MapQuest rolls out 360 view in really slow game of catchup with Google Maps

A few years ago I really thought that MapQuest was going to go the way of Kleenex or Xerox. When I asked people if they had directions, they'd say "I mapquested it." These days, Google Maps, Microsoft's Bing Maps, and other services are constantly getting new features while MapQuest sometimes feels like it's stuck in 2005.

But in the world's slowest game of catchup, MapQuest added 360 degree views to its maps today, over 2 years after Google first launched its Street View feature. Of course, it takes a long time to photograph major intersections across the country and add the data to and online mapping service, but in that time Google Maps overtook MapQuest in overall market share, according to HitWise.

Anyway, the new 360 feature works pretty much the way you'd expect. You can hit the 360 button to see a close-up of any highlighted streets on a map. And you can adjust the camera angle by dragging and dropping the image. You can also view another area by clicking the orange dot to move down a street or by dragging and dropping the green arrow on the map itself. In other words, it works pretty much exactly the same way as Google Street View.

The image quality is pretty good, and the drag-and-drop interface is pretty slick. But there's nothing really new here, other than the fact that it's MapQuest providing the feature.

In full disclosure mode, MapQuest and Download Squad are both AOL properties.

[via paidContent]

Tags: google maps, GoogleMaps, mapquest, street view, StreetView