced sites that tap online mapping services from Google Inc. and its rivals. As someone who has logged every mile on a spreadsheet since December 2000 (10,146.7 and counting) these free tools help fuel my obsession with how far I鈥檝e run.

After trying several of the Web services during a recent West Coast trip, I found there鈥檚 no substitute for simplicity.

I鈥檝e long been a fan of , created as a hobby by a first-time marathoner in Hoboken, N.J. Although I have since come across flashier tools packed with more features, I returned to Gmap out of frustration each time.

Despite its sparse look, Gmap is highly functional and easy to use.

You simply trace your route on a Google map as if you were leaving bread crumbs, clicking your mouse to place markers along your intended path. Gmap connects the markers in order, and automatically calculates the distance.

A new 鈥渁utomatic routes鈥� feature helps improve accuracy by reflecting the added distance along curvy paths, even when you drop your bread crumbs in a straight line.

With Gmap鈥檚 help, I met two objectives for my final run during a visit to Vancouver. I needed to cap it at four miles, and I wanted to visit three venues for the 2010 Winter Games 鈥� the closest I鈥檇 ever get to the Olympics.

The night before, I used my hotel鈥檚 Wi-Fi connection to plot a route that circled the arenas for the opening and closing ceremonies and ice hockey before taking me to False Creek, where the housing for athletes is being built.

I hit the 鈥渦ndo last point鈥� button several times to avoid generating a route that would have been too far or given me too little of the Olympics. Once I found a nice balance, I hit 鈥渟ave鈥� to generate a unique Web address I can keep and share with others.

Earlier, in Los Angeles, the auto-route feature proved useful in navigating the curvy paths along Southern California鈥檚 beaches. Gmap also knew I shouldn鈥檛 run through people鈥檚 homes, so it had me turn at the nearest intersection.

As Gmap automatically filled out the route, its calculations were pretty close: a quarter-mile short of the 15.02 miles (24.17 kilometers) reported by a GPS unit I carried on the run.

I had to turn off that auto-routing feature for my , though. Although Gmap was smart enough to let me run the wrong way on one-way streets, it didn鈥檛 know all the recreational paths I saw on tourist maps. (A setting for cyclists does respect traffic laws.)

My main complaint is Gmap鈥檚 inability to track runs by users. I must remember the Web address to access a saved run, and I cannot create an account to store all my runs at one place. I also cannot search for recommendations from other runners.

That is where and come in.

I began with MapMyRun but couldn鈥檛 find any routes near where I was staying in Los Angeles. Sanoodi was better, offering me four.

But they were all too short, so I tried creating my own.

On Sanoodi, which uses Google maps by default, I had to create a free account first, even if I had no intentions of saving it. I found the controls confusing, and attempts to drag the map around inadvertently created 鈥渂read crumb鈥� markers I had to then erase.

MapMyRun, powered by MapQuest from Time Warner Inc.鈥檚 AOL, was only slightly better. Though it automatically detected my presence in Los Angeles, the site kept freezing when I entered a specific address.

Upon returning home to New York, I gave both sites another try, along with one recommended by a few people in my running club, a Google-based offering called from the sport鈥檚 governing body, USA Track & Field.

I like Running Routes鈥� simple approach but find it missing some of Gmap鈥檚 features. It does let you view routes saved by others, but searches for runs in Walla Walla, Wash., and Jim Thorpe, Pa. 鈥� two small towns that came to mind 鈥� produced far fewer returns than MapMyRun.

I found MapMyRun more tolerable in New York, but I couldn鈥檛 print routes without paying $2 or signing up for a $48-a-year membership, which also gives you access to online training schedules. Annoying boxes kept popping up for filling in notes, with the 鈥淴鈥� for closing them hidden behind other fancy boxes I didn鈥檛 want. And the auto-route option often took me blocks out of the way.

I do like that I could keep a training log and search for upcoming races on MapMyRun, and I鈥檓 sure the ability to compare progress with friends could come in handy. I could see using it to research routes in new cities or neighborhoods.

Sanoodi had many bugs its developers promise to fix by early 2009. Rather than prompting me to sign in so I could plan a run, the site simply returned other people鈥檚 runs when I hit 鈥渃reate a route.鈥� And moving the map around sometimes disables the ability to add markers. Sanoodi also lacks, for now, an auto-route feature.

Both MapMyRun and Sanoodi are better than Gmap at letting you edit previously saved runs. Both let you import runs recorded using GPS devices such as Garmin Ltd.鈥檚 Forerunner, and Sanoodi has developed free applications for several mobile devices, upcoming versions of which will continually send data to the website as you run.

But until they get easier to use, simplicity wins any day. The point of running is to be outdoors, not sitting in front of a computer trying to endure flashy graphics.

Now, if only Gmap could disable my snooze button and get me out of bed for chilly morning runs.