MapQuest is an invaluable tool to use when traveling IMO. I just used it to route myself efficiently when out applying for jobs today.

I've found that Yahoo's driving directions are much much better...at least for my area (ohio)

Mapquest can be cool, but it also sucks. I was once instructed to take 4 left hand turns....think about it...

Geez, what do people expect from Mapquest? If they researched every changed street every day, you'd have to pay hefty for the service and they'd biatch about that too. It's like Fark; nobody claims it's perfect and there's no written guarantees. Plus since its free, one doesn't have the right to criticize what they're not paying for.

Charge $25/mth for bad directions then there's a reason to biatch.

I hate to say it, but this is why I use microsofts (Ewwwwwww) streets '02.

It updates over the web automaticly, and I got it for $15 at costcos.

The one cool thing about MapQuest is its integration in the MacOS Jaguar version of Sherlock.
I still prefer Yahoo's driving directions, though.

Gotta agree with Weaps... I've used DeLorme StreetAtlas since somewhere around version 2, and now have the 2003 edition coupled with a Garmin eTrek handheld GPS, and can go anywhere with it. SA will also let me add new streets if I find them, so I can go drive around a new subdivision with StreetAtlas on the laptop and update my map accordingly.

If I really have to use online maps, I use maps.yahoo.com, but I completely ignore the stupid directions and look only at the maps.

i'm too much of a printed map junkie to ever use mapquest.

In defense of mapquest, it got me from my home in Dallas , Tx to a home in Shelby Township, Michigan with NO problem.

You should always have a big book of maps for your locality, anyway.

i don't think Mapquest sucks - but i also don't lie a billion times a day

use terrasever, it is much much better

What I hate about MapQuest is that once you're done using it, I can never fold it back the way I originally found it.

Most of us are fortunate to have a failsafe backup plan:




A WIFE WHO WIILL FORCE YOU TO STOP AND ASK FOR DIRECTIONS

From my experience, I have a hard time trusting the MapQuest directions, they have let me down a few times in the past...

Map nerds.

Shoot me now.....WITH HEROINE!

Hahaha. Yes, Mapquest isn't perfect. Anybody who expects it to be is a retard. Learn to read street signs. Mapquest usually will at least get you in the vicinity. Common sense gets you the rest.

I found pointing in the general direction usually gets me the streets I need. Even on the long trips, maps can take up time. For some reason, each stop to find out where I am going would end up costing a half an hour. Randomly going in the general direction on several hudred mile trips for the first time and getting lost would get me there in the same time. Along with many surprising sights for the camera too!

Maps are for wimps. I'd rather stop and ask for directions before I open another map.

I've had a few bad experiences with MapQuest directions, but nothing serious; what REALLY bugs me (more because I'm a map/road geek than because I'll ever be using the roads in question) is that some new construction...just isn't on the maps. Like US 119 thrugh western West Virginia, which was completed in 1997 all the way through Williamson, but the map still shows the superhighway as ending at Nolan, as it did through the 1980s and early 1990s (look it up to see what I mean).

Also a few roads here in Manassas haven't shown up until very recently. It seems like any sort of accuracy is only guaranteed in old-growth metro areas (here, that'd be just about anyplace inside the Beltway).

BTW, Thomas Bros. is very much an LA thing; they've recently made it to DC, but here, ADC book maps have been the standard for years.

In my book Mapquest and Yahoo Maps are about the same. It's all due to the street data out there that is being provided my them (via NavTech or GDT-it depends on the provider). Some area's streets are newer than others and there is a gap between real time data and when it shows up in these on-line mapping services.

God bless Penny-Arcade

"By this time tomorrow, we could be doing body shots of hookers in some mexican hell hole."

I need to make that my new signature file....

mapquest sucks with New York directions, on the Cross-Bronx gives directions to an exit number that doesn't exist 8A, there are 8, 8B, & 8C, and the name of the street they gave didn't even exist at any of those other exits, listed, plus it can't even get my street name right

I've travelled 12 times, coast to coast. Used Mapquest for about half of the trips. One time I was down a bumpy dirt outta the way road for about 45 minutes cuz of Mapquest. The other half of the trips, I used Thomas Guides and local maps. Never had a problem with the conventional way, only myself to biatch at if I turned right instead of left.

