The Webby Awards, often called the Oscars® of the online and mobile world, just declared MapQuest.com an official honoree in the web services category.  As most of you know, we’ve made some big changes over the past year, so we are honored that such great minds appreciate what we’re doing.  If you’re not familiar with the Webbys, it’s an award honoring excellence in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile.

According to The Webby Awards official site, the honorees are selected by ‘an executive 750-member body of leading web experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries and creative celebrities, and Associate Members who are former Webby Award Winners and Nominees, and other Internet professionals.’  While that sounds somewhat exciting, it’s even better when you hear who is included in that list: musicians Beck and David Bowie, creator of “The Simpsons” Matt Groening, Virgin Atlantic Chairman and Founder Richard Branson, founding partner of Crispin, Porter + Bogusky Alex Bogusky, and many other folks with whom I wouldn’t hate to be stuck in a room. The members also include writers and editors from publications such as The New York Times, Wired, Details, Fast Company, Elle, The Los Angeles Times, Vibe and WallPaper.

We’re also featured in Web by You, a concept from The Webby Awards and AOL, that highlights some great people in the industry and also encourages people like you to vote in the People’s Choice segment of The Webby Awards.

Thanks for the honor, Webbys.  We hope to continue to impress you over the next year!

Before: Yuriage, Japan, just south of Sendai. Aerial image from April 2010

After: Same area as of March 12, 2011. Like many neighboring coastal cities, Yuriage was nearly completely wiped out by the tsunami

Before: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Facility. Aerial image from November 2009

After: Same area as of March 17, 2011. Several reactors were heavily damaged by the earthquake and tsunami. Authorities continue work to stabilize the reactors and prevent further radiation leakage.

MapQuest recently launched, crowd-sourced map service in Japan through a country-dedicated site, open.mapquest.jp.  Read more here on how image provided to OpenStreetMap by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency is available to the mapping community to help accurately portray damage caused by the tsunami and recovery efforts that are currently underway.

AOL News and Huffington Post both have up-to-date information on relief efforts, as well as ways to support the recovery process.  Our hearts go out to the millions of people affected by this tragedy.

It’s Easy
Cruiser bikes are all about the laid-back lifestyle, so we made the giveaway easy-going as well.  Just find one of our street team members, show them that you’ve downloaded our FREE MapQuest mobile app (yes, the one with voice-guided directions), and you’ll have the chance to enter to win.

Find the Street Team
Dressed in bright green shirts and gray hats, we’ll be hard to miss.  Many of us will also be riding around on some amazing MapQuest-branded bikes so keep your eyes peeled.  If you still can’t find us, just check @MapQuestTech as we’ll be tweeting real-time as to where we are.

When to Play
As you can see in the poster (pictured right), we’ll be taking entry forms Saturday (3/12) thru Tuesday (3/15) and announcing the winner everyday at 4:30pm CST.  If a free bike doesn’t appeal to you, we’re also hosting happy hours from 4-5pm in the MapQuest booth both Monday and Tuesday.

MapQuest's Street Team Bikes

Here are the details…

When:
Sunday, March 13th 5:30-8:30 pm

Where:
Bus Pick-up at the Hilton Austin.  MapQuest will load the bus at the Hilton Austin around 5:30pm, then transport the first 250 people to this free (and delicious) event.

Who:
Attendees will include tech influencers and press, VCs, and entrepreneurs from your favorite and soon to be favorite start-ups.

Participants will need a SXSW Interactive, Gold, or Platinum badge, and an ID to prove you’re 21 or older. Remember, you must be on the bus in order to take part. It’s first-come, first-served, so get there early!

People are still talking about last year’s trip with MapQuest. Make sure you don’t miss out this year.

Add the event to your SXSW event calendars:

SXSW Schedule
Facebook
Plancast
Upcoming
Sched

For more info on what we have planned for SXSW, check out our earlier post.

As we count down the days until we head to Austin, we wanted to share with you what we have planned in hopes that you’ll join us.  Here’s a quick overview; some might say we’ll be busy, but we wouldn’t have it any other way!

MapQuest Road Trip (3.13 @ 5:30) – Take a road trip with MapQuest to get free, all-you-can-eat BBQ and drinks, gorgeous scenery, and quality conversation with some great minds in the biz.

Booth during Interactive + Film (3.14 – 3.17) – Happy hours, giveaways, and great developer chat.  We’ll be right near the 4th St. entrance so stop by.

Giveaway (3.12 – 3.15) – We can’t give all these details away yet, but let’s just say you’ll want what we’ve got.  Stay tuned to our blog for more info.

Das IronGeek (3.15 @ 3:00) – MapQuest will host one of 5 challenges in Das IronGeek, an event that puts a set of 6 press and bloggers attending SXSW through a series of fun, technology related challenges, all intended to test their “geekiness”.

Panel (3.15 @ 3:30) – Josh Babetski, our Product Evangelist, will be taking part in a panel about Interoperable Location.

Core Conversation (3.15 @ 5:00) – Christian Dwyer, our GM, and Maureen Sullivan, AOL’s CMO, will hold a core conversation about re-branding.

Official Mapping Sponsor of SXSW - Download SXSW’s official mobile app, SXSW GO, to build your schedule, see a map of what’s going on where, and more.

Stay tuned to our blog and @MapQuestTech over the next few weeks for more details.  Hope to see you in Austin!

