Aerial Imagery on MapQuest; Draggable Maps Also Available

UPDATE: We’ve learned that the aerial imagery on MapQuest has been in place since October. Apologies for any confusion. Thanks to Adena for letting us know.

Five years ago before all of the major web engines began offering aerial imagery as a part of their mapping services, MapQuest providing this feature. Then, in 2004 it disappeared. Well, several years later search results from MapQuest offer aerial imagery (U.S. and some of Canada) once again. Additionally, MapQuest maps have been “Ajaxed” and can now be dragged to new locations. The aerial imagery we found (screen cap) comes via i-cubed. MapQuest UK has yet to see the draggable maps or aerial imagery.

See Also: An April 2006 article by Adena Schutzberg titled: MapQuest Continues to Redefine Itself
In it we read about aerial imagery on MapQuest from 2001-2004 and how it would be coming back to the service. From the article:

[Christian] Dwyer [Director and GM of the Business to Business (B2B) division of MapQuest] points to its inclusion of imagery from GlobeXplorer at MapQuest.com in 2001-2004 and notes MapQuest was simply ahead of its time in the sense that neither company knew how exactly to monetize those data. Now of course, detailed, extensive imagery is “required” on mapping sites and GlobeXplorer (and others) have determined how to charge for it. And MapQuest won’t be left behind: aerials are coming back in a future offering, as are “live maps” with real time panning (a la Google Maps), and street level images, promises Dwyer. The company is still exploring street level imagery and Dwyer explains that MapQuest wants to “stay away from gaming” interfaces, since that’s not its customers’ need.

See Also: A Directions Magazine article from 2005 that mentions that GlobeXplorer once provided aerial imagery for MapQuest’s consumer site.

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