# Is Mapquest on crack? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 12, 2002, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102 "2002-09-12T12:46:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102/1 "2002-09-12T12:46:03Z")
So I’ve got an interview today at [butterfly.net](http://butterfly.net). Not a job interview but an informational one for my side project. I head for Mapquest and punch the address in. Hillsboro (my place) to Martinsburg, WV (their location) is 26.XX miles. Simple enough. Mapquest says it’ll take me 1 hour and 36 minutes to get there! What’s up with that? ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102/2 "2002-09-12T13:14:43Z")
Lots and lots of really, really long traffic lights along the route?? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102/3 "2002-09-12T13:28:48Z")
Or maybe WV decided to unpave all those roads? I KNOW this road! My street (VA Route 9) is the main street in Martinsburg! I only went to Mapquest to get the surface street directions. Jeez. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102/4 "2002-09-12T13:33:35Z")
Maybe your car has broken down and you’ll be waiting for a bus. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102/5 "2002-09-12T13:46:07Z")
I just put Hillsboro WV and Martinsberg WV into MS streets and trips and got 246.6 miles and 4h 5 minutes - If I were you I’d stick with the mapquest directions. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102/6 "2002-09-12T13:46:49Z")
I just put Hillsboro WV and Martinsberg WV into MS streets and trips and got 246.6 miles and 4h 5 minutes - If I were you I’d stick with the mapquest directions. If you ment Hillsboro VA then it is 29 mi 48 minutes ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102/7 "2002-09-12T14:28:50Z")
Ah, Mapquest. The direction-giving site that once told me to go _through_ a building. That told me a house was roughly five miles from where it actually was. Mapquest is generally useful if the area you’re going to be driving in is more than a year or so old. The only other problem I have with them is that they seem to be addicted to toll-charging turnpikes. One does not _have_ to use any turnpike to get to Columbus, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Mooney252](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7c8e57/32.png) [@Mooney252](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooney252)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102/8 "2002-09-12T14:37:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Ah, Mapquest. The direction-giving site that once told me to go _through_ a building. That told me a house was roughly five miles from where it actually was. The joys of mapping products. I once got a review copy of a Rand-McNally product (on CD) that did the same: - it couldn’t find Stevens Pass, a major ski resort here - it recommends that one drive from Mukilteo,WA to Clinton, WA when normal people take the ferry. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@Mr.Blix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blix)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102/9 "2002-09-12T14:57:13Z")
I had to visit a client at their suburban home. I MapCrusted the route, and ended up on a dead-end street looking for an imaginary side-road. It turns out I was actually about a mile from my destination. I backtracked into town and asked directions at the local PD. A colleague had directions to a local resteraunt that included the phrase “Take a right onto a local road”. Local Road?!? Aren’t all roads local? (In case you’re wondering, the name of the road was not “Local”) Unbelievable, Blix. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102/10 "2002-09-12T15:00:56Z")
My favorite mapquest directions came when I lived in Aberdeen. I wanted to get on 95 north. The on ramp to 95 N was 1/4 mile south of my house. Here’s what mapquest wanted me to do: Turn south out of my driveway _Cross_ I-95 and drive into the town of Aberdeen (3 miles) Get on Rt. 40 N, drive to Perryville (10miles) Make a L on Rt 222 Go to I-95 (4 miles) Get on northbound I-95. WTF? ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102/11 "2002-09-12T15:24:56Z")
I just put Hillsboro WV and Martinsberg WV into MS streets and trips and got 246.6 miles and 4h 5 minutes - If I were you I’d stick with the mapquest directions. If you ment Hillsboro VA then it is 29 mi 48 minutes ---
**Author:** ![Neptune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@Neptune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptune)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102/12 "2002-09-12T15:36:20Z")
As a test I asked MapQuest how to get to my friend’s house. My friend’s house is very close, about a five minute walk. By car, the trip compares to the time it takes to do up your seatbelt. MapQuest told me to go the opposite direction to a main road, to the highway, back onto another main road and back to my friend’s house, maybe a 20 minute trip. ---
**Author:** ![Abe\_Babe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Abe\_Babe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe_Babe)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102/13 "2002-09-12T15:52:35Z")
My only bad experience with mapquest was to, of all things, a super-mini dopelunch. I turned off the highway onto a pretty major road, and followed the directions, weaving among many (at least 7) smaller cross streets. I eventually called the restaurant and made it there. On my way back to work, I exited the parking lot, drove straight about 150 yards, and turned onto the very same “pretty major road” and easily got back on the highway. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102/14 "2002-09-12T16:16:57Z")
I’ve used MapQuest when I wanted to figure distances - I know how to get from point “A” to point “B”, but I wondered how far and how long it should take. It seems every time it starts me out going in circles in my own neighborhood before it directs me to the interstate. I hope if anyone wants to visit me, they ask me for directions rather than relying on that psycho program. [sub]um, that wasn’t an invitation, by the way…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102/15 "2002-09-12T16:47:22Z")
I just put Hillsboro WV and Martinsberg WV into MS streets and trips and got 246.6 miles and 4h 5 minutes - If I were you I’d stick with the mapquest directions. If you ment Hillsboro VA then it is 29 mi 48 minutes ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102/16 "2002-09-12T16:48:30Z")
darn hamster ---
**Author:** ![fallom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@fallom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fallom)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102/17 "2002-09-12T16:56:38Z")
A quadruple post stretching over 2 hours? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102/18 "2002-09-12T17:18:24Z")
I have many times used Mapquest, Yahoo! Maps, and Travelocity, and all of them give me horribly wrong directions, though on average Travelocities are closer to being correct. (only once ever using these have the directions been completly correct, but that’s only because the two places I needed to get to and from were both near major interstates and had other major interstates that went between them (it was basically NYS throughway to Jersey Pike to Garden State Parkway to Penn. Turnpike.)) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102/19 "2002-09-12T17:41:30Z")
At least MapQuest now knows that the entrance for the building that I work in faces 12th Street even though the street address is Jefferson Davis Highway, which is around the corner. First few times I tried to get directions from here it told me head north on Jeff. Davis, which is impossible from 12th Street! Jeff. Davis is elevated between I-395 and 20th Street, to get on northbound Jeff. Davis from here one has to use the 15th Street onramp. ---
**Author:** ![elshatan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@elshatan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elshatan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102/20 "2002-09-12T19:54:02Z")
I use Mapquest, but only as a sort of “rough draft” of initial directions. I think it has its own personal prejudices. For me, no matter where I’m going, I always manage to get directed through the projects. Also, I was directed down a “State Highway” that was nothing but a one lane gravel road. But it went to the right place! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mapquest-on-crack/128102.md?page=2)