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I'm sure most of you have used MapQuest at one point, as well as the newer and shinier Google Maps. Fans of Google Maps probably haven't realized, though, that MapQuest now has the tiled draggable maps that Google Maps pioneered, along with significant graphical enhancements bringing those maps up to par with the visual standards Google set. Mapquest even shows numbered interstate and freeway exits, which I find useful. Of course, MapQuest cannot compete with Google Maps in the area of hackability. No other mapping system has spawned so many varied and useful (and useless) map applications.

For simply browsing a map, there's very little difference between the two (Indeed, it seems they both get their data from NAVTEQ). But when using them for trip planning, there is a huge difference: MapQuest actually knows what the hell they're doing. Here's part of an itinerary I was working on when traveling from Seattle to Baker City, OR:

MapQuest:

1. Merge onto I-90 E via the exit on the LEFT toward BELLEVUE / SPOKANE.
2. Merge onto I-82 E via EXIT 110 toward YAKIMA (Crossing into OREGON).
3. Merge onto I-84 E via the exit on the LEFT toward PENDLETON.

Google Maps:

1. Take the I-90 E ramp to Bellevue/Spokane
2. Take exit 137 to Wanapum Dam/Richland
3. Bear right at WA-26
4. Bear right and head toward WA-243
5. Continue on WA-243
6. Bear right at WA-24
7. Continue on WA-240
8. Turn right at WA-240 E
9. Take the I-182 W ramp to Yakima (I-82)/Pendleton
10. Take the I-82 E ramp to Umatilla/Pendleton
11. Take the I-84 E ramp to Pendleton

Now, I have no idea which one of these routes is faster, but even assuming that Google's way is the quicker of the two, that advantage goes completely out the window if I get lost. I don't even have to write down MapQuest's directions, I can remember those in my head. Since the point of giving directions is arguably to get me to my destination, Mapquest wins hands down.

This isn't the first time Google Maps has steered me wrong, either. (Hah, steered me wrong... get it? Hah... Ok, I'll quit) In Peoria, it tried to direct me down a road that no longer existed. In Seattle, it told me to exit on a later exit to get downtown, disagreeing with Kan Kan's directions. (MapQuest gave me Kan's version)

So my advice to the serious trip planner is to stick with MapQuest. You should, of course, take this with a grain of salt. Erickson has told me MapQuest has tried to steer him the wrong way down a one-way street before, so it's apparently not infallible.