i have a table that i display customer addresses that i want to be able to click the words "map it" that will bring up the google map of the address. this works fine but it opens in the same window. i want a seperate window so they dont leave my site

Code:
<td><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=<? echo $address; ?>">map it</a></font></td>
if have tried the target="_self" but i cant get it to work when i have that in. another problem is if the address has a # sign then the google maps only displays up to that point . I typed it manually in a browser and got the same result so maybe thats a limitation.