MapQuest Blog

Did you know that you can send locations to your OnStar-equipped car using the aptly named "Send to OnStar" feature on MapQuest.com?

The OnStar Channel at YouTube has a short video demonstrating and explaining how MapQuest and OnStar integrate to help you plan ahead for trips.

MapQuest has always had a distinctive unique look and feel for our maps and now we're refreshing this look with a new map style and imagery improvements.

Check out our new features that enhance the map-viewing experience:

1. If you're looking at a map in North America, you'll notice new terrain and vegetation imagery at zoom levels 4 - 9. Now you can visualize real-world terrain (such as mountains) that you'll be driving through on your next trip across the country.
   
   
2. We've also completely redone the entire road network to improve readability and shape of the roads with the new colors and styling. A cleaner map style is achieved by highlighting the major roads more clearly and the smaller access roads with narrower lines and lighter colors.
   
3. In larger cities, we've added more building footprints showing how large a building is on the street. In addition, you'll now see main subway stops shown on the map.
   
4. And, not to be left out, take a look at our hybrid imagery view and you'll see that we have improved the look of the roads while not obscuring the imagery.
   

We hope you enjoy our map updates and look for more imagery updates coming soon!

Monsters, Maidens & Madoffs are sure to make appearances all over the country this Halloween. We love Halloween at MapQuest. In fact, it's not unusual if someone Trick or Treats as our very own "Mark The Star".



If you're a Halloween fanatic like we are, or the kids are bugging you to get them to a local Haunted House, make sure you check out your local Halloween House locations on MapQuest by clicking on the ghost icon within our On Map Search Tool (located on the right hand side the map). For hours and other information about the spooky haunt, click on the specific location bubble on the map and go to the location's website. NOTE: If you don't at first see Haunted Houses in your area, zoom-out to span a wider search area.




We teamed up with our friends at HauntWorld to bring you these haunting locations. Make sure to check them out to find local hay rides, corn mazes, and other ghostly events near you.



Happy Haunting!

The stage is finally set. With the introduction of MapQuest Navigator on iPhone earlier this month, we now have two distinctive mapping and directions products for iPhone users. Both applications, MapQuest 4 Moblie and MapQuest Navigator, provide the ability for users to get where they need to go and what to do along the way.

And while both products share this same base functionality, each were designed for their own use case and specific purpose in mind. Here is a tale of these two apps:



MapQuest 4 Mobile:

The next evolution of maps and directions on the iPhone.

Overview: A FREE simple and full-featured alternative to the on-board iPhone maps application providing users easy access to maps, directions, points of interest business listings, and the ability to view MapQuest My Places information.

Designed For:

• Casual and business travelers, as well as anyone looking to view maps or easily create directions (route) to and from a specific location(s).
• Users wishing to view and utilize their Maps & Directions created and saved at MapQuest.com on their iPhone. Get your My Places account here.
  
• Users traveling to a new destination wanting easy access to various business listings such as coffee shops, hotels, restaurants, and more.

Current Version: 1.1.2 (NEW!) Get it here.

Resources:

• Product Page
• Demo Video
• Support Page

MapQuest Navigator:

Simple, intuitive, voice-guided navigation for everyone.

Overview: An affordable streamlined, easy to use turn-by-turn, voice-guided navigation application that presents users with an intuitive interface for receiving their route directions via spoken street and highway names.

Designed For:

• Casual and business travelers, as well as tourists looking to optimally navigate to a new or known destination via verbal cues and spoken directions.
• Users that are looking to easily navigate to a known or unknown location-avoiding traffic incidents or traffic congestion.
• Users traveling to a new destination wanting easy access and route guidance to various business listings such as coffee shops, hotels, restaurants, and more.

Current Version: 1.0 Get it here for only $3.99/mo, $9.99/3 months, $29.99/yr

Resources:

• Product Page
• Demo Video
• Support Page
• Voted Best of CTIA Fall 2009

Now that MapQuest Navigator for iPhone is out in the wild, we thought it best to provide a bit of guidance both for those who have the app and those who are looking to get the app and need more clarification on its features.

With that said, here are a few tips that will help you better harness the power of the Voice Guided routing feature within MapQuest Navigator:

A. GPS and Cell Coverage Questions:

It goes without saying that the app is fairly reliant on both cell and GPS connectivity in order to navigate. However, the good news is that because we download the "route corridor" (a limited surrounding distance around your route) when you start a trip, you can lose cell connectivity and still navigate towards your destination with no ill effects.

