MapQuest Surges to No. 1 in the Apple App Store, 30 Years After Inventing Online Mapping
Hundreds of thousands of downloads push usage to 50 times its normal rate as users embrace the brand's decision to keep familiar lake and gulf names
MapQuest, the original internet mapping service, is the No. 1 Navigation app and the No. 8 overall free app in the U.S. Apple App Store, and the No. 2 overall free app in the Canada Apple App Store, as of 7 p.m. PDT on August 30. It is the highest chart position in the brand's 30-year history. Hundreds of thousands of people have downloaded the MapQuest apps since Thursday, and usage is running roughly 50 times its normal rate.
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The surge follows MapQuest's decision to keep the historical, familiar names for lakes and gulfs on its maps. For users who want something different, the company offers a lighthearted alternative: a tool that lets anyone rename the lake themselves, live now at gulfof.mapquest.com/lakeontario. MapQuest first built the tool in February 2025 for the Gulf of Mexico and expanded it this week to cover Lake Ontario.
