By the way, what exists outside of the U.S.?

It’s not perfect from day 1?? Geez… what the hell were they thinking? I know.. they should have pulled a google and slapped a perpetual “Beta” label on it, then it would have been okay, right?? Talk about lack of attention span!

Keep your eyes open and give us a try.

Crap, crap, crap. There, I got the obligatory “craps” out of the way. Now on to your facts…

“[MapQuest] lacks the innovative features of GMaps (like showing the satellite and the map at once)…”
W R O N G:
http://www.mapq.../mq/1-LIHCfB_5o*3BupHq

[... let alone GMaps newer features like traffic overlay...]
W R O N G:
http://www.mapq...com/mq/2-KhWiEw*gPDFjM*W2

“… street view…”
You’re right… MapQuest hasn’t incorporated streetside imaging. Yawn.

“… draggable routes…”
W R O N G:
Get directions on MapQuest then see what happens when you click and drag any point on the route.

“… custom mapping…”
E R R R…
MapQuest has a free API; MapQuest allowed alternate routing options before Google had maps (avoid highways, avoid tollways, shortest, fastest); you also might be shocked to see MapQuest’s MyPlaces (use your OpenId to sign up).

“… transit mapping…”

Another one you’re right about. But even a broken clock is right twice a day. Initially the local transit coverage was sparse and inconsistent, so MapQuest made a decision not to pursue it several years ago. Was it the right choice? Perhaps not, but there’s certainly nothing innovative about Google including this data. If you want to know about the real initial risk-taker in this niche, check out HopStop’s history.

“… etc., etc., etc….”

Well… you obviously spoke without any real knowledge initially, and by pure chance got two out of six right. Why should we believe you have any “etc.” left?

(*) Mapquest offers me the ability to avoid any particular maneuver of my directions, just by clicking “Avoid” against a maneuver. This isn’t easy in Google Maps if not impossible. For example, see – http://snipurl.com/1sxdo

(*) “Avoid Toll” option, very important especially for people in toll happy states like NJ. Mapquest had this for ages; they removed it for a while and now it is back for almost a year. Google, Yahoo, MS doesn’t offer this feature. See – http://snipurl.com/1sxdf

(*) “Avoid Highways” was available in Mapquest for ages. (http://snipurl.com/1sxdd); took a while for Google to have that feature.

So, fanboys need to learn to give credit when and where it is due, instead of simply saying “MQ sucks”.

FYI, Map24.com has better features than Mapquest and Google Maps.

That’s all.

It must just be that the techies, the same ones that read TechCrunch, were blown away by the gMaps launch – whereas the average user never knew it even happened. Hence they stick with the name they know, MapQuest. But that is not a sustainable advantage…

Poor people, MQ has sucked for years – a perfect example of a company resting on it’s laurels: “Oh we DO maps! We’re the one! Our interface is PERFECT!” While it just takes another company to ask – “How can this be done better…”

Too little, too late.

The current beta shows very little that’s new and certainly nothing that’s innovative compared with the competition.

I did an in-depth comparison of MapQuest to Google and Yahoo’s offerings:
http://redesign...h-not-much-new/

Given that MapQuest is a bare bones mapping site and does the job (even if it’s not pretty) for most people, it’s biggest threat in the U.S. is really sat nav systems. The prices have been plummeting, with many portable nav systems available under $200. I bet by Christmas you’ll see a few units at $99.

When your car can provide the basics, that’s when the tools that Google and Yahoo offer will make a real difference.

I don’t really see much of a difference to having it all on 1 page. I just care for the AJAX panning and zooming

I think they will do nothing to stop the Google Maps not-so-gradual erosion of their market share. Won’t take long, with Google Maps growing at 26% annually!

For maps, I usually bounce between Yahoo and Google. I find Google’s interface easier to use, while Yahoo’s tends to provide more useful information(i.e., I can see neighborhoods in major cities). Also odd is that I find Yahoo maps to visually have less noise the more I zoom out (say, city or state level), whereas Google’s seems imminently more readable at the street level.

There are only 2 other things I like more about Yahoo, which is the zoom feature is much more useful then Google’s, and I occasionally benefit from the user reviews and local information Yahoo is able to provide, which seems more helpful than Google’s occasional aggregate reviews.

stay frustrated children. ten years from now, AIM, hotmail, yahoo and mapquest will still likely have millions of users, and more obnoxiously, they will retain most of them with minimal investments to copy innovative features four years late

Then again, San Francisco’s Google Map still has the Central Expressway.

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