I shouldn't really complain about a free service -- but I will.

MQ has shown a lot of quirks when I try to get to certain locations from my house.

Today, it wanted me to go 5 miles north, and then 10 miles south in order to connect to a highway that's heading northwest.

They ignored the fact that there's a major road going practically straight west from my place to that NW hiway.

There suggestion CAN NOT be the fastest time

If I ask for shortest distance, it runs me around back roads all over the place.

My other issue is finding intersections. There are times that I want to use intersections as a destination. Quite frequently we play this game of 'name the town '. I have many times tried every town/village/city in the area, but MQ keeps 'not finding ' it -- and only offers directions to that town.


I feel a little better now

 

I've been using Google maps for a while with generally good success, aside from some occasional stupid quirks and lack of map updates in my area. The main highway that goes through this area used to have all the local roads tee into it, but they changed that about five years ago so now there is an access road between some of them, and interchanges with the state routes and busier county roads. I can't tell you how many times I would go down the highway and have to double back to the exit I just passed to get the the road that's no longer tied to the highway.
Every now and then it'll take you off the highway for no apparent reason, then put you back on the highway, and if you use the "alter route" function it'll have you go down the highway to where you would have gotten back on, turn around, do the detour and then get back on the highway again. Very retarded.

 

Mapquest plain sucks. I actually like Rand McNally maps. Now I use my magellion and don't worry about any of them.

 

My wife and I used Mapquest to get directions to the Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney in Orlando last year. The year before it got us there no problems. This time it sent us to the uhhh....less desirable part of town. Folks I know have had similar problems.

 

I use Microsoft Streets and trips '09 in my laptop with a GPS puck on the dash for my work. Lots of new roads being put in due to growth and relocation of population. The ability to see my location in real time with GPS really helps.

 

My Android HTC phone has Google maps built in. I rarely have to even turn on the Garmin anymore. Of course, being able to read a paper map is a skill that has escaped many folks in the last few years.

 

Once again I agree with you Stu. Last summer on my trip to Maine, my Magellon led me through western Mass. and a few other places that I hadn't considered in trips past and saved me 1.5 hours of driving time plus led me away from the cancerous east coast I-95 corridor that is typically accident ridden by idiots.

 

I tend to stay away from Mapquest, I've had much better success with Google Maps. One feature I like is the ability to drag and change the suggested route so you can see how an alternate route will change your travel time and distance.

As for Magellan GPS, I had one and absolutely hated it, dumped it and got a Sony. Good thing I sold it (at a good loss) and got at least some of my money back before I threw it out the window in disgust and got ticket for littering...

All I can say for the Magellan is that it will indeed get you to your destination...but it may take you to China and back along the way. I had many occasions where I programmed a destination with a good idea of the best route to get to the city but not knowing exactly where to go once I got there. If I deviated from the suggested route because I knew a faster way (sometimes a lot faster) the thing would go into fits and try for miles to get me back to the original route rather than reroute me using my new route. My Sony does this as well, but not nearly as much as the Magellan did and it actually learns from my course deviations and eventually accepts them.

There were a lot of other things I didn't like about the Magellan that led to great frustration and disgust with the product, but I digress...this is a subject for it's own thread and I won't hijack any further...

 

I found him!!!



He's here: Mausoleum of Mao Zedong - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

^^ Thats what I thought from the title.^^
Getting directions from Mao's "little black book"?.........

Mapquest has gotten a few people killed, and more than a few stranded on snow blocked roads in the Coast range and high Cascades here, don't trust it in the boonies in winter.

 

I might do better getting directions from Chairman Mao

Just did an experiment with Google Maps -- it also wants me to go 5 mi north
10mi south and then north again. Dragging to change the route did work pretty nicely, however.