Get AAA, get all the maps ya want.

I'm a map junkie, but I never follow the directions those things spit out - I just look at the map and draw it out. The only time I've gotten in trouble was when I was using an AAA Tourbook, of all things, to locate a hotel in downtown Chattanooga. The map said it was by the river, but it was actually off of the highway farther inland. My girlfriend and I drove through what I think was the "abandoned warehouse" district until we found a fire station and asked for directions. The firemen told Natalie to keep me since I actually bothered to stop and ask.

On the other hand, I have the Mapquest Road Atlas and I think it's much better than Rand McNally or AAA - it shows the Page Ave. extension under construction here in STL, among other things, and it's just much clearer to read.

MapQuest sent me though the hood one time. Not like the nice part of the hood either. This was the part of the hood where they have look outs on the corners and shiat. I figured for sure that I was going to get shot at or arrested on suspicion of something or the other. Later on, I realized that the locals probably thought of me more as a prospective customer, not target practice. However, I pretty sure I would of looked awfully suspicious to the local pd.

You ain't lived until you've had some 300 pound hooker chasing you down the street of the ghetto. She was booking it pretty fast too.

I have not had a problem with Mapquest at all, and I travel out of town at least one weekend a month. But, I always have double-checked with Yahoo! Maps, and they have always both had generally the same directions.

Not bad for a free service... IMO

I have a horrible sence of direction, and I occasionally use mapquest. It once took me 2.5 hours to get to a destination a few towns over that should have taken me half an hour.

MapBlast destroys MapQuest.

But as to why they suck, all these services get their linework from the fed's TIGER maps. TIGER relys on local jurisdictions reporting new streets and new address ranges. It is only offically updated with each census.

Yahoo Maps and MapQuest work just fine for me 99% of the time. It can't take traffic and road work into account, but I wish they had was a way to generate multiple routes so that I can make a decision which way to go based on radio traffic reports. All in all, it's a good service.

Yahoo tried to steer me into a lake.
Mapquest just wants me to go the wrong way on one way streets.

I like Mapquest. I've never had a problem with it. I do, however, plan to migrate to Delorme Street Atlas and a GPS receiver that plugs into a PC Card slot when I get a laptop.

All of these mapping services are only going to be as good as the original source data, and much of that leaves a *lot* to be desired. For instance, we still have drivers get lost when trying to find our house (pizza delivery, as an example), because when our neighborhood was first created our street was listed with the County as "Ferguson Court" in an early planning map. When the neighborhood was officially opened, it became "Sunrise Court", but the old name has propagated to *every* freakin' map in the world now...

This also reminds of an old version of the DeLorme CD that had the Hoosier Dome located about ten miles *east* of downtown Indianapolis. Not sure if that error is still there.

If you never want to get lost... two words.

Thomas. Guide.


I kept one in my car when I lived in Seattle, and I could find anywhere in that city. It never let me down.

Mapquest is usually interested in getting the truck routes correct. I think it has to do with pressure from the Teamsters or something.

an great map site for all of Europe

The Royal Something or Other

"I don't know what sense of twisted optimism makes me continue to use the farking service..." - wired doesnt censor eh ?

I've never had MapQuest work for me either. I use Yahoo Maps now.

Mapquest is perfect for me 29/30 times, but that 30th time sure does suck.

Personally, I haven't had any luck with MapQuest. Yahoo
seems to have the best service for me- and being a socal
native helps me spot the kinks before I even start driving...

Need another reason to say it sucks?
Anyone look at who owns Mapquest?
AOL Time Warner.
Nuf said

Yahoo Maps are even worse. None of them ever work properly, all have given me bad directions.
But....they still work if you're flexible enough to not take them literally.

Nothing beats the good old Rand McNalley truckers atlas. I'll look at yahoo, then mapquest, then streets+. RN is always the one out of 4 that is correct.

Mapquest works for me most of the time. I know the general area of my city and never travel out of town. But it has gotten me lost a couple of times.