Map quest is website that promotes free web direction services online. Using the site, concerned users can get driving directions and map out their road trips effortlessly. It was started in the late nineties in southern Chicago but later transfered to western Pennsylvania. The website is owned by the well known internet giant, AOL and is persistently one of the most popular websites in the internet. As of the late 2000s, the company has been exclusively based out of Denver, Colorado. In the mid eighties, a cartographic services company began using computers to make roadmaps for their many buyers. Much of the early code that was used for these maps was saved and used later when group launched MapQuest in 1996. A few years later, the mapping corporation changed their name to MapQuest as well, to create more attention for their website. Later, in 2000, they sold the company and the site to AOL. MapQuest provides its users with a user friendly format, up to date driving directions, and satellite imagery. There is also an alternative to view a route from street view. Street view is notably beneficial in that it provides end users a in depth look at the area they will be arriving at. This element comes in helpful for those who are walking rather than driving. The advanced route arranging tool lets people plainly and swiftly put together a driving route. Using it, they can add additional stops and short breaks as well. Just add the breaks in, whether they are motels, gasoline stations, or rest stops, via the easy to use menus, and the site will impulsively suggest the shortest way. Gas charges, valuable to almost all drivers nowadays, can be factored into a trip as well. The resourceful site, when asked to, will suggest the shortest ways to go and the lowest priced gas stations along the way. It does this by keeping track of city gas prices in numerous different locations and updating them quite a few times a day. The site is beneficial at saving previously searched for and used destinations as well. This small factor means fewer searching and typing for users. Places such as your home address, out of town relative’s home, and that restaurant in the city will be saved and set for the next time you need them. This can help save an huge amount of time for the site’s many users. Last year, the corporation launched its state of the art application for cellular phones. The software is downloaded onto a smart phone and enables users to use it just like the website. It features turn by turn navigation, live traffic updates, and auto redirect. The application is completely at no cost and efficiently turns any cellular phone into a two 100 dollar global positioning device. Map Quest’s promotes let consumers to immediately discover quite a bit added than just directions. The site has all the tools you have to get to almost any destination carefully, hurriedly, and effectively. The route builder, traffic maps, and gas price tool will make driving in both new and common places much much easier.