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yet another Microsoft blogger

# Thursday, September 27, 2007

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Mapquest

Over the past 6 months I've just been amazed at overhearing people talk about directions... and MapQuest. It seems that people still use MapQuest.. I haven't touched that thing in years. Almost all the conversations I've heard regarding Mapping and Directions have referenced MapQuest.

I've never heard anyone reference Google, Yahoo or MSN/Windows Live/Microsoft/Virtual Earth Maps.

It seems like the old Web 1.0 companies still maintain a lot of mindshare. This includes Ofoto and Shutterfly as well.

Gear
Posted Friday, September 28, 2007    Permalink    Comments [3]  View blog reactions

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Friday, September 28, 2007 5:59:56 AM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)
I almost always start out at Google Maps, especially if I just need to know the general location of a destination, or want to see the hybrid (satellite + map overlay). But when I need step-by-step directions I go to Mapquest and get those as well.
So far, Mapquest's directions seem more human-ly correct and Google's seem more algorithm-ly correct. Google's are a bit shorter but take you along seldom used roads, or through construction, or sometimes along frontage roads instead of the highway. It feels like the directions from Mapquest are tuned by people and closer to how people actually drive - roads with higher speeds, fewer turns, major roads, and less lights.
Until Google, or Yahoo, or Microsoft, fix that seeming bit, Mapquest will continue to have a large market-share.
ethan
Friday, September 28, 2007 7:18:04 AM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)
What Ethan said. Google is cool for "browsing" geography, but I just don't trust its actual driving directions, based on a couple of bad experiences. Conversely, I have years' worth of trust in Mapquest directions. So if I'm printing stuff out that I'm going to be relying on when I'm hundreds of miles away and not near a computer, I'm going to be safe and use Mapquest.

(Although with Live Search on my phone, I guess now I'm always near a "computer". I haven't adapted to that really yet, though...)
Mike Kozlowski
Monday, October 01, 2007 11:38:13 AM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)

Because MapQuest was the first one to do it and they did it right and it still works right. Easy site and easy directions. Mapquest is like a brand name because it's well known. The other sites are too geeky for non technical users. If MapQuest works just fine why bother looking at something else. Many regular users do not care if it's Web 1.0 or 3.0.
Abdu
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