Unfortunately, losing the GPS signal is another story. The app has the same limitations as any/all GPS reliant devices: if you lose connectivity or have a weak signal, the routing engine may become confused and display inaccurate information such as erroneous directional prompts and traffic info. Additionally, cloud-cover and dense urban high-rise environments can severely impair your iPhone's GPS signal and accuracy.

B. Routing Tips:

1. When going "off-route", from a main road/highway or interstate onto a smaller street, the app will do its best to keep you on that major road even prompting you to "make a legal u-turn" well into your diversion.
What to do: Before creating your route, go to the "settings" panel on your iPhone and select "Navigator." Choose the "Avoid Highways" option to allow the app to accept "off-route" diversions that include smaller streets and roads.



2. When traveling on a route with heavy traffic and slow movement, you may receive your directional voice prompt multiple times before you can take action.
What to do: With the app open, tap the iPhone screen or click on the "Options" to reveal the Route Settings panel. Choose the "Mute" button to force the app into silent mode while you progress through traffic.



3. Need to make a stop during your route, but want the flexibility of returning where you left-off?
What to do: Simply quit the app. When you are finished with your stop, power up MapQuest Navigator once again, and you will be prompted to continue with your route--right where you left-off!

C. Using the Place Carousel for searching points of interest:

In some cases, finding locations within a certain business category (icon), may not display locations within your map view.
What to do: Zoom out to enable a larger map area and therefore larger coverage.

Have other questions or concerns? Visit our handy support site or view the "Quick Start Guide" here.

Some of you may have noticed that when we initially launched MapQuest Navigator for iPhone, we offered a $.99 price for a 14-day trial. Unfortunately, due to App Store restrictions, we are now unable to support this offer. The application is now initially available for one month at $3.99.

After the first month for $3.99, users can choose the subscription model that best suits their needs: one month at $3.99, three months at $9.99 or one year at $29.99.

Thanks to everyone that has already downloaded the MapQuest Navigator for iPhone, and for the great feedback we've received. If you haven't already downloaded the application we encourage you to try it, and believe that you'll like its easy-to-use interface, voice-guided navigation and convenient local search capabilities.

Today, MapQuest released the new MapQuest Navigator for iPhone, an easy-to-use voice-guided, turn-by-turn navigation application with convenient local search capabilities. MapQuest Navigator for iPhone is available for a 14-day trial for $0.99 from the App Store and At the end of the trial period,users can choose the subscription model that best suits their needs: one month at $3.99, three months at $9.99 or one year at $29.99. Subscriptions can be purchased from within the application and are non-recurring--on an opt-in basis only.

MapQuest Navigator for iPhone offers a feature set that is focused on providing helpful driving directions while assisting people to find things along the way, including:

• 2-D and 3-D moving maps to help people follow the route as well as spoken directions with street names
• Route optimization to avoid areas with accidents, construction or other events affecting traffic
• Full route corridor download at the beginning of the journey enables the application to quickly re-routes in case of a missed turn, regardless of network coverage
• One-tap search for businesses along a route via a palette of on-map widgets in categories such as hotels, shopping, gas stations, coffee shops, parking garages and more
• More than 16 million points of interest and maps for the U.S. and Canada

The app is available now on the iPhone App Store by clicking here.
To see a demo video, click here.
If you would like more information about the application, visit wireless.mapquest.com


MapQuest Navigator for iPhone key features:

1. Streamlined 3D interface featuring voice-guided, turn-by-turn navigation that speaks directions and street names.



2. Regular Data Updates: Search 16+ million points of interest and utilize up-to-date street maps.



3. Full route corridor download offers quick route re-calculation for missed turns as well provides continued service in areas of no cellular coverage.



4. Traffic Incident Based routing: US routes are optimized to avoid traffic incidents that might delay your travel.



5. Our new MapQuest® place carousel: Easily displays locations for hotels, movie theatres, gas stations, and more with a single tap.

There are so many ways these days to connect online and show the world your passions, collections, favorite restaurants and whereabouts (to name a few). However, getting those items on a map and posted to your blog or website has always been a bit of a challenge.

