The answer: 50% of all Internet users! Hitwise released a report comparing the traffic of the four leading map products: MapQuest, Google Maps, Yahoo! Maps, and Microsoft’s Live Local. What didn’t surprise me is that Google Maps is the only one of product of the four that has gained significant year-over-year traffic. The others are flat to down slightly. However, even at GMaps’s brisk growth rate, it still won’t likely catch MapQuest for atleast 18 months.

I don’t know a single person that uses MapQuest. Even after a recent redesign, MapQuest is still a poor, uncompetitive offering. The only times I use MapQuest is when it is integrated into a third-party website (most often store locators). Even in such cases, I often copy+paste the address into GMaps. MapQuest is that horrible and I am shocked to learn that half of Internet users still choose it. Above all, this news serves as a great wake-up call that even a compelling product from a market leader still can take years to cross the chasm.