5 ms·

While I agree about the utility, MapQuest pre-dated Google Maps by a fair bit.

hacker_123 8y ago
It's kind of amazing how well Google did without a first mover advantage here. MapQuest launched in 1996. Google Maps launched in 2005.
- treis 8y ago
  The advantage of Google Search and the willingness to lose millions (billions?) Of dollars on a product is a powerful combination.
  - mattm 8y ago
    It didn't work for Google+
    - macintux 8y ago
      The only thing more powerful than money is the network effect.
mythz 8y ago
The instant utility was essential to its massive popularity, it basically ushered in the new era for real-time Consumer mapping. Everything preceding it was clunky, slow and "turn based". I can't recall what the state of MapQuest was at the time, but it's unlikely it had the real-time UX or utility of Google Maps. Was a real eye-opener of "so that's how you make Maps fast" at the time, just pre-render the entire world at multiple static zoom levels. Which wasn't an option (disk cost) for anyone developing their own in-house mapping Services at the time. For my next GEO project I did the next best thing and used their Google Maps API to change it to make map tile requests to our ArcGIS App which dynamically cached map tiles on the fly, so whilst it didn't pre-render all tiles, it provided a nice "Google Maps"-like UX for popular areas of our region.
- Doctor_Fegg 8y ago
  Multimap and Streetmap in the UK both had prerendered tiles at multiple zoom levels years before Google. I'd developed a smooth "slippy map" at my then employer (waterscape.com) before Google Maps was released, using Flash and the Ming authoring interface, but IIRC Google released before we did.
manishsharan 8y ago
I recall that Mapquest required CD based installation on Windows and it was not cheap . Google was simple browser based app and free.
- lallysingh 8y ago
  They had a web version, but it wasn't a 'slippy map' like Google had.
ipython 8y ago
As an avid user of mapquest back in the day, the user experience that google provided (tiled maps that could be panned/zoomed seamlessly) was absolutely revolutionary and the clincher for me. Mapquest back then had the clunky “click the big arrow” to move the map and reload the page navigation...

It's kind of amazing how well Google did without a first mover advantage here. MapQuest launched in 1996. Google Maps launched in 2005.

treis 8y ago
The advantage of Google Search and the willingness to lose millions (billions?) Of dollars on a product is a powerful combination.
- mattm 8y ago
  It didn't work for Google+
  - macintux 8y ago
    The only thing more powerful than money is the network effect.

mythz 8y ago

The instant utility was essential to its massive popularity, it basically ushered in the new era for real-time Consumer mapping. Everything preceding it was clunky, slow and "turn based". I can't recall what the state of MapQuest was at the time, but it's unlikely it had the real-time UX or utility of Google Maps. Was a real eye-opener of "so that's how you make Maps fast" at the time, just pre-render the entire world at multiple static zoom levels. Which wasn't an option (disk cost) for anyone developing their own in-house mapping Services at the time. For my next GEO project I did the next best thing and used their Google Maps API to change it to make map tile requests to our ArcGIS App which dynamically cached map tiles on the fly, so whilst it didn't pre-render all tiles, it provided a nice "Google Maps"-like UX for popular areas of our region.

Doctor_Fegg 8y ago
Multimap and Streetmap in the UK both had prerendered tiles at multiple zoom levels years before Google. I'd developed a smooth "slippy map" at my then employer (waterscape.com) before Google Maps was released, using Flash and the Ming authoring interface, but IIRC Google released before we did.

manishsharan 8y ago

I recall that Mapquest required CD based installation on Windows and it was not cheap . Google was simple browser based app and free.

lallysingh 8y ago
They had a web version, but it wasn't a 'slippy map' like Google had.

ipython 8y ago

As an avid user of mapquest back in the day, the user experience that google provided (tiled maps that could be panned/zoomed seamlessly) was absolutely revolutionary and the clincher for me. Mapquest back then had the clunky “click the big arrow” to move the map and reload the page navigation...