Back in the good old days, if you needed directions, you broke out the Rand McNally and looked it up or stopped at a local gas station and asked for directions, listening attentively as the attendant quickly rattled them off. Nowadays you can simply go online and get them. There are several sites devoted to driving directions, and I am going to look at the two of the most popular: Mapquest.com and Mapblast.com.

Mapquest is the most popular of such sites, and I really can't figure out why. I've used it twice now and had bad luck each time. The first time I used it was this past summer when I went to visit a friend in Northern Virginia. The directions that Mapquest gave me were actually not that bad, except for one thing: at one point the directions specified to turn onto the Fairfax County Parkway; however, it didn't say whether or not to turn on to the Parkway South or the Parkway North. As it goes, I was supposed to go North, but unsure of where to go I turned South. I eventually found my way, only after riding around for a while and realizing this wasn't the direction I wanted to go in. When I told my friend, he looked at me for a second and said "that's Mapquest for you."

You think I would have learned after that, but no. About a month ago, I needed directions to the Sylvan Learning Center in Roanoke. I originally asked a friend, but her directions were terrible; out of options, I consulted Mapquest again. This time the directions were horrible. After getting me to Roanoke, the directions were vague as could be. Instead of giving the actual street names, the site gave me only US highway designations. This isn't bad, but I feel it's much easier to find my way around when I have the actual street name.

Disgruntled with Mapquest, I decided to check out Mapblast. My father, who travels the area extensively as part of his job, vouched for the site. The site worked the same way as Mapquest: you type in your starting address as well as your destination, and the site gives you driving directions.

Mapblast gave far more comprehensive directions than Mapquest. It gave street names, as well as the US highway designations. The directions were detailed as well, pointing out every street that I would need to turn onto. Needless to say, I found my way to the Sylvan Center with a minimum amount of fuss.