Comments for Google Gains on MapQuest - People Still Use MapQuest?

Google Gains on MapQuest - People Still Use MapQuest?

2008-01-10T17:58:27Z

Alright, who are you people? The people who still use MapQuest. You know who you are... my question to you is, why? According to the latest numbers from Hitwise, Google Maps is making significant inroads against market leader MapQuest. MapQuest still commands over 50% of the market, but Google is clearly the number two online map provider now, having passed and distanced itself from Yahoo! earlier this year. Shouldn't Google have taken over the lead a long time ago? What's the hold up?

]]> Traffic to MapQuest is flat on the year, while Google's traffic to its maps site has risen 135% over the same time period. Hitwise points to downstream traffic from Google as the culprit -- Google, which the company says accounts for almost 66% of US search traffic, is sending more traffic to its own Maps property than to MapQuest. Even though the term "mapquest" gets 10 times the search volume than the term, "google maps," for generic terms like "maps" Google is sending people to its own service.

"The same is true for 'driving directions,' 'map' and "directions' as well as variations on the MapQuest brand name including 'mapquest driving directions' and 'map quest,'" wrote Hitewise's Heather Hopkins. Is Google favoring its own property? Maybe. But I'm honestly surprised MapQuest is still so far out in front.

Google's service has long been the better option. Certainly, AOL has improved the MapQuest service in the past year, and the beta version that they launched in October fixes some of the most glaring pain point still evident in the classic service, such as the lack of multipoint directions and 4 imput boxes for location. But even so, MapQuest consistently lags behind Google in ease of use, design, functionality, and innovation.

Google's is continuously innovating with their Maps service, in the past year adding useful features like Street View (helpful if trying to find a building you've never been to before), MyMaps, which has enabled all sorts of cool maps mashups (like this one mapping the results of the New Hampshire primaries), and draggable destinations when plotting trips.

So why is it that people still use MapQuest when Google is clearly the superior product? The answer is in the brand. MapQuest has been around since the mid-90s and the name was firmly ingrained in our collective psyche during the first dot com boom. As the search volume of "mapquest" vs. "google maps" shows, the name MapQuest is still synonymous with online mapping. Still, Google also has a strong brand (the most powerful in the world last year, according to Millard Brown Optimor), and Google has one thing AOL and MapQuest don't have: control of the world's search market. Expect Google Maps to continue taking market share in online mapping.

Comment from Paul Legan on 2008-01-10

2008-01-10T19:15:02Z

>> People Still Use MapQuest?

Haha my thoughts exactly! I also agree that brand is the reason, but I'm still amazed by it.

Comment from Peter Cooper on 2008-01-10

2008-01-10T19:23:41Z

I'm guessing it's like the people who still use Hotmail, Windows, or Perl.. lol :)

Comment from Sam on 2008-01-10

2008-01-10T20:13:53Z

MapQuest still has the best driving directions. That's why people use it. Yahoo is second and Google is third. This is why people use maps, not for whacky 3D stuff or for making their own. They are trying to get from point A to point B. People use Google Maps because their search engine points them to it and because of brand. If the CNET guy had used MapQuest or Yahoo he wouldn't have gotten lost.

Comment from Josh Catone on 2008-01-10

2008-01-10T20:22:58Z

@Sam #3: I probably would have agreed with you a year ago, but recently, I have found Google's directions to be just as good (or identical) to MapQuest's.

Comment from Zach on 2008-01-10

2008-01-10T21:51:01Z

Mapquest has MUCH MUCH better driving directions. In most cases Google works just fine, but why risk getting poor directions. Its better to just use MapQuest. If Google truly respects data portability, they should let me get directions from another source when using Google Maps.

Comment from Esdee on 2008-01-10

2008-01-10T22:58:12Z

"why, oh why didn't i take the blue pill..."

Come on, Josh - all this sounds too communist - "why don't you use google maps, its the best service in town!"

i've never even used mapquest, by default just open maps.google.com, but i don't like this kind of pushing people to use this or that, thats the good thing of having a choice - the ability to make your own beautiful mistakes ...anyway..just my 2c...

Comment from Zeke on 2008-01-10

2008-01-11T01:55:55Z

yahoo is still the best web site for directions from point A to point B, the site is designed for this purpose, when you go to maps.yahoo.com, you see A and B there. when i want to do some research around the area, i use live.com for its "bird view" and google maps occasionally for its "street view".

Comment from Josh Catone on 2008-01-10

2008-01-11T04:49:06Z

@Esdee: Communist? I think it sounds capitalist... I'm just confused why the best service in the marketplace isn't winning yet. (If I had suggested that MapQuest and the rest just pack it and stop bother competing, then maybe that would be a bit "Communist," as you say... but that's not what I said. ;))

Comment from Todd on 2008-01-10

2008-01-11T05:32:46Z

All that nonsense about MapQuest still having "the best directions": Why don't you do a test with Google Maps and MapQuest (and Yahoo Maps, if you like) for an area that you know well?

