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Given the ubiquity and market dominance of Google Maps, you may never have heard of MapQuest, but it was the original mapping service for the digital age, and early internet users will remember it for its printable, turn-by-turn directions. While MapQuest may no longer be a household name, it’s enjoyed a resurgence thanks to its decision to keep calling Lake Ontario, well, Lake Ontario, rather than Lake America, as dictated by the U.S. president, Donald Trump, following the failure of U.S. trade negotiators to reach a settlement over tariffs with their northern neighbor.
Following the move, MapQuest rocketed up the app download charts, first becoming the most downloaded navigation app in the U.S. App Store before climbing to No. 1 among all free apps. MapQuest also has a novelty service that lets anyone rename Lake Ontario to anything they like — a trick it pulled with the Gulf of Mexico renaming, too — the sharing of which likely helped it gain mindshare and market share.
“We took the same approach we did with the Gulf of Mexico: be part of the conversation, and give people an app that keeps the names they’re familiar with,” said Doug Berger, general manager of MapQuest. “Hundreds of thousands of people signaled to us this weekend that we got it right, by downloading our app.”
By no means the only show in town
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MapQuest isn’t the only alternative to Google Maps, nor is it the most well-known, its recent ascent notwithstanding. Depending on your preferred mode of transportation, you might well be better served by Citymapper (if you use public transit) or Waze (if you’re a driver who values user-generated information about accidents, police presence, or other potential impediments to your commute). Nonetheless, it has a unique nostalgic value that’s hard to quantify. We also have to appreciate its marketing savvy in jumping on current events as a means of catapulting its name back into popular culture. But its moment in the sun pales in comparison to Google Maps’ market dominance, and that’s unlikely to change.
So, what do you get if you visit MapQuest or download its mobile app? The same MapQuest of old, complete with printer-friendly step-by-step directions. And yes, the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario are still labeled as such. Given how little has changed and how deeply synonymous with modern pathfinding Google Maps is, we don’t expect MapQuest’s newfound celebrity to last, but we admire it sticking to its guns and capitalizing on an unusual opportunity. Chances like this are rare, and early internet companies making the most of them are even rarer.