MQ Vibe is launching with 50,000 neighborhoods to start.

The idea is certainly compelling: to rank various neighborhoods and local businesses as a way to help residents and tourists (and maybe house/apartment hunters) quickly understand what’s good and what’s interesting about places. Conceptually I like what MapQuest is doing although the first “iteration” isn’t necessarily going to win a lot of converts from Google Maps.

Ever since Google dethroned MapQuest as the top mapping site more than a year ago AOL has been searching for ways to renew its venerable property — which still has a stronger mapping brand than Google Maps — and regain lost momentum. Among other things MapQuest embraced an “open” strategy, launched a Local Business Listings Center and introduced transit and walking directions.

MQ Vibe is generally intuitive and offers an easy to use UI that allows people to zoom in or zoom out on a grid of neighborhoods. It’s designed for browsing rather than searching, though search will become available. The general idea is to more efficiently get to “best of” and “best places” but also to facilitate a kind of serendipitous discovery that largely doesn’t happen on Google Maps.

I like the visual nature of the site, including the images associated with each of the neighborhoods. But there are things that MapQuest can do to tighten and clean up the UI. It feels very much like a work in progress. For example, the map and related listings are entirely obscured below the fold if you’re viewing the site on a laptop. In addition AOL has reserved a perhaps too-generous skyscraper area on the right for advertising. But these are all things that can be tweaked and refined.

The concept is valid and I’m hopeful that MapQuest can create a really useful site that delivers on the promise of “local discovery,” a project that has generally shifted to mobile apps (e.g., Foursquare, Bizzy, Alfred, Where, etc.).

Numerous online sites in the past tried, and almost without exception failed, to make good on the “hyper-local” effort that MapQuest is pursuing. For example, EveryBlock was an attempt to compile data and information at the neighborhood level but there was no business model until the site sold to MSNBC. Since then it has become a community and local discovery tool similar to what MapQuest is attempting with MQ Vibe. (There are numerous other examples of good hyper-local concepts that have essentially failed in execution.)

MQ Vibe users can mouse over neighborhoods or individual business pushpins to get more information about a place, including its ranking. The site also solicits feedback from users and will incorporate that as part of its ranking algorithm. Of course Facebook is used here, right now to generate exposure for MQ Vibe (and because it’s becoming the de facto “identity management” platform online). However over time MQ Vibe can and will do more with social data.

In the major advantages column, MapQuest doesn’t have to worry as much about how to generate traffic for MQ Vibe or about developing a business model. The company will use MapQuest.com to drive traffic to MQ Vibe. MapQuest also expects neighborhood-related queries on Google to generate direct traffic as well. MapQuest will also leverage Patch as a content source and potentially integrate MQ Vibe into Patch sites in the future. There are many interesting possibilities.

Over time AOL intends to potentially evolve MapQuest.com into a more dynamic site that may look more like MQVibe. But that’s still to be determined.

As you might expect there will also be mobile app versions of MQ Vibe. And the apps may prove more immediately useful and be adopted more rapidly than the site itself.

With MQ Vibe, MapQuest is on to something very interesting with a great deal of potential. However to make it work the company will need to keep developing and refining the site. It will need to be experimental, creative and keep investing until it builds something that is at once really useful and utilitarian (as MapQuest is today) but also more fun and interesting to use than its parent.

As the video below shows, the MapQuest LBC functions very much like Google’s and Bing’s and offers many of the same basic features such as photo uploads, videos, categories and so forth. MapQuest is also offering two premium listing levels at $99 and $399 per year — the latter of which includes distribution of business information to other sites like Yelp, Yahoo Local, SuperPages and others.

The MapQuest Local Business Center is currently available to US businesses only. Here’s the MapQuest intro video that shows how it works:

It’s been more than two years since Google Maps surpassed MapQuest as the number one mapping destination in the US, but MapQuest remains a healthy number two in the latest Hitwise travel category market share chart:

Aside from that, MapQuest is also a frequent source of local citations inside Google Maps, so I’d expect local search marketers to welcome the addition of this new MapQuest LBC tool.

