MapQuest Supports iPhone. Falls Short.

[Cody Overcash]

Back in the day MapQuest was the place to go for directions online. Feature full and easy to use it is still a great option today. Unfortunately for MapQuest they have been losing market share to Google Maps and don't control the market like they used to.

Possibly to help stop that loss of market share MapQuest has created an iPhone version of its site including all the MapQuest features you already know with a more iPhone friendly interface.

While the site looks slick and operates well it really isn't a match for the native Maps.app included in all iPhones. True MapQuest may have a nicer looking interface and awesome features like the gas price finder but it is missing one key element that Maps.app has on the iPhone 3g. Location awareness.

Being able to get directions in the native Maps.app from your current location via the GPS in the iPhone 3g is just plain convenient. As a web app with out this feature the newly designed iPhone version of MapQuest falls short and is unable to really compete with the native Maps.app.

If you want to use the iPhone version of MapQuest just got to MapQuest Maps - Driving Directions - Map in your iPhone's browser and the iPhone version will automatically load.

[ultimatexpka]

whats the point of having it if we have a maps app already?

[oscar25]

whats the point of having it if we have a maps app already?

The same reason you have multiple choices on your PC and duplicate apps for other things on your iphone. So you have a choice to use something else if you want. I know some people who use and prefer mapquest over google maps, although I am not one of them.

[BenzoHartt]

I'm agreeing with the Cash. The location awareness in our Map App. sticks a fork in these guys. I've owned an iPhone over a year now, and I can't remember the last time I used mapquest. The shouldve had a WebApp, atleast it wouldve given them a fighting chance.LOL

[reznor9]

they van still intergrate gps into it right?

[davidmdowning42]

If they really want to do well on this platform, they should make a native app that stores maps off-line for us poor iPod Touch people. I don't know why nobody has done this. It souldn't take up THAT much room to just have a map of one city on the drive. I'd gladly dedicate a gig to this. Seems like even iPhone users would want this for areas where they don't have coverage.

(I know that there's a sort of solution out there for this, but it's too technical for me and it doesn't work with Mac anyway.)

[idolpunk]

without location awareness this is useless

[chbearsrock]

without location awareness this is useless

Definitely not useless, especially since the stock iPhone maps application doesn't have the "avoid highways" feature...a function that I use quite a bit.

[CaptainChaos]

Even though I use a Garmin for navigation, I do pull up my maps app now and then specifically to use the location feature. It is faster than typing in stuff in the garmin. Mapquest should go native. I think it would be used more than google maps if it did.

[adamnur]

Mapquest>iphone maps in one sector.

Choice of what type of directions you want. Fastest time, or shortest distance. With maps.app, you're stuck with what they give you for directions.