MapQuest

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title: "MapQuest" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1967-establishments-in-illinois", "2019-mergers-and-acquisitions", "american-travel-websites", "companies-based-in-denver", "companies-based-in-lancaster,-pennsylvania", "internet-properties-established-in-1996", "map-companies-of-the-united-states", "transport-companies-established-in-1967", "web-map-services", "web-mapping"] description: "American free online mapping service" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MapQuest" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American free online mapping service ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox website"]

Field	Value
name	MapQuest
logo	MapQuest Logo 10.2025.svg
collapsible	yes
screenshot	MapQuest screenshot.png
caption	Screenshot of MapQuest in use
url
type	Web mapping
registration	Optional
language	Multilingual
launch_date
current_status	Active
parent	AOL (2000–2015)
Verizon Media (2016–2019)
System1 (2019–present)
::

| name = MapQuest | logo = MapQuest Logo 10.2025.svg | collapsible = yes | screenshot = MapQuest screenshot.png | caption = Screenshot of MapQuest in use | url = | type = Web mapping | registration = Optional | language = Multilingual | launch_date = | current_status = Active | parent = AOL (2000–2015) Verizon Media (2016–2019) System1 (2019–present) MapQuest (formerly stylized as mapquest) is an American free online web mapping service. It was launched in 1996 as the first commercial web mapping service. MapQuest's competitors include Apple Maps, Here (a Dutch mapping service company), and Google Maps.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Mapquest_logo_(since_2010).svg" caption="Logo used in 2017"] ::

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Mapquest_logo.svg" caption="Former logo, phased out as part of website redesign on July 14, 2010"] ::

MapQuest's origins date to 1967 with the founding of Cartographic Services, a division of R.R. Donnelley & Sons in Chicago, which moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1969. In the mid-1980s, R.R. Donnelley & Sons began generating maps and routes for customers, with cooperation by Barry Glick, a University at Buffalo. Glick had a PhD degree. In 1994, it was spun off as GeoSystems Global Corporation. Much of the code was adapted for use on the internet to create the MapQuest web service in 1996. MapQuest's original services were mapping (referred to as "Interactive Atlas") and driving directions (called "TripQuest").

Sensing the emerging demand for spatial applications on the Internet, and with crippling network latency in Lancaster, the executive team of Glick and Perry Evans moved MapQuest to the up-and-coming LoDo area of Denver.

The initial Denver team consisted of Evans, Simon Greenman, Chris Fanjoy, and Harry Grout. To make MapQuest a serious contender in the online spatial application market, a robust set of geographical tools was developed under Greenman's direction. Grout, who had spent time at Rand McNally; Etak, a now defunct mapping company; and Navigation Technologies Corporation (Navteq) building digital map data, was tasked with acquiring data and licensing arrangements. The initial team experienced rapid growth in the Denver office, and in a short time MapQuest became a well-known brand.

On 25 February 1999, MapQuest went public, trading on Nasdaq. In December 1999, America Online (AOL) announced that it would acquire MapQuest for $1.1 billion. The deal closed in 2000. COO / CFO Jim Thomas managed the transactions. For a time (until 2004), MapQuest included satellite images through a licensing deal with GlobeXplorer, but later removed them because of the unorthodox business mechanics of the arrangement brokered by AOL. In September 2006, the website again began serving satellite imagery in a new beta program.

In 2004, MapQuest, uLocate, Research in Motion, and Nextel launched MapQuest Find Me, a buddy-finder service which worked on GPS-enabled mobile phones. MapQuest Find Me let users automatically find their location, access maps and directions and locate nearby points of interest, including airports, hotels, restaurants, banks and ATMs. Users also had the ability to set up alerts to be notified when network members arrive at or depart from a designated area. In 2005, the service became available on Sprint (as a result of their merger with Nextel), and on Boost Mobile in 2006.

In July 2006, MapQuest created a beta version of a new feature with which users could build customized routes by adding additional stops, reordering stops along the way and avoiding any undesired turns or roads. Users could also write out the starting address. In October 2006, MapQuest sold its publishing division to concentrate on its online and mobile services. In April 2007, MapQuest announced a partnership with General Motors' OnStar to allow OnStar subscribers to plan their driving routes on MapQuest.com and send their destination to OnStar's turn-by-turn navigation service. The OnStar Web Destination Entry pilot program began in the summer of 2007 with a select group of OnStar subscribers.