That MapQuest is still #1 in the US is an accident of history. Google Maps is #1 worldwide.

Comment from connectionfailure on 2008-01-11

2008-01-11T11:54:59Z

Just for reference, of the people I know in Australia, no one uses Yahoo or Microsoft's site.
Most use WhereIs http://www.whereis.com/ . I use Street Directory
http://www.street-directory.com.au/ which has no driving directions. Some folk use Google Maps, and I have suggested trying out Map24 http://www.us.map24.com/ . Which no one had heard of before.

Comment from rumblestrut on 2008-01-11

2008-01-11T14:33:39Z

I don't think Mapquest has better driving directions. In fact, following their directions almost got me killed once, but Google Maps has saved my arse more times than not.

It's interesting how little marketing Google does. Six months of TV ads would probably push Google Maps over the top. Most of the people I find using MapQuest are the baby boomers for some odd reason.

Comment from Esdee on 2008-01-11

2008-01-11T14:40:24Z

@Josh: i didn't mean that seriously of course, take no offense please :)
but the answer lies in your question: apparently not everyone is using google maps, because it is not the best service for everyone, even if it is better in most aspects than its competition, so here comes the beauty of capitalism and choice...blahblahblah...nevermind, lets not deviate into this direction :)

Comment from Justin Bishop on 2008-01-11

2008-01-11T17:30:58Z

Uh MapQuests directions ARE much better. I am a web developer and active netizen who understands concepts like testing the same directions in each service with a trip I know to see which is the most descriptive and mapquest still wins...this is why many people still use it's service--including me.

I have taken multiple across country, multi-month trips, and have printed the directions from yahoo, google, and mapquest, and mapquest has consistently provided the most accurate details.

Especially on more rural roads, mapquest provides more descriptions about confusing spots like roads forking and one of the forks retains the same name. Other services don't mention the fork at all since it's technically the same road. There are MANY other examples like this.

What has actually happened is everyone is caught up with the admittedly nice features like the street-view and become instantly smug in their conclusion that google maps is all around better, when they have not repeatedly tested multiple directions in each browser.

Comment from Sam on 2008-01-11

2008-01-11T18:59:40Z

There is only one reason I use Mapquest:

- If the name of street you are trying to look up contains the word "to" or "from", such as "Gulf To Bay Ave", the Google parser get confused and somehow tries to give you a dirction from Gulf Street to Bay Ave. Putting the name in double quotations doesn't work.

Comment from Maddie B. on 2008-01-11

2008-01-11T20:30:38Z

Great post.
Like you, I am always amazed at how often I come across maps that run on MapQuest when Google's application is so much easier to use. I use Google Maps not only on Find Mapping but on any site that could use a map.

I guess once you get some initial momentum it takes a long time for that energy to decay.

Maddie

Comment from Simon Owens on 2008-01-11

2008-01-11T22:14:29Z

I use Mapquest still, and I remember seeing some other bloggers talk about how Google Maps is inferior -- it might have been Nicholas Carr --so I'm not the only one.

I used to live in Richmond, and a friend of mine who used Google Maps got led through a bunch of toll roads and got lost -- the Mapquest directions, which I had used when I first moved to Richmond, were much simpler.

Of course that was close to a year ago, Google Maps may have improved, but as of right now I still use Mapquest.

Comment from Simon Owens on 2008-01-11

2008-01-11T22:20:29Z

Also, I agree with one of the above readers. I don't care if Google has a bunch of added features because I'm basically looking for simple directions that get me from Point A to Point B. You could have all the 3D up and down and sideways maps in the world, and they probably wouldn't affect my map usage.

Comment from Lee on 2008-01-13

2008-01-14T00:14:51Z

@connectionfailure: I'm also in Australia, and interested in the parallel story being played out between whereis.com and google maps. Whereis.com, like mapquest, has released a beta version (http://beta.whereis.com), which shifts the site into the next generation of mapping applications. Meanwhile Google maps is increasing market share rapidly. It will be interesting to see if both markets follow the same trends, as the game is very similar.

Comment from anonymous on 2008-01-15

2008-01-15T20:07:21Z

I still use MapQuest because of the simple fact that it has my home address and Google Maps doesn't. My address has existed since 2000 so it makes me wonder how often Google updates its map data...

Comment from Mia on 2008-02-01

2008-02-01T20:15:44Z

I did research in online maps use on Sept 07 in the US and was incredulous at how many people used mapquest over Google or even Yahoo. They even said 'I Mapquested it', using it as a verb for finding directions, like people say 'I Googled it' for search. The brand is incredibly strong and unless people get bad directions then they're hesitant to try something new.