I’ve had a chance to use the app for the past 24 hours and can report that it generally works well, although there are a few areas and features that are rough around the edges. Mapquest’s SVP & GM Christian Dwyer told me he is pleased with the app but pointed out that it’s a “work in progress.”

In discussing the performance and success of the Mapquest iPhone app Dwyer said that it has seen “millions of downloads” and is used “at least at parity” with Google’s mapping app on the Apple device. Beyond this, Mapquest reports that 8.6 million people use Mapquest’s mobile site, 1.4 million of whom are on Android handsets. That growing Android user base was the impetus for creating the native Android app.

Here are some screens from the new Android app:

The following are the major features of the app:

• Voice-guided/Turn-by-turn Navigation: The phone speaks directions regarding where and when to make a turn
• Voice Search: Drivers can speak the desired destination for search and directions
• Map Toolbar: Easily find restaurants, coffee shops, gas stations and parking with one click
• Walking & Driving Directions: Recommends the best route and rotates the map based on orientation of travel
• Live Traffic Flow/Incidents: Extensive coverage updated every 5 minutes

The OpenStreetMap feature — Mapquest has created a “parallel universe” of maps online using OpenStreetMap data — enables users to correct and contribute data, as well as providing international maps and directions. Once the device crosses out of the US the OpenStreetMap data kick in, although they’re available to US users as well.

Personalization is one feature not yet present on Mapquest’s Android app however it is present in the iPhone app (“My Places”). Yet it’s coming, as are a range of new features and content, which probably will include deals according to Dwyer. He also told me that third party developers are showing interest  in partnering with Mapquest as an alternative to defaulting to Google’s maps and navigation.

Like the iPhone app, users can search for businesses or points of interest by keyword or category. They can also browse by using icons at the bottom of the screen (pictured above). Each business profile page features rich content and the ability to call or navigate to a business. Some of the data on these pages are from IAC’s CityGrid.

As a viable navigation app and substitute for some of the paid products in the market, Mapquest, together with Google Navigation and Nokia’s free Ovi Maps, put further pressure on the PND vendors and paid subscription model (e.g., VZ Navigator) and force companies such as TeleNav to become more creative and inventive to justify their pricing. Android users can get the app by scanning the QR code below:

Rail Transit Directions are now available in six major metro areas (NYC, Chicago, D.C., San Fran, Boston and Philly) all of which have large subway, elevated and/or commuter rail networks. Rail transit is integrated with walking directions, allowing travelers in these cities to route between towns, addresses, points of interest, or specific transit stations.

Google has had transit and walking directions for some time and Bing added public transit routing and directions in Q3 of last year.

The Mapquest public transit data is provided by Urban Mapping. CEO Ian White says that the Mapquest implementation is limited now but should become more extensive. He says that the company’s data exceed what Google offers in terms of “accuracy and refinement.”

Mapquest has made a big push over the past six months with a new look and feel a broad relationship with OpenStreetMap and other product moves. The company claims 44 million users and still has greater brand recognition for its maps (in terms of search queries) than Google, despite Google’s greater traffic.

Mapquest is part of the new group at AOL being run by Arianna Huffington after AOL’s acquisition of the HuffingtonPost last week.

There’s a wealth of information here (as one might expect from the CIA) about populations, culture, the economy (and of course the military). There are numerous charts and photos. There’s also an interesting “compare countries” feature. Those interested can click the “find the insurgents” button to locate political agitators in each geography (just kidding about that last one).

You can get information about climate, languages, religions and other data on a global basis. For example, you can quickly discover that Mandarin Chinese is spoken by 13 percent of the world’s population or that Buddhists constitute 6 percent of the world’s religious populations.

Ultimately if you drill down you get to Mapquest’s Open site (featuring OpenStreetMap data).

