Yahoo/OVI APIs and Flickr maps help needed

Google maps can look as plain or as colourful as you care to make it look.
see :http://www.spotsvstripes.com/catch/
You can do a lot with custom markers and overlays.

Just looks like standard gmap to me?

The look the actual map is only one consideration anyway, with the Flickr map the images display nicely and there's a filmstrip of all the images on the map along the bottom, clicking images takes you straight to the big version within Flickr, it's just more integrated than gmaps I think.