Overtaking MapQuest a Challenge for Yahoo

LA Times

"Even with features such as traffic and restaurant information, the online giant hasn't had much luck attracting users loyal to its rival"

Yahoo hopes to overcome stubborn brand loyalties especially to mapquest among users maps on the Web. Their main attack is to overlay information, for example, real-time traffic data and local business listings. They also hope to gain and keep a large chunk of the growing local advertising market.

The article cites Yahoo's SmartView..."a free feature that lets users look up addresses, then select categories of services to appear as yellow icons on the map. Clicking on them brings up more information about the business, including the address, phone number and a link to results of a Yahoo Search query on the name.

Someone planning a date can not only find driving directions to a movie theater but also see the closest parking lot, nearby restaurants (organized by cuisine) and florists, and even an ATM to pay for the meal — all overlaid on the map...

While 15.6 million people visited Yahoo Maps in November, up 9% from a year earlier, MapQuest drew 33.1 million individual visitors, a 27% gain over the same period, according to market research firm ComScore Media Metrix.

MapQuest is releasing new features of its own, including a $4 monthly service introduced last week that lets users send color maps and driving directions from their computers to their mobile phones"

Yahoo has an advantage in it's " well-known Web search service. People who enter an address into the search engine are steered to Yahoo Maps."

Google may yet prove to be the most powerful challenger especially if it integrates the local beta with Keyhole Corp. features - aerial and satellite photos to let users zoom in on particular places.

"Combined with Google's local directories, Keyhole could be the next generation of navigation services, analysts say."


Google Search: motels near Boston, MA local beta example. Driving directions by Mapquest

Yahoo! Maps, Driving Directions, and Traffic
Yahoo! Yellow Pages same search goes to Yahoo yellow pages