My one criticism is that the data aren’t available at the level of individual cities or population centers (e.g., New York). Otherwise it’s a valuable and easy to use site, perfect for its intended audience of students.

It’s great to see new stuff coming out of Mapquest, which Tim Armstrong & Co. at AOL appear to recognize is one of their “crown jewels.”

MapQuest, a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL Inc. today announced the beta launch of four new European mapping sites built on OpenStreetMap (OSM) data. The sites in France, Germany, Italy and Spain will utilize the new MapQuest brand and UI and will have data from OSM, allowing users to improve areas like streets in their neighborhoods, bike paths, parks and hiking trails. Each site will be a stand-alone offering that lives alongside the existing MapQuest sites – which are based on commercially available map data – in the four countries.

OSM was created to give local residents, the true experts of every community, the ability to improve areas of a map with information they know and care about, ultimately making a better mapping product for all users.  MapQuest began working with the OSM community earlier this year when it launched the first beta site powered by open source data in the United Kingdom in July.

Here are the four new sites:

• http://open.mapquest.fr
• http://open.mapquest.de
• http://open.mapquest.it
• http://open.mapquest.es

Below is what Mapquest France looks like currently and then the “open” version:

Crowd-sourced data from the Open sites can be “imported” into the more traditional Mapquest sites, which still rely on commercially available mapping data. This open strategy is very smart on multiple levels and gives Mapquest new vitality, not to mention valuable community generated content.

Having spoken to the relevant regulators, we have decided to start Street View driving in  Ireland, Norway, South Africa and Sweden again starting next week. We expect to add more countries in time. Our cars will no longer collect any WiFi information at all, but will continue to collect photos and 3D imagery as they did before . . .

Despite this effort, it’s not clear that European privacy authorities are ready to let Google completely off the hook. But the company should get points for quickly admitting the mistake and promptly addressing the issue.

Back in America, however, one entity that’s not ready to let Mountain View off the hook is Consumer Watchdog. The advocacy group is back with “Wi-Spy” allegations. Those assertions argue that Google has potentially — emphasis on the word potentially — captured sensitive information from several members of Congress whose homes were on Street View routes:

Google’s WiSpy snooping could have sucked up and recorded communications from members of Congress, some of whom are involved in national security issues, an investigation by Consumer Watchdog’s InsideGoogle.com has found.

Rep. Jane Harman, D-CA, a current member of the Homeland Security Committee and former member of the Intelligence Committee has at least one wireless network in her Washington, D.C., home that could have been breached by Google, Consumer Watchdog said.

The consumer group has written Harman and 18 other members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee whose homes are pictured on Google’s Street View which suggest their WiFi networks were scanned, and called for immediate hearings.

As others have pointed out, it’s unlikely that there were state secrets or national security information in Congressional Members’ private home email accounts or stored on their personal computers (let’s hope not). According to the persistent Google critic, below are the Representatives’ homes Google captured on Street View (see the full list here.)

While it’s important to protect privacy and “keep Google honest,” it appears there’s a bit of opportunism here on the part of Consumer Watchdog to inflame fears about Google and Street View. And now on to the less controversial “mapping features” part of the discussion.

Google has introduced what it’s calling 45° imagery. This is aerial imagery showing more than simply the rooftops of buildings and associated HVAC equipment. Below are a couple of representative shots; compare the unsatisfying satellite image with the more useful 45° photography:

I’ll get the call from Microsoft PR if I don’t point out that Bing Maps (rather its predecessor) has offered this type of view (“Bird’s Eye”) since late 2005.

The even more venerable Mapquest this morning introduced a new UK-based site built on OpenStreetMap, which will “live side-by-side” with Mapquest’s other UK site. Called Mapquest Open, it uses the crowdsourced maps and data of the open-source mapping project. AOL also contributed a million dollars to support the effort.

