MapQuest

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MapQuest - Other languages
 Open bug tracker
MapQuest Open
MapQuest Mapnik Style
(Discontinued)
MapQuest Open.PNG
Author: MapQuest
Usage policy: License to and Limitations on Use of Maps, Directions, Cartographic Technology and Content Information
Style website: MapQuest/MapQuest-Mapnik-Style GitHub
Style license: MIT License
Warning
 MapQuest ceased offering an OpenStreetMap service (Open MapQuest) in 2015. Much of the information on this page is therefore of historical interest only.

MapQuest is an online mapping company based in the United States and is wholly-owned by AOL. MapQuest is one of the pioneers in online mapping and holds a significant market share in the U.S. During the State Of The Map 2010, the company announced their support for OpenStreetMap making MapQuest the first large online mapping service to embrace OSM.

In their SOTM announcement, MapQuest launched open.mapquest.co.uk, a general-purpose experimental online map for the whole world and with specific routing for the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. The data on open.mapquest.co.uk was based on the OSM database and the website was constructed with the help of technologies familiar to OpenStreetMap: Mapnik for rendering map tiles, Nominatim for geocoding and search, and Potlatch 2 for editing. Improvements done on these software have been contributed back to the community. For routing, MapQuest uses their own engine. In October 2015 the style for the main page (non-open) was switched to one provided by Mapbox www.mapbox.com/blog/mapquest/, in 2016 this style was also used on open.mapquest.com. In 2016 MapQuest Open has been removed from a list of available layers on main OSM site because direct tile access has been discontinued by MapQuest.

In addition to open.mapquest.co.uk, MapQuest earmarked $1 million in resources to help improve the OSM data in the United States with the stated intention of possibly using OSM data for their maps of the U.S. in the future and to improve the maps on Patch, MapQuest's sister website company in AOL providing hyper-local news, which already uses OpenStreetMap.

Projects

Items listed here are goals that MapQuest is attempting to focus the community towards, in order to improve the US

Apparently discontinued:

  • MapQuest Charities - We've implemented "Places to Give" in map tool bar showing locations around the world to give to your local charities.
  • MapQuest iOS Maps API - component for iOS developers to embed maps and do searching & routing
  • Critical Addresses - Addresses that generally don't show up perfectly in map data.

Contact

  • For general feedback about all open.mapquest.* sites, comments can be sent to us using the Feedback link found above the top-right corner of the map.
  • For technical feedback or inquiries, contact the product and tech team at this e-mail address: open, “ат”mapquest“ԁοт”com
  • Current job openings at MapQuest

Available websites

Developer sites

Blogs

Style files for Mapnik

The MapQuest style files for Mapnik are available at MapQuest/MapQuest-Mapnik-Style GitHub and is released under the MIT license.[1]

The style is discontinued and important resource files are not available from Mapquest any more developer.mapquest.com/forum/mapnik-mapquest-style-missing-file.

MapQuest-hosted map tiles

Notice
 According to MapQuest unlimited free access to open tiles has been discontinued on 11th July 2016. See lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/tile-serving/2016-June/003928.html.

You were free to use the MapQuest map tiles in their existing applications or in your applications so long as you did the following:

  • You do less than 15,000 transactions/month.
  • You always had to include the following attribution (including the hyperlinks) to any data, images and MapQuest-hosted map tiles: "Data, imagery and map information provided by MapQuest, OpenStreetMap <https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright> and contributors, ODbL <https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Legal_FAQ#3a._I_would_like_to_use_OpenStreetMap_maps._How_should_I_credit_you.3F> ."
    • Note: MapQuest is working on a proper/better MapQuest page that people can link to but MapQuest has no intention of forcing people to update work already done before that page is up.
    • Note: on developer.mapquest.com/web/products/open/map a different (and shorter) attribution code is posted:
      Tiles Courtesy of <a href="http://www.mapquest.com/" target="_blank">MapQuest</a> <img src="http://developer.mapquest.com/content/osm/mq_logo.png">
      Of course, only MapQuest is mentioned in it, and thus some separate OpenStreetMap credits are required.
  • Because this site uses open source mapping data, your use of the map tiles, data and images is subject to the licenses you see on the map tiles and your use must comply with this license. You cannot add a more restrictive license to the map tiles, data and images on the site or create derivative works with a more restrictive license.
  • If the application would get heavy usage (current defined as more than 4,000 tiles per second) you had to let MapQuest know in advance at open@mapquest.com, including the estimate of usage, so it can make sure to accommodate the load.
  • Before making an announcement (e.g., a press release, or something that is "all official-like") that relates to this site or the data, tiles or images on it, please contact MapQuest at open@mapquest.com with some notice because we’d like to hear about your efforts and if folks are going to get excited and hit the website, we’d like to have everything working at peak capacity.
  • All the information are provided “As-Is” and without any warranty of any kind. Mapquest is under no obligation to provide any error corrections, updates, upgrades, bug fixes, etc. Since this is open source data, there will likely be errors and faults so please use at your own risk and if you see something that's not right, contribute to the Open Source Mapping community to correct it. Please also be aware that we have no obligation to provide support, although we may opt do so in our sole discretion if one of our developers gets the urge.

The map tiles are still accessible but only with a server authorization key, available under a commercial licence (with several rendering styles), but with its contractual usage conditions.

Tile URLs (historic)

The tile URLs where very similar to regular OSM tiles, with only the front of the URL being different.

Always check here for the latest information: <developer.mapquest.com/web/products/open/map>

OpenStreetMap tile URL https://a.tile.openstreetmap.org/8/126/87.png
MapQuest tile URL http://otile1.mqcdn.com/tiles/1.0.0/map/8/126/87.jpg
MapQuest Open Aerial tile URL http://otile1.mqcdn.com/tiles/1.0.0/sat/15/5240/12661.jpg

MapQuest had 4 subdomains set up, otile1 to otile4, all pointing to the same CDN. Just like with OSM's a.tile to c.tile subdomains, these subdomains where provided to get around browser limitations on the number of simultaneous HTTP connections to each "host". Browser-based applications could thus request multiple tiles from multiple subdomains faster than from one subdomain.

News

FAQ (historic)

How often is the data updated?

  • Mapquest is currently displaying Mapbox styled map tiles on open.mapquest.com
  • The search data used to be updated approximately every 5 minutes, current situation unknown
  • The routing data is used to be updated daily, current situation unknown

Why did MapQuest launch first in the UK?

MapQuest chose to launch initially with an Open version of their UK site for the SOTM conference in Girona in July 2010. Even though the site seems to be operational for the whole world, the original functionality was designed and tested for use in the United Kingdom, especially the routing. MapQuest wants to localize the language of all the buttons, headers, text, etc. and the UK, being an English-speaking country, made starting it easier. MapQuest also started using just the UK data and has and will continue to scale it up. This was especially important with routing.[2] In September 2010, MapQuest launched Open versions of their international sites for France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Why do MapQuest tiles used to look fuzzy?

The 'fuzziness' noticeable around fine detail is due to JPEG compression artifacts. MapQuest used to provide tiles in PNG format (which does not suffer from this problem) however stopped sometime during 2012 due to maintenance nightmares[3]

Languages available

Here's the languages we offer on all open.mapquest.* sites:

  • Cantonese Chinese
  • Chinese (Simplified)
  • Chinese (Traditional)
  • Danish
  • Dutch (Netherlands)
  • English (British)
  • English (United States)
  • Flemish
  • French (France)
  • French (Canada)
  • German
  • Greek
  • Hindi
  • Hungarian
  • Indonesian
  • Irish Gaelic
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Norwegian
  • Portuguese
  • Russian
  • Spanish (Castillan)
  • Spanish (Latino-American)
  • Swedish
  • Ukrainian
  • Vietnamese

Apps using MapQuest tiles

Sutter MapQuest Yahoo OSM CyleMap Mashup

References

  1. ↑ Message #051818 at the talk mailing list archive
  2. ↑ Message #051744 at the talk mailing list archive
  3. ↑ Message #354713 at Mapquest Developer Forum

See also

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