MapQuest for Android Sweepstakes
Free tablet anyone? Between now and March 9, 2011, at 5 p.m. ET, you can enter for a chance to win 1 of 3 Samsung Galaxy Tabs™ or 1 of 150 MapQuest for Android T-shirts! Just head over to our Facebook page and enter your information for a chance to win. If you prefer Twitter, we’ve got you covered there too. Remember to share with friends once you enter as the more you share, the better your chances are to win.

How to Make a QR Code Out of LEGOs Video
We love that you can get apps by just scanning a QR code, but we wondered: What would make this even better? Why, scanning a QR code made out of LEGOs, of course! So we created a life-sized QR code from LEGOs and recorded the process. Have your Android phone ready as you can scan the QR code for our free app that appears at the end of the video.

Need an Android app to scan the QR code? You can find some at the Android Market.

Android is a trademark of Google Inc. Use of this trademark is subject to Google Permissions.

So there we said it, free gas for a year. Now get over to freegas.mapquest.com and complete the “Gas for a Year” form with name, email address, street address, and birthday. Each day at 3:00pm Eastern Time we will be choosing a winner and announcing it at freegas.mapquest.com. Remember to enter everyday but like everything else, good things must come to an end, so the final day to enter the sweepstakes is December 31 at 5:00 Eastern Time.

One more thing… if you tell your friends and they enter, you will receive up to 25 extra entries. So increase you chances by sharing – remember it is the holidays!

Step 1 – Sign In

After heading over to MapQuest.com the first thing you do is sign in using an AOL, Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo!, or Google account. Signing in first will make sure that all of your My Maps information is saved. Take a look at the screen shot to the right. That’s what you will see when you first arrive.

For the sake of the season, we are going to create a My Map for a ski trip to Copper Mountain. During our three day, two night trip, we want to find:

• A good place to eat
• A bar to visit after a hard day of skiing
• The hotel

Step 2 – Start Adding Points of Interest

We have been told Alpinista Mountain Bistro is a great place to eat and want to place it on our map. After searching for Alpinista Mountain Bistro, we locate it on our map then click the pin to offer us other options.  We select ‘Save to My Maps,’ then ‘Create New Map’ and the Alpinista Bistro is added to the list. Here we can change the pin icon, add notes, and search nearby points of interest.

Because this is a new My Map, we need to create a name and add notes so it’s easy to find and add to the map later if we wish. Let’s go ahead and name it ‘Snow Day at Copper Mountain.’ Check out the screen shot on the right to see an example of what this looks like.

After pressing ‘Save’ you can always go back to this map to either add points of interest or share it with friends via Facebook, email, mobile phone, a car navigation system, or a GPS system.

Step 3 – Adding Notes

Now continuing with other restaurants, we have heard good things about Double Diamond Bar & Grill, so we add that to the My Map and make some notes about it. Underneath the address there is the ‘Edit Notes’ button. There you can add information about the place including what you had to eat or an interesting fact. You can even change the icon that is displayed on the map, which can help you distinguish between lodging, restaurants, bars, etc.

Step 4 – Using The MapQuest Toolbar For Finding Places of Interest

For the sake of navigation and finding other points of interest around us we decided to place our lodging on the map. Instead of searching for the specific place, we used the MapQuest Toolbar to show us all of the lodging in the area. Our place, Copper Mountain Gold Lodging, was right there so we clicked the pin and pressed ‘Save to My Maps.’ It’s that easy!

Step 5 – Finish and Share

Don’t forget to share your map through Facebook, email, mobile phone, a car navigation system, or a GPS system. You’ll want your friends to know about your latest adventure. Here is the finished Snow Day at Copper Mountain map created using MapQuest’s My Maps feature. http://mapq.st/h/6-dydIpGoT

With this in mind, we created My Maps.  We debuted this tool when we launched the New MapQuest back in June, but with all the changes, you may not have noticed the addition and/or realized all the things it can do! To give you an idea, My Maps lets you create and save maps of important (or not so important) locations and then easily share it with friends and family. With My Maps you can:

1. Create a Trip Itinerary – Spring Break Road Trip, Napa Wine Tour, etc
2. Plan an Event – Wedding Weekend, Pub Crawl, etc
3. Create a Collection – My Favorite Pizza Places, Vermont Cheese Trail, etc
4. TBD – In other words, things that we haven’t even thought of yet

If you still need some ideas to get started on your own My Maps, we have plenty. How about the best route to see holiday lights – plan ahead and share with neighbors to give them tips on where to go. Or are you planning a weekend ski trip or three days in a new city? How about something more off the beaten path? Think about these trips now and start building, save it, add to it, ask friends for suggestions and then publish it to your social network.

Still need more inspiration?  Well, check out our latest My Map – Thanksgiving Dinner…On a Map.  As a heads-up, this one falls under that ‘TBD’ category that I mentioned earlier.  Take a peak – you might be able to use it as a way to talk to that cousin that you’re always seated next to at Thanksgiving. Hey, we all need some good conversation starters….

We hope you’ll take a sec to check out My Maps and find it as entertaining/helpful/fun/informational as we do.  Check back again next week for a quick ‘how-to’ create your own My Map.  Until then…

Best part? We have you covered from the tarmac to the ski slopes. Trip includes: a flight out to Colorado, a rental car to transport you from Denver International Airport to Copper Mountain, 3 nights of lodging that’s minutes from the slopes, lift tickets and even ski rentals.

So you are probably asking, how do you enter to win?

1.    Go to the MapQuest Facebook page
2.    Click the “Snow Day Sweeps” tab
3.    Click “Enter to Win” and then follow the quick steps from there

And there you have it; you and three of your favorite people are entered to win! Share with your friends and family - maybe they’ll even choose to take you along. Good luck!