Here are two images that compare traditional (though recently redesigned Mapquest) with Mapquest Open (Open is first):

Mapquest Open is the direction that the company wants to go longer term. According to the release out earlier today:

“We believe that open source is ultimately the future for AOL’s local and mapping applications.  And we’re very excited about supporting OpenStreetMap, which powers the maps behind Patch, our local news and information platform. We believe community generated maps that are of high quality and accuracy will end up ultimately being the better mapping product for users.

The final item today, to come full circle in a sense, offers a way to visualize your Foursquare check-in history on a Google Map:

There’s a new look and feel, a new back end, a single search box and a new “brand.” Mapquest is the number two mapping site; Google having toppled it from atop the mapping throne in early 2009 after years of complacency and “feature neglect” at the AOL-owned property.

But now with a new boss at AOL, fewer ads and a new focus on the consumer experience, Mapquest hopes to build new or renewed momentum. This is what’s new according to Mapquest:

• One-box search for finding directions, maps and businesses;
• Enhanced My Maps with a simplified login process using existing services (AOL, OpenID, Yahoo, Google, Facebook and Twitter);
• The ability to easily save and customize information, including My Maps trip itineraries, and share it with friends via social networks, including: Facebook and Twitter;
• Ways to plan and personalize travel with notes, anecdotes, landmarks and short cuts; and
• Integration of Patch’s directory information into MapQuest’s search results (e.g. restaurants, stores, government offices, local services, parks and schools).

The new Mapquest (the lower-case “Q” is intentional) looks like this:

The graphic immediately above depicts “360 View,” Mapquest’s answer to Google Street View and Bing Street Side, which debuted at the end of last year.

There are some nice search features that neither Google nor Bing offer on their mapping sites. Users can search multiple times within a map and see all the results layered or plotted in different colors simultaneously: e.g., movies, pizza, ATMs, parking. There’s also a bar that provides one click access to popular local search categories on the map: e.g., restaurants, cafes, retail, etc.

Under CEO Tim Armstrong AOL has put renewed emphasis on local (e.g., Patch) and I asked Mapquest GM Christian Dwyer whether the company recognized the importance of Mapquest and its role in AOL’s local strategy. He said yes (what’s he going to say?) and that there would be new energy and focus on the property as part of this larger strategy. I hope for AOL’s sake that’s all true.

The company is updating all its mobile apps, including its iPhone app, in the near future as well.

The simplification of search on Mapquest and the better-looking map should help defend the site against its better-funded rivals. However it’s unclear whether any of these changes or feature upgrades will strike people as interesting or novel enough to win back some of the lost usage from Google.

The current Google search deal expires in December of this year.

Sure, there are scores of search engines out there but only two that are able to genuinely compete for AOL’s business: Google and Microsoft. Yahoo’s not on the list because its index is going to be Bing/Microsoft before too long and the companies are in that transition process now. What Armstrong is negotiating for is an index and ad revenue share (and possibly revenue guarantees).

On the ad-related side the choice is clear: Google. The volume of advertisers and Google’s capacity to monetize search queries are unmatched, even in the new combined MicroHoo universe. But Microsoft, depending on how aggressive it wants to be, could potentially compensate with revenue guarantees.

Also potentially on the table could be maps. AOL has placed renewed emphasis on local, in which maps would be a critical offering.  MapQuest has lagged both Google Maps and Bing in terms of features and functionality. (Yahoo is now going to be outsourcing maps to Nokia/Navteq.)

I predicted on my personal blog that MapQuest would be outsourced to Microsoft and I think that’s a reasonable scenario and part of any likely negotiation with either party. However, that would make AOL further dependent on either partner going forward. The smart move would be to invest in MapQuest and its technology. However that’s unlikely given AOL’s need to keep costs in line and its decision to invest heavily in personnel and content production.

The company’s new mission is branded content producer, not technology platform developer. (Silicon Alley Insider argues that AOL is really negotiating to sell itself whole hog to Microsoft.)

