MapQuesting!

[13788]

mindseye: Okay -- to show I have a fun-loving-if-a-bit-geeky, apolitical side, let me share a game that I've been playing for the past couple of days:

What is the longest driving route you can generate using MapQuest?

Here's the rule: Any point-to-point route is acceptable using any search parameters you wish. The starting and ending 'points' can be as specific or as general as you wish. But MapQuest has to actually be able to satisfy your request with a drivable route from start to end. Only mileage that is actually routed counts.

My record so far is 5142.24 miles, 162.5 hours. Who can beat it?

 

[jonb]

Too bad MapQuest doesn't work internationally; if the Russians' attempt at a bridge to Alaska doesn't fail, Ushuaia-Cape Town seems attractive.

 

[13788]

mindseye: Heh. Even within the US, there are routes that Mapquest can't handle. (Try Bangor to Honolulu! )

 

[Pecker]

C'mon, mindseye! A few more hints, please! What point to point did you use to get your mileage? Are we confined only to the US?

I've been farting around and came up with only 3660.8 miles in 56.19 hours from Ft. Taylor, FL (Key West) to Blaire, WA. Can't seem to get into Alaska today for some reason.

But I'm using Yahoo Maps since Mapquest isn't cooperating with me today.

Great game - great idea for us idle-timers!

 

[jonb]

[quote author=Pecker link=board=99;num=1059074471;start=0#3 date=07/24/03 at 13:22:03]C'mon, mindseye!  A few more hints, please!  What point to point did you use to get your mileage?  Are we confined only to the US?

I've been farting around and came up with only 3660.8 miles in 56.19 hours from Ft. Taylor, FL (Key West) to Blaire, WA.  Can't seem to get into Alaska today for some reason.

But I'm using Yahoo Maps since Mapquest isn't cooperating with me today.

Great game - great idea for us idle-timers![/quote]
I can do better; try Fairbanks.

 

[13788]

mindseye: Good luck getting Mapquest to route to Fairbanks.

You're not confined to the US. And I exploited a little bit of sneakiness in my routing...

You can have MapQuest avoid toll roads in its routing, (click on "get options") and there are a couple of places where doing so means taking a longer route.

 

[Pecker]

Gee, mindseye, instead of having mapquest give you a tourist route why not just hire Jim Carrey to drive you?

You may never reach your destination but you'll have a hell of a good time trying.

 

[13788]

AnonyMs: First of all, mindseye sweetest... we all know that you are a fun loving guy.... and geeks are the best!

Well, I started out in Key West as well and went to the Pacific Northwest... peanuts compared to your feat. Are you gonna tell us how you did it eventually or is this something like the net riddler sammygirly put us onto some time ago?

 

[jonb]

Right now, I can think of two candidates: Cape Town to soemwhere in Siberia, or somewhere, either in Alaska or northeastern Canada, to Ushuaia. (Are there bridges from Canada to Greenland? Or from the mainland to Tierra del Fuego?)

On a side note, the longest taxi ride was from London to Johannesburg.

 

[13788]

RedheadedSpdFrk: Best I've been able to do is from Ft. Taylor, FL to Prudhoe Bay, AK... 5,562.67 miles with total drive time of 179 hours and 28 minutes but I had to break my search into 2 parts. I couldn't get MapQuest to go from Anywhere, USA to Canada to Alaska. Does this count? ???

 

[13788]

mindseye: Jonb: the candidates you propose are insanely long drives indeed, but they're outside the area that Mapquest routes.

RedheadedSpdFrk -- the route I came up with was the longest route I could find in a single routing, but congratulations to you for getting MapQuest to route to Alaska at all.

AnonyMs: Sure, I'll share my solution with you -- I'd be thrilled if someone managed to beat it with something even more obscure!

If you want to check out my route, here it is.

The starting point, you've heard of. I'd be surprised if you were familiar with the ending point -- it's sort of obscurely located, and it's not squarely in a 'corner' of the continent. It took me a while to find this route.

 

[MisterMark]

Wow - I'm impressed, mindseye! I tried and tried, but couldn't come up with anything better than yours.