This application is enough to cover your possible needs in maps. Even though it requires Internet connection to work properly, you do not have to start your browser, which lets you work faster. I enjoyed it.
As the desciption of this program rightly states, it's strange Google hasn't developed something like this by today: their map service is more than awesome, but I don't want to launch my web browser each time, when I want to see, say, a bird's eye view of Paris. This app solves this problem for us, and what's even cooler, it's freeware and still supports most of the browser version features, like traffic overlays. A must-have for everyone!