Let’s take a look at some of the most significant developments that have contributed to the evolution of local search in the last year:

1) Local goes universal — big time.

Per Andrew Shotland’s #1 prediction for 2009, Google made several moves to increase its already dominant position in the local search space — none bigger than its release of the generic 10-pack on March 31. While its earlier release of the "K-Pack" and later refinement to the 7-pack were each noteworthy in their own right, the appearance of Local Business Listings across such a wide variety of phrases opened the eyes of Google users, observers, and competitors to the local frontier, and really set the tone for the year.

Yahoo followed suit in December with its own introduction of local results to generic SERPs, while Bing included an "8-pack" from day one of its June launch.

2) Tough times for the Yellow Pages industry.

Even before the introduction of the generic 10-pack, the ever-prescient Chris Silver Smith had some excellent advice for Yellow Pages companies about how to adapt to the changing local search landscape — advice that still holds 11 months later.

But even for those companies whose properties are well-optimized for organic search (per studies by Andrew Shotland and Ash Nallawalla), the 10-pack has slowed referral traffic from Google considerably, and even Google Suggest thinks the end may be near for the industry as we know it.

Google’s accidental indexation of Place Pages during their initial release in October had the potential to choke Internet Yellow Pages traffic even more before Google rectified the glitch.

The annual ComScore/15miles local search study may not portend such a depressed view for the Yellow Pages as a whole, but certainly forecasts a continued decline for the print side.

3) Major upgrades to the Local Business Center(s).

Perhaps Google’s most visible upgrade to its Local Business Center, at least for small business owners, was its release of LBC Analytics in late May, providing basic traffic statistics, information on coupon views, and requests for driving directions. While most SEO’s, including Search Engine Land’s Matt McGee find the data from LBC Analytics borderline useless, two excellent tutorials on segmenting 10-pack traffic via Google’s actual Analytics program were published by Martijn Beijk and Mike Belasco & Mary Bowling.

Later in the year, Google also made public a long-rumored "whitelisted" bulk upload feature for larger companies, and announced a beta ad unit that we are sure to see more of in 2010 — Local Listing Ads — a flat-fee, no-keyword-research-required offering for small business owners based on their Local Business Listings.

Google also put in place clear guidelines in the fall for do’s and don’ts of its LBC, with a few noteworthy changes to combat spam, as well as a guide to the Local Business Center in April.

Bing added phone verification to its Local Business Center soon after it launched, bringing its submission process up to par with Google’s.

4) Continued problems with local data.

All of the local search engines do a "pretty good" job with location data accuracy, but is that job "good enough?" Perhaps not when it comes to police departments, hospitals, or other emergency services, whose Authoritative OneBox results all came under increased scrutiny this year.

OneBoxes featuring merged listing information also raised quite an outcry among SEO’s and SMB’s numerous times throughout the year, although a Search Marketing Now webcast with representatives from the major data providers did an excellent job of clearing up some of the confusion as to why these data problems exist.

Many are caused by NAP ("Name Address Phone") inconsistencies or overlaps, as Gib Olander of Localeze preaches every chance he gets. Despite the measurable promise held by call-tracking numbers, I’ve also advocated for consistency of NAP information on multiple occasions, at least until something akin to a canonical phone tag is adopted by the major players in the local search ecosystem.

And there’s still no solution to the "service area problem" from any of the search engines or data providers for which Miriam Ellis and Chris Silver Smith, among others, have been clamoring for years.

Beyond business data, local search also incorporates a geo-spatial element, of course. Google made a "tectonic shift" on this front in October to eschew data from its former provider, TeleAtlas, in favor of its own. Microsoft continued to update its own VirtualEarth product with more accurate geo-spatial information.

5) Continued problems with Map Spam and Map Jacking.

What 2009 Year-In-Review would be complete without at least a passing mention of locksmiths and their penchant for the darker arts of Local SEO? Muckraker extraordinaire Mike Blumenthal did an excellent job covering the onslaught over the course of the spring.

