Who Makes MapQuest's Maps?

carpoolio writes "TechTV has an interesting story about the company that builds the mapping technology behind popular map services like Mapquest. The company, Navigation Technologies, is decidedly low-tech in its approach to making its maps: two people in a car drive around endlessly, inputting street information and landmarks into databases. Navtech's map databases are used in everything from Garmin GPS units to Alpine in-dash auto navigation systems. So next time you turn the wrong way down a one-way street, know that there are real people behind the controls."

They hire

[prostoalex]

They currently have an opening for Associate Field Analyst in Las Vegas, NV [navtech.com]. Good luck finding anyone willing to visit each and every strip club and bar in town, write down their addresses, and get paid while you're doing it.

Apparently they have been looking for someone to do that since June.

Budget issues?

[Empiric]

...two people in a car drive around endlessly...

And I thought my deadlines were unreasonable.

Those bastards...

[mtrupe]

Have gotten me lost so many times!

YOU FAIL IT

[Anonymous Coward]

And badly, at that. Maybe MapQuest can give you directions to the top of the thread next time.

hmm... i wonder...

[Valar]

yeah, but what do THEY use for their directions?

All i can think of...

[li99sh79]

Do they carpool with the Verizon Dude?

-sam

Re:They hire

[GoofyBoy]

>Good luck finding anyone willing to visit each and every strip club and bar in town,

I do this for free already.

I can see/hear it now

[mblase]

With a GPS receiver in many cell phones we need to figure out how we all can collaborate on creating maps.

"Can you hear me now? I'm on Main and First...."
"Can you hear me now? I'm on Main and Second...."
"Can you hear me now? I'm on Main and Third...."

Re:I'd make a joke

[Tumbleweed]

> My first impulse is to crack a joke about this,

They should hook up with that cellphone guy, "Can you hear me, now?" He seems to go everywhere, already, anyway, right?

This explains a lot!

[Anonymous Coward]

Like why everytime I use the navigation system on my new Honda, no matter what address I give it, it always ends up taking me to either a dunken donuts, a pizza hut, a drive thru burger king, an adult book store, or a very curious apartment complex with a lot of foot traffic at night. Boy, those people must get around! And does the cop version only include the dunken donuts?

WTF... ?

[frodo from middle ea]

An Interesting Story ?

Give mea break, Its hardly a 300 words article and what is so interesting about it ?

I couldn't get anything from the article, the real interesting part is the routing and not mapping. But the only information I found about routing was....

Moss opens up a "Shmem," or shared memory file, and puts in all the new info. When she gets back to the office, the heavy lifting starts.

"Usually it takes about twice the time to code it as it does to drive," Moss says. "There's so much information to put in."

Oh so they use Shmem , wow that's sooooo interesting.

Re:They hire

[Anonymous Coward]

How do you do it for free?!? I'd like to know how to get in free. They always make me pay a cover and buy $5 watered-down sodas.

Re:They hire

[cmallinson]

Good luck finding anyone willing to visit each and every strip club and bar in town, write down their addresses, and get paid while you're doing it.

If only there were some sort of database that listed businesses and their addresses. Maybe we could even get phone numbers in there and put everything in a book ... a yellow book.

dear mapquest

[circletimessquare]

about 123 maplewood lane, arcadia, georgia:

my mailbox is actually a foot to the left of where it is as shown on your maps

about ridgewood lane, templeton, massachusettes:

there is a little too much curve to the second right hand turn as shown on your maps. it's more like a hard angle than a curve

could you fix these two things?

thanks

Efficiency...

[jahudabudy]

I wonder if these two actually drove around the 5 block circle that second time it appeared in my directions, or just logged it as "known path"?

Re:Collaborative mapping

[Mindragon]

Oh great. I can see the phone calls from my ex now...

Answering machine: "Thank you for calling. Leave a message. (BEEP)"

Ex: "Hello? I know you're there! I just checked your tracking web blog and it says you're there! Pick up the damn phone! I want to talk to you now! Pick it up! Pick it up! God damn you pick up the damn phone now! Your tracking web blog says you're three feet from this answering machine so pick up the god damn phone now!"

State of the art equipment

[Emil Brink]

"I use the pen tool to write down names of roads or explain any significant changes to what we currently have in the database," she says.
Ghee, that really is some sophisticated technology they're using to solve these problems. Driving around in cars, using "pen tools" to "write down" information. It really smacks of the new millenium! ;^)

Re:I'd make a joke

[realdpk]

The best part is that this would be a hard job to send overseas! Built in job security!

Re:Hmmm....

[qbproger]

I think it's pretty obvious you're going to need a sidekick. I have my own costume, and will work for donuts.

Riiiight

[SamMichaels]

Tell them to drive through Williamsburg, VA again. I got SO lost last weekend courtesy of Mapquest...

They need a catch phrase...

[Trolling4Dollars]

How about; "Can you find me now?"

Re:They hire

[joebubba]

...I'm sorry honey, its this damned open source mapping project again. I have to stop at Scores and then Deja Vu. We're doing a little data massaging. Yeah, that's it, ...data massaging. Don't wait up.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Sort of the same...

[__aafutm5472]

I posted this under a different thread, above, but it fits better here, as it's related:
------------
Back when Yahoo maps was just getting underway, my friend and I decided to do a little test.

We got driving directions and a map from his place to my place. One look at what was on the screen told us their maps were created from normal printed street level maps.

Yahoo told my dear friend to drive down 65th Ave, then make a left onto I-205 Northbound. Problem is, there's an approximatly 30-40 foot drop off the bridge, and no onramp. Not to mention the cars below going 65MPH as you landed nose- or top-down on the freeway.

Since then, I've never really been able to trust online driving directions...

Re:When it all goes wrong...

[TFloore]

But technology's most amusing when it all blows up. I wish I could find the link, but I distinctly remember reading about some lady who tried to plot an intracity voyage, and got routed through about 12 states -- even venturing into Canada for a while. (Does anyone else remember this?)

You're looking for this amusing Microsoft Expedia routing mis-adventure [netbsd.org] from 1999.

Scroll down about half way to "Subject: Maybe Microsoft owns stock in Canada?".

Google search for "mapquest ferry funny"... link #6 for me. You have to know what you're loking for in order to find it. Isn't it always that way?

Re:Collaborative mapping

[JabberWokky]

Ah. You've been to Sacramento, then?

--
Evan

Oregon Trail

[satellite78]

I used to travel a lot with this indie band, Joe 90. While travelling to the nearly non-existant town of Independence, Orgeon, they came to an impossible situation, thanks to the brilliance of Mapquest. Basically, the road just stopped. At the banks of a river. Since they did not have a floating van thing a la Oregon Trail, they turned around, and ended up late for their own show. Always check mapquest against other sources. I believe they even have a disclaimer somewhere on their site suggesting "do a reality check and make sure the road still exists."