MapQuest stood up to President Donald Trump, and now its app is reaping the rewards.
The “OG of online mapping,” as the company calls itself, announced on Thursday that it would not change the name of Lake Ontario on its maps to Lake America, despite Trump’s executive order directing the U.S. Department of the Interior to update the lake’s name in the U.S. geographic naming service. As a result, MapQuest’s mobile app downloads soared, sending the iOS app to the No. 4 position on the U.S. App Store’s Top Charts for apps (not including games) as of Monday morning on the U.S. east coast.
MapQuest also reached the No. 8 position overall in the U.S. App Store across both apps and games, and it became the No. 1 Navigation app in the United States.
Google Maps is notoriously bad with cycle routes. It has sent us over sand paths where you can’t cycle at all, when better routes are available. In cities, OSM also gives better routes.
I took a folding bike on a visit to Toronto and used GM in cycling mode. I guess it wasn’t too bad in the downtown area? But then I forgot to set it back to driving mode on the way home and it picked a rather whimsical route for a car. I thought it was just trying to stay off highways to avoid the notorious Toronto rush hour at first, but eventually, it wanted me drive through the woods on a “trail” that was barely discernible as such.