Things got so bad that Matt McGee asked if it was time to send Google Maps back to the drawing board. Bing was not immune to the scourge of the local search industry, either, and even state attorneys general started to get involved in cracking down on criminal behavior.

To Google’s enormous credit, locksmith-infested SERPs have been pretty clean since late summer are now made up almost entirely of legitimate business owners. Next up in the game of Map Spam Whack-a-mole is likely plastic surgeons.

Less humorous was the frequency of hijacked business listings which even reached as high as the LBC entry for the White House. Google seems to have largely taken care of this issue system-wide as well.

6) Continued problems with small business advertiser "churn."

The Borrell Report in early June highlighted a shocking 50% year-over-year "churn rate" for small business customers who advertise online. Of course, when you consider how many SMBs are being sold a "bill of goods" or are falling victim to other predatory tactics, it’s a little less surprising.

But even companies as large as Google continue to struggle with the customer-facing aspect of serving small business customers. Google began sending email newsletters in August and sent stickers to 100,000 businesses named "Favorite Places" in December as part of a more aggressive outreach campaign than anything we’ve seen to date.

Nonetheless, it has been lambasted for its lack of Local Business Center support almost monthly by the Local SEO community. While Miriam Ellis’ hopeful New Year’s Resolution for Eric Schmidt did not come to fruition in 2009, things are looking up for 2010.

7) The rise of local-social interactions.

Without a doubt, 2009 was the year that Twitter became a major player in local search. Their API added location awareness in August, and just last week Twitter bought TownMe, the owner of GeoAPI. Twitter has truly become a critical component for local online marketing, and released a "101 for Business Owners" including best practices and case studies.

Yahoo added a major local social component to its product suite — Yahoo Neighbors — and Google began displaying customer sentiment via reviews much more prominently on Place Pages, something Bing did several months sooner.

Offerings such as Praized’s Local Buzz which incorporate online word-of-mouth about local businesses are sure to pick up even more steam in 2010.

8) Major partnerships and almost-partnerships.

By far the biggest story of the year was the one that didn’t happen — Google’s reported $500 million offer to buy Yelp that seems to have fallen through. As Mike Blumenthal pointed out, the powerful combination of Google Maps for recovery searches and Yelp for discovery searches would have sent shockwaves through the entire local search industry.

Still, some smaller partnerships hold potential for the future as well. Citysearch has been the most active player, announcing partnerships with Twitter, MySpace, and Mapquest in the last nine months. Yellowpages.com also made a nice deal with Microsoft to power sponsored results on Bing Local.

9) A groundswell of hyperlocal content.

Despite a continued lack of respect from traditional media, the future looks extremely bright for hyperlocal bloggers, thanks to some major distribution deals inked in the second half of the year. Hyperlocal hotbed Seattle is blossoming thanks to its community’s collaboration with the Seattle Times. Nationwide, deals between MSNBC and Everyblock, as well as Bing’s Local Lens project show that Microsoft is clearly moving in a local direction.

Scrappy startup Outside.in, after beefing up its own search capabilities, received a $7 million investment from CNN, meaning hyperlocal content now has the chance to go National. And Yahoo’s homepage has been displaying local news stories inline with national ones for months.

Smaller players like Citysquares and the aforementioned Praized also announced content syndication possibilities this year.

And then there’s Google, which has continued expanding its definition of local content by incorporating real estate listings from Google Base into Maps and tieing in local inventory options to its product search.

What’s coming in 2010?

A few off-the-cuff predictions include:

• more momentum for location-based microformats and KML
• more mergers and content partnerships, especially among the non-Google players
• more mobile-local synergy with initiatives like Favorite Places / QR codes and Microsoft’s slick new "Street Side" experience

While 2009 was certainly a thrilling year for the local search industry, 2010 is sure to be every bit as exciting — and then some. Have a safe and Happy New Year, everyone!