Thankfully, MapQuest just introduced their GeoRSS Embeddable Map feature that allows you to easily share location referenced content on a MapQuest map within your blog or website. The feature requires access to an online service that provides a feed with location data (Flikr, Brightkite, Yelp or When.com are examples) and places icons of your content and their location on an embedded MapQuest map.

The example below depicts our very own "Mark The Star" in various points of interest around the city of Denver. We have utilized our Geo-tagged images on Flickr and brought them into the MapQuest map via Flickr's "geoFeed" feature.

So get ready to try out our new easy-to-use GeoRSS feature for Embeddable Maps. And, if you don't need the GeoRSS ability, we encourage you to still look at how simple it is to add a map to your blog or website with our embeddable map feature!

Fall has many special occasions, and among them the changing of the leaves. Growing up, I was fortunate enough to experience the vibrant reds, oranges, maroons & yellows of Fall in Vermont. I spent my college years in southwest Virginia where the beautiful maroon and orange colors were indicative of my school's colors and meant that it was football season. These days I'm in Denver, Colorado with a different view of Fall as the Aspens turn a bright green and then to a vibrant gold color. Although the leaves here are beautiful in their own right, I must say that the most beautiful Fall seasons that I've experienced were in Vermont & Upstate New York.

If you're looking for some great foliage viewing and need some ideas, check out this list put together by our friends at Digital City. If you need a few tips for your trip planning, make sure you make use of all of MapQuest's features:

Low on Funds?

• Check out our handy fuel cost calculator- it uses your car's gas mileage in conjunction with the length of your trip and gas prices in your area to determine the cost of your route.
• Drag your route to see side roads and more foliage. (Save your route too!)

Looking for hotels to stay at along your route?

• Click on our on-map search tool on the right of the map- you can select either the bed icon or a brand that you prefer on the toolbar. Scroll up or down to see more options.
• Check for restaurants or gas stations too!

Planning in advance?

• Save your trip in your "My Places" account for easy access online OR on your mobile device!
  
• Check out MapQuest Local to see what else is happening at your destination.
  

Going on a whim?

• Check out our mobile products for your use on-the-go.
  

Safe Travels!

As most may know, earlier in the Spring, we launched MapQuest 4 Mobile for BlackBerry. With My Places integration for easy retrieval of your saved Maps & Routes from MapQuest.com, it is the perfect compliment to the "road warrior" lifestyle.

For those of you that haven't downloaded the free application, we have made it super easy to get the app so you can hit the road! Over on wireless.mapquest.com we have added a handy little widget that allows you to easily get the application on your BlackBerry. Simply enter your mobile number into the form, click "Send me the link" and seconds later your download link arrives via a *text message. After clicking on the link, your download of the application will begin. It's the fastest way to start using MapQuest 4 Mobile on your BlackBerry!

To see if your BlackBerry is compatible, please click here and select your carrier and phone.

*standard carrier text rates apply

Over at local.mapquest.com, we have Widgets that help you find just about anything near you. For instance, you can easily find local concerts, blogs, tweets, movies, classifieds, restaurants...and the list goes on.

While these widgets are extremely useful and functional, none compare to the importance and impactful nature of our new Missing and Exploited Children Widget powered by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).

The new widget features pictures and information about children who are missing from your default local area established on local.mapquest.com. You can also search for missing children by name and link directly to NCMEC's website for other missing children resources.

Continuing a relationship with NCMEC that spans nearly 10 years, AOL and MapQuest believe the new widget is an informative method for anyone to easily help in the search for missing children.

The new widget can be found at http://local.mapquest.com

Let's face it, one of the key elements of any mapping product is the ability to search a particular location for an address or business. When we launched MapQuest 4 Mobile for the iPhone a few months back, we utilized the standard iPhone "2-box" on "1-line" interface that looks like the current mobile Safari search area.

After the product began to "settle-in", we heard from a great deal of users that the "1-line" interface was confusing and a bit "clunky". What did we do? We fixed it and then improved the overall performance of the app as well. Now in version 1.1, when you click within the search field, you are presented with two horizontal search boxes; one for "search by business" and one for "search by address" (see illustration below).



The list below represents the complete set of updates found within the new 1.1 version:

• Improved search experience: "Double-decker" entry for business search & address
• Improved Place Carousel speed and performance
• Faster "tabbing" between modes: Maps, Directions, My Places, and Settings
• Improved routing performance
• My Places locations and locally stored locations can now be viewed on the same screen

If you haven't already downloaded the free application for your iPhone, click here to get the latest version now {opens iTunes link}.

