MapQuest Website Ranks Neighborhoods

MapQuest unveiled a new website Thursday that ranks thousands of neighborhoods on quality-of-life measures including restaurants and bars, shopping, and how easy it is to get around on foot.

According to MapQuest, the new site, mqVibe, is your shortcut to becoming a local anywhere you go. The site has real-time rankings for 50,000 neighborhoods in 27,000 U.S. cities. It lists the best-ranked places for dining, shopping, beauty and spas, health, lodging, and other services.

mqVibe uses a patented algorithm to take in billions of search and social media inputs to create rankings for local businesses. Rankings are based on user votes and what the company describes as interactions on MapQuest.com and external data. For example, MapQuest says, “Out of ten restaurants that all rate 3.5 on a competitor reviews site, mqVibe will tell you which one is liked the best based on how many people go there and what the locals think.”

Users can vote a business “up” or “down” in response to what they think about it.

Colorado Springs has a composite “vibe” score of 4.5 out of 10. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is the top-ranked business.

Pueblo ranks similarly, with a vibe score of 4.3. The top-ranked business (based on what users search, get directions to, and rate) is Walmart.

MapQuest plans on launching an iPhone app for mqVibe.

Denver-based MapQuest is a subsidiary of AOL Inc.

You can check out how your neighborhood ranks by going to mqvibe.com.