Now MapQuest offers a lot more than just driving directions, as we all know recently the Mapquest.com site launched walking and transit directions, transit directions where and are still only available for six major metropolitan areas while walking directions can be used in almost all the same places where driving directions are available.
Biking directions directions are now also available but they can only be used through open.mapquest.com, they have been added to all Open sites so that means that they are available worldwide, walking and transit directions have been included to all MapQuest Open sites too. Walking and biking directions have some cool features, bikers can choose routes with hills or without hills, pedestrians can choose between miles and kilometers as expressed in the official MQ blog latest blog post.
What I don’t like about OpenStreetMap data is that the accuracy of the information provided is not guaranteed, the user in order to access Open sites must accept all risks derived from the use of their service and that can lead to a lot of mistakes. On the other hand MapQuest has contributed to this project in a lot of ways including money and software development, they believe that user generated maps can lead to better maps with more information and improved routing capabilities.
I have tried to create a few biking routes in some open sites to test them out and the route planning software wasn’t able to create the route that I requested so I guess that there’s a lot of information still missing on Map Quest Open sites. I guess we will just have to wait to see what happens, things tend to get better over time so I hope that this is just a matter of time because I can’t wait to visit foreign countries where I can create accurate walking, biking, and driving routes using this service.
You must log in to post a comment.