MapQuest

MapQuest driving directions are God’s gift to the everyday driver and technology enthusiast, I love driving, and I also love technology, that’s why I am such a big fan of online mapping websites like Yahoo and Google Maps, these sites provide me with exactly the kind of tools that I like to use. What I like the most about using these services, is that they allow me to easily explore places where I have never been before, all I have to do is print a map with an easy route traced on it, and that’s it, what can I say, I’m an old school kind of guy!

Before online mapping softwares were available I’d always have to write down the addresses of the places that I was going to visit, then I would have to figure out which routes to take in order to arrive to where I was going on time. In the past it could take me hours to find my destination, now I only need a computer, a printing machine, and access to the internet. Another way to do it, is by simply accessing the free Map Quest app for mobile (M4M) through my phone, you can also access mapquest.com through any mobile browser, the mobile site is probably not as good as the app, but at least you will be ale to get maps and directions on the go.

I’m always on the run, my job forces me to go from one place to another all day long, I’m not going to get into much detail about what I do for a living, because I created this website simply to forget about my reality. I used to waste countless hours of my life driving in circles around the whole city, when Mapquest and its popular driving directions service showed up my life as a driver got better, and a lot easier as well, thanks to this awesome online mapping service I was able to start saving a lot of time, and money too.

The Map Quest route planner helps people find short and quick routes that have less traffic, the routes are very efficient, they allow people to spend less money on gas, and that’s how this service allows its users to save a lot of money. At the official MQ site you will find many more tools that will help you save even more money, but I will talk about them later.

Check out the route I created to go from Manhattan to Hoboken using the Mapquest route planner on the picture below.

Online mapping softwares have had such a positive impact on my life, and I have been using them for so long, that I can’t even remember, or imagine my life without them. I am a big driving fan, that’s the reason why I’m always trying to find new web mapping services that offer accurate, turn by turn driving directions, you know new and maybe even better alternatives to the ones that I’m currently using. Yahoo Maps and Bing Maps are probably the best alternatives to MapQuest.com and Google Maps. Both services are great, they both have very unique tools and features, but to be honest, I still prefer visiting AOL’s online mapping site when I need easy to follow driving instructions, let’s face it MQ has one of the best route planners on the web.

MapQuest.com is one of the few web mapping sites that has constantly gotten better over the years, it’s better now than it was a five years ago, and I’m sure that in five years it will be a lot better than it is now. This service now offers a wide variety of useful tools, and it is packed with lots of cool features, a good example would be the multi-stop route builder, the route planner allows you to add multiple destinations (stops) to one single route, you can type in a bunch of different addresses, and you can get detailed driving instructions to all of those places in just one site, and all at the same time! Now I don’t have to create a lot of different routes for each trip, I just have to make one big route with all the stops on it.

MapQuest has many more cool features that you can use and adjust depending on your preferences, so things can get easier if you want them to, if you are a more visual person then you can choose to look at your road map from the bird’s eye view, that way you will be able to visualize your whole route before you even start driving. You will receive accurate information on how to get to your destination, the software will tell you when and where to make turns, you will know exactly when to make a right turn, when to make a left turn, etc; you will even know the exact driving distance and driving time between each turn.

Mapquest’s most popular features are, driving directions, walking directions, biking directions, transit directions, multi stop route building, road conditions report, an accurate cheap gas price finder, street maps, road maps, satellite view, 360 view, and weather. These are just some features that popped into my mind, if you visit the site you’ll discover many more that you can also use for free. The site also provides live traffic information that’s updated every five minutes, if you think that your route has too much traffic, then you can easily change it by dragging and dropping the route line on the map, that way you will be able to find an alternate route that has less traffic.

The route planner is also a great tool for planning road trips, I’ve mentioned before that the site offers detailed road maps, and a large selection of tools that make planning a trip less time consuming, you can easily locate all the resting areas and exits in your route, you can also avoid tolls, seasonally closed roads, country borders, timed restrictions, ferries, and highways if possible. Users will also have access to millions of points of interest (POI’s) through the search feature, and also through MQ’s automatic suggestion feature, any person that visits this site will be able to use the search box to find popular landmarks, hotels, garages, restaurants, bars, etc. If you find a place where you want to make a stop all you have to do is click on the icon that represents that location on the map, the route will be automatically updated, and that place will be immediately included in your route.

On the other hand we have Google Maps and Google Earth for driving directions, they are both great, I like both softwares just as much as I like Mapquest, in fact a lot of people believe that G-Maps is now the better site, and probably even more popular worldwide. I think that G Maps is now more popular than AOL’s online mapping software in Europe, South America, Asia, and even Oceania, but that doesn’t even matter, because both services are really good, and they both deliver what they promise.

MQ also has its own version of “street view”, it is called 360 view, and it’s actually very fun to use. However, I do think that Google Street View is better, and it is available for more countries and cities around the world, but that doesn’t matter, because you can still use the 360 View to explore any address or location in the USA, and many more places worldwide.

If you want to find all the best online mapping softwares, just in case you want to try out a couple of services before you decide which one is the best for you, then you can perform a search in Google or any other search engine, simply type “online maps” or “driving directions” for example, you can use other words or sentences when you are making the search, just use your imagination and you will find exactly what you need.

Map Quest has also provides free mobile solutions, their mobile app is available for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry. The app offers voice guided directions, and it also comes with Skyhook Technology, a very interesting routing system that allows users to access navigational information in places where it wasn’t possible before. You can also access this service without having to download anything directly through your mobile’s web browser.

Remember that after creating a route, you can print a map with directions, you can also send directions to your phone, to your car, to your GPS device, you can send them by email, etc. I generally print maps and directions, but that’s no longer necessary thanks to the advanced mobile mapping solutions that this service offers.

I hope that Mapquest driving directions make your driving sessions easier, faster, safer, happier, more relaxing, and most importantly, more fun! I also hope that you get to save a lot of money by choosing better routes using the advanced route planner that the site has. Have fun!