MapQuest turned 10 years old yesterday; Westword has a long article by Alan Prendergast that looks at the company’s history and recent challenges — viz., the extra features provided by its competition. As has been reported before, MapQuest is rather skeptical of the features, APIs, and high-resolution imagery provided by Microsoft, Google and Yahoo, but I did note this interesting take on the Google Maps API:

MapQuest, of course, already has licensing arrangements with hundreds of businesses that use its maps to show you how to get to their place. “Google has launched a free, very limited API [application programming interface],” Greiner says. “We plan on coming out with something to match and exceed what they’re doing. But there are many restrictions on them. Who knows when Google is going to put advertising on them? Our business clients are high-enterprise — for example, the hospitality and travel industry. They’re fearful of Google having the control.”

Via All Points Blog; see also Cartography.

See previous entries: AP: MapQuest and the Competition; What’s MapQuest Up To?