US: AOL launched a new initiative – incorporating the crowdsourced mapping effort OpenStreetMaps (OSM) into MapQuest.
MapQuest has been completely revamped as of today with a fresh new look and added functionality. The updated website is available now, in beta format, at new.mapquest.com. The beta site offers an uncluttered design with more discovery options and social networking integration, among other things.
With the new Mapquest, one can plot a route from point A to point B, as you could before, but you can also add additional stops to your trip and drag the directional points around to reorder the route.
With the route mapped out, the “one box” search box at the top of the page then becomes a tool to discover points of interest and other stops along the way, like parks, gas stations, hotels, restaurants, etc. – everything you need to plan the perfect vacation or road trip.
OSM was inspired by sites such as Wikipedia; the map display features a prominent ‘Edit’ tab and a full revision history is maintained. Registered users can upload GPS track logs and edit the vector data using the given editing tools.
Source: www.dailywireless.org
