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"From Here To There And Back Again!"
April 15, 2000
Jessie Coffey
Planning a trip? Need to know how many kilometres you'll be travelling? Or how long it might take to drive from Point A to Point B? Or where you might be able to find a place to stay once you get there? Mapquest (http://www.mapquest.com) has the answers!
The features available to the user on the Mapquest site cover every aspect of travel planning. Directions, maps, entertainment, and lodging questions can all be investigated on one site. The main attraction to the Mapquest site is its ability to provide tons of travel information based on the information provided by the user. Need to get from Huron and Highbury in London to Avenue Road and St. Clair Avenue in Toronto? Upon entering the points of origin and destination the program provides a map to view, narrative directions to follow, and additional details such as the fact that the trip would be about 188 km and take 2 hours and 12 minutes to drive. Mapquest provides what it believes to be the shortest and most efficient directions. An advanced search option, however, allows the user to enter further details of the trip. For example, if you needed to travel from Ingersoll to Toronto but also had to stop in Oakville and Kitchener, this additional information can be entered to develop a travel plan more specific to your needs.
A second feature of the site is equally helpful. Mapquest will create a map of the area surrounding a specific address. This is particularly advantageous if you have an address, i.e. 4575 Yonge Street, Toronto, but are unsure as to what landmarks and intersections might mark off the 4500 block. Rather than driving along a busy street with one eye on house numbers and the other on the road, Mapquest provides an area-specific map to the user.
Upon entering in the destination data, Mapquest will also search out various details on lodging and dining establishments, as well as entertainment listings and city event guides. Current traffic reports, updated every two minutes, are available for major American cities. These reports cover construction delays, debris on the road, slow traffic, and accidents. While checking the reports online when driving to Florida may not be eminently practical, checking the reports a few times over the days leading up to the departure date may provide an expectation of what will be encountered during the drive.
A few minutes spent using this online resource could save hours of frustration when planning your next trip.
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