Around 2008, the general public made a significant shift away from MapQuest to the much younger Google Maps service. In July 2010, MapQuest announced plans to become the first major mapping site to embrace open-source mapping data, launching a new site separate from its main site, entirely using data from the OpenStreetMap project. On 14 July 2010, MapQuest launched a simplified user interface and made the site more compact. MapQuest also introduced "My Maps" personalization, which enables the user to personalize the interface.

In July 2012, Brian McMahon became the CEO and GM of MapQuest. In May 2015, with the purchase of AOL by Verizon Communications, MapQuest came under the ownership of Verizon. On 11 July 2016, MapQuest discontinued its open tile API, and users such as GNOME Maps were switched to a temporarily free tier of the Mapbox tileserver, while considering alternatives. In 2019, Verizon Media sold Mapquest to System1.

In early 2025, after an executive order by President Donald Trump renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America," MapQuest gained attention for its satirical response. Through its official Bluesky account, MapQuest announced that they would not change the name of the gulf on their map. They later announced "Name Your Own Gulf," a website allowing someone to generate an image of a map saying "Gulf of" something, which received attention on social media and was featured on several news outlets.

Services and programs

From 2014, MapQuest uses some of TomTom's services for its mapping system. MapQuest provides some extent of street-level detail or driving directions for a variety of countries. Users can check if their country is available using a dropdown menu on the MapQuest home page.

The company offers a free mobile app for Android and iOS that features POI search, voice-guided navigation, real-time traffic and other features. MapQuest also offers a mobile-friendly website. MapQuest has several travel products and also includes a feature to let users compare nearby gas prices, similar to the service offered by GasBuddy. However, this feature is only available in the United States. MapQuest's POI data helps the service differentiate itself from other wayfinding software by guiding users directly to the entrances of businesses and destinations, rather than to general street addresses.

References

References

1. Boulton, Jim. (28 June 2016). "Plotting the past".
2. Harlan, Chico. (5 May 2015). "'Does MapQuest still exist?' Yes, it does, and it's a profitable business.". [[The Washington Post]].
3. (7 June 2024). "Top 12 Digital Map Companies in the World".
4. "Alumni Around the World".
5. (11 December 1997). "Welcome To MapQuest!".
6. (25 February 1999). "MapQuest.com Starts IPO Journey".
7. link. (2022-12-05 . ''[[Florida Trend]]''. Retrieved 22 May 2022.)
8. Schutzberg, Adena. (April 10, 2005). "Google Integrates Keyhole into Google Maps".
9. Kissiah, Michael. (8 June 2022). "Maps and Geography Research Tools".
10. Vuong, Andy. (19 September 2006). "MapQuest selling publishing arm". The Denver Post.
11. Thomas, David. (26 April 2007). "GM's OnStar Joins MapQuest for Desktop Route Planning".
12. McKinley, John. (15 February 2009). "MapQuest: A Symbol Of Everything That's Gone Wrong".
13. Sterling, Greg. (2008-01-10). "Google Maps Gaining On Market Leader Mapquest".
14. Tankersley, Deb. (2010-07-09). "MapQuest Opens Up (MapQuest Blog)".
15. Ant. (2010-07-09). "MapQuest Opens Up – in the UK (MapQuest DevBlog)".
16. "MapQuest Open – Beta".
17. "MapQuest - OpenStreetMap Wiki".
18. Chuang, Tamara. (19 October 2015). "MapQuest gets a new look after Verizon takes over". [[The Denver Post]].
19. Willis, Nathan. (2016-07-27). "GNOME Maps and the tile problem".
20. (2016-06-15). "Modernization of MapQuest results in changes to direct tile access".
21. Bengtsson, Mattias. (20 July 2016). "Tiles and Mapbox".
22. (10 April 2016). "Bug 764841 – Stop Using MapQuest Tile Server".
23. Doctrow, Cory. (10 October 2019). "Verizon dumps another Oath property for peanuts: RIP, Mapquest".
24. Sterling, Greg. (2019-10-04). "A eulogy for Mapquest".
25. (February 2025). "MapQuest Trolls Trump's Gulf Renaming Effort".
26. TomTom Corporate. (19 June 2014). "TomTom Powers MapQuest's Core Map Data with New Partnership".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::