One of our favorite events of the year is the SXSW Interactive festival. Austin, Texas is a great town to assemble thousands of creative and technical people from all over the world. The conference isn't until March of next year, but already planning has begun. This brings us to the subject of today's post.

Unlike most shows, the public vote weighs heavily on what speaking panels get selected. MapQuest is jazzed to be involved in two of the panels up for voting in the Panel Picker.

Here's the panels we're involved with:

Time + Social + Location. What's Next In Mobile Experiences?

As more devices become location aware, social uses will continue to evolve beyond just who and what, to WHEN. Adding the temporal dimension creates new opportunities for social interaction. Learn about ways to leverage and use technology to add features at the intersection of temporal, social, and location.

We're happy to be collaborating on this panel with some talented experts from innovative companies in the areas of social, temporal, and location. In addition to myself, the panelists for this session will be:

Brady Becker

Founder and EVP of Creative for Brightkite

Tyler Bell

Head of Product for Yahoo! Geo, Geo Technologies

Gregory Cypes

Business Development and Principal Software Engineer for AIM

Ryan Sarver

Product Manager of Platform for Twitter

Andrew Turner

CTO of FortiusOne / GeoCommons

Social Breadcrumbing - Tying Networks Together by Phone

The integration of location-based services, phones and social networks is increasingly common. But how does this enhance the lives of users and improve their actual experiences on sites? Learn about the unique ways that sites are utilizing these services to upgrade their data and promote greater sharing among users.

Organized by our Mobile Technical Manager: Chip Millson, this panel will go deep into the impact and opportunities of data sharing and location-based services.

Vote

We're excited about these discussions almost as much as we're excited to get some Texas BBQ. Please visit the 2010 SXSW PanelPicker and give us a "Thumbs Up" if you're interested in checking out these talks. There are also over 2000 other panels to vote on. Take some time to vote on some other great panel ideas as well.

Thanks and see you in Austin!

As most you may know this past June, we launched the Mapping & Directions app - MapQuest 4 Mobile on iPhone (link opens iTunes). What you may not know is the true story of one MapQuest mobile developer's plight to bring a little casual happiness to the folks that use the app.

Yes that's correct, not only does the app provide functional usage around Maps & Directions---it also quietly adds a little charm, or dare I say snicker to those that uncover the existence of the....Hand Dog.

So, what is a "Hand Dog" anyway you ask? As our developer put it, "...call it an ode to my childhood creating shadow puppets, staying up late in our backyard tent throwing hand rabbits, birds, and swans against the dim, backlit wall. I threw a crude "dog" against the wall and everyone laughed."

Since then, the "Hand Dog" has made its way throughout our developer's life-bringing joy and smiles to family gatherings, barbecues, and now an iPhone app.
As he puts it.."The day is always a little better with Hand Dog".

So, where can I find the "Hand Dog" in the app? One of the cool features of the app is the ability to use a photograph or choose from our "stock" My Position Icons to represent your current location on the map. The "Hand Dog" just happens to be one of our stock icons to choose from (click on "Settings", then select "My Position Icon")

For those interested in downloading the free app and discovering the "Hand Dog" for yourself, click here.

For those looking for more information on how to make your own shadow puppet, click here.

Now Featuring Address Book Integration!

Since our MapQuest 4 Mobile on iPhone app launched last month, a great deal of you requested a way to easily plot the address of a contact in your address book onto a MapQuest 4 Mobile map. Well, ask and you shall receive! The latest version available now in the iPhone App Store includes this new feature as well as a host of changes and enhancements. Here is the complete list:

1. New Address Book integration! Easily plot any address from your iPhone's address book onto a MapQuest 4 Mobile map and get directions to that address.
2. 13 new branded place widgets that include: Chili's®, Citibank®, Comfort Inn®, Embassy Suites®, FedEx®, Home Depot®, HSBC®, Interstate Batteries®, Kohl's®, Papa John's®, Quality Inn®, Sears®, and Wendy's®.
3. Added Search, Map, and Directions Icons to My Places for easier visual recognition.
4. Various user interface bug and stability fixes.

So, if you haven't downloaded the free application, what have you been waiting for?
Click here to get it now.