MapQuest
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Type of site
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Web mapping |
|---|---|
| Available in | Multilingual |
| Owner | AOL (Verizon Communications) |
| Key people | Tim Armstrong (CEO) |
| Website | mapquest |
| Alexa rank |
 1,098 (October 2016[update]) |
| Registration | Optional |
| Launched | 1996 |
| Current status | Active |
MapQuest (stylized as mapquest) is an American free online web mapping service owned by AOL. The company was founded in 1967 as Cartographic Services, a division of R.R. Donnelley & Sons in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1969. When it became an independent company in 1994, it was renamed GeoSystems Global Corporation. MapQuest was acquired in 2000 by America Online, Inc. Company headquarters are in Denver, Colorado. As of May 2015, it had the second-highest share of the online mapping market in the United States, second only to Google Maps.
In the mid-1980s, Donnelley began generating maps and routes for customers, with cooperation of Barry Glick, a University at Buffalo PhD graduate. Much of that code was adapted for use on the Internet to create the MapQuest web service in 1996. In 1999 the company was renamed to MapQuest to leverage the popularity of its online brand.
MapQuest was acquired in 2000 by America Online, Inc.
For a while, MapQuest included satellite images through a licensing deal with GlobeXplorer, but later removed them due to the unorthodox business mechanics of the arrangement brokered by AOL. In September 2006, the website once 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 that works on GPS-enabled mobile phones. MapQuest Find Me lets users automatically find their location, access maps and directions, and locate nearby points of interest including airports, hotels, restaurants, banks, and ATMs. Users also have the ability to set up alerts to be notified when network members arrive or depart from a designated area. In 2005 the service became available on Sprint and in 2006, Boost Mobile.
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