MapQuest API

Name: MapQuest API API
Brand: MapQuest API
Availability: InStock

✓ Official Vendor SpecMaps GeolocationRouting DirectionsapiKey15 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Calculate driving routes, optimise multi-stop deliveries, geocode addresses, and render static map images via 15 MapQuest endpoints. Authentication is a single API key supplied in the query string.

Connect the MapQuest API to your agent

Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the MapQuest API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.

Install Jentic One Beta (Self-Hosted)

Jentic One Host machine

# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh

Agent machine

# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register       # connects your agent to your Jentic One instance

Jentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with MapQuest API API.

Calculate a driving route with /directions/v2/route and return a step-by-step turn list with distances

Solve multi-stop ordering through /directions/v2/optimizedroute for delivery and field-service runs

Generate alternate routes with /directions/v2/alternateroutes when the primary route is blocked

Build a travel-time matrix between many origins and destinations via /directions/v2/routematrix

GET STARTED

Start building with MapQuest API API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

MapQuest provides a suite of mapping services covering geocoding, reverse geocoding, batch geocoding, turn-by-turn directions, optimised multi-stop routing, alternate routes, route matrices, static map images, and predictive place search. The API exposes 15 endpoints across the /geocoding, /directions, /staticmap, and /search namespaces and authenticates with a single API key passed in the URL query string. It is positioned for logistics, delivery dispatch, in-product address lookups, and embedded route planning in web and mobile clients.

Use Cases

Patterns agents use MapQuest API API for, with concrete tasks.

★ Field-Service Dispatch Routing

Field-service operations call /directions/v2/optimizedroute and /directions/v2/routematrix to assign technicians to jobs and sequence visits across a working day. The matrix endpoint pre-computes pairwise drive times between technicians and job sites and the optimised route endpoint returns the best stop ordering. Initial integration takes a couple of days for a fully automated dispatcher.

POST a routematrix request with 4 technician start locations and 12 job sites, then call /directions/v2/optimizedroute for the assigned technician with the best 6 jobs.

Last-Mile Delivery ETAs

Last-mile delivery products call /directions/v2/route to compute live ETAs for each stop after every successful drop and surface them in the customer-facing tracking page. The endpoint accepts driving, walking, or trucking modes and returns leg-by-leg time and distance. Wiring up the endpoint behind a tracking webhook is typically a half-day's work.

Call /directions/v2/route with the driver's current GPS position and the next stop address and return the estimated arrival time in minutes.

Static Route Maps in Receipts

Ride-share and courier products embed a /staticmap/v5/map image of the route polyline in receipt emails and printable trip summaries. Because the endpoint returns a PNG it works inside any HTML email client without a map runtime. The route shape comes from /directions/v2/routeshape so the static image accurately reflects the chosen path.

Call /directions/v2/routeshape for trip ID 12345, then call /staticmap/v5/map with the returned shape and return a 600x300 PNG URL.

Address Autocomplete in Booking Flows

Travel and ride-booking products call /search/v3/prediction for type-ahead suggestions and /search/v4/place to resolve the chosen suggestion to a structured place with coordinates. The combination replaces a static address form with a low-friction search box and is wired in through a debounced front-end input handler.

Query /search/v3/prediction with the user's partial input 'logan int' and return the top three airport-category suggestions with their place IDs.

AI Agent Routing Tool

An AI travel planner or logistics assistant calls MapQuest through Jentic to compute routes, optimise stop orders, and generate map images for chat replies. Jentic exposes each MapQuest operation as a typed tool with a discoverable input schema so the agent invokes the right endpoint without browsing developer docs. Setup runs through search, load, and execute in under an hour.

Search Jentic for 'calculate a driving route with MapQuest', load the schema for /directions/v2/route, and execute a Boston-to-New York call returning total distance and time.

Key Endpoints

15 endpoints — mapquest provides a suite of mapping services covering geocoding, reverse geocoding, batch geocoding, turn-by-turn directions, optimised multi-stop routing, alternate routes, route matrices, static map images, and predictive place search.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

GET

/directions/v2/route

Calculate a driving route between points

GET

/directions/v2/optimizedroute

Solve optimal multi-stop ordering

GET

/directions/v2/alternateroutes

Return alternate routes

POST

/directions/v2/routematrix

Build a travel-time matrix

GET

/geocoding/v1/address

Geocode a single address

POST

/geocoding/v1/batch

Batch-geocode many addresses

GET

/staticmap/v5/map

Render a PNG static map

GET

/search/v4/place

Look up place details

GET

/directions/v2/route

Calculate a driving route between points

GET

/directions/v2/optimizedroute

Solve optimal multi-stop ordering

GET

/directions/v2/alternateroutes

Return alternate routes

POST

/directions/v2/routematrix

Build a travel-time matrix

GET

/geocoding/v1/address

Geocode a single address

Why though Jentic?

Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.

Credential isolation

MapQuest API keys are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault (MAXsystem) and injected into the `?key=` query parameter at execution time. The agent invoking a MapQuest tool never sees the raw secret.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search Jentic by intent (e.g. 'calculate a driving route' or 'optimise a multi-stop delivery') and Jentic returns the matching MapQuest operations with their input schemas, so the agent picks the right endpoint without crawling developer.mapquest.com.

Time to first call

Direct MapQuest integration: half a day for a single endpoint, 1-2 days for routing plus geocoding plus key rotation. Through Jentic: under an hour from search to first successful call.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Alternative

TomTom Routing API

TomTom Routing focuses on traffic-aware routing and ETAs; MapQuest covers routing, geocoding, place search, and static maps in one API.

Choose TomTom when live-traffic ETAs and lane guidance dominate the workload. Choose MapQuest when one API needs to cover routing plus geocoding plus place search.

Alternative

HERE Maps

HERE offers a deeper enterprise mapping platform; MapQuest is lighter weight and quicker to wire in for routing and geocoding.

Choose HERE when fleet management, isolines, or commercial-vehicle attributes are required. Choose MapQuest for straightforward routing and geocoding.

Complementary

Geocodio

Geocodio provides high-volume US/Canada geocoding that pairs well with MapQuest's routing and static map endpoints.

Use Geocodio for the bulk address-to-coordinate step and call MapQuest for the routing or static map leg.

Complementary

OpenCage Geocoding API

OpenCage's OpenStreetMap-based geocoder is a useful fallback or cross-check for MapQuest's geocoder.

Use OpenCage when MapQuest returns low-confidence geocoding hits, then continue with MapQuest for the routing or map step.

FAQs

Specific to using MapQuest API API through Jentic.

What authentication does the MapQuest API use?

The MapQuest API uses an API key passed as the `key` query string parameter on every request. Jentic stores the key encrypted in the MAXsystem vault and injects it at execution time so the raw key never enters the agent context.

Can I calculate optimised multi-stop routes with the MapQuest API?

Yes. The /directions/v2/optimizedroute endpoint accepts a list of waypoints and returns them in the optimal driving sequence with per-leg distance and time. For pre-computing many-to-many drive times use /directions/v2/routematrix.

What are the rate limits for the MapQuest API?

Quotas are enforced at the account level rather than per-second and depend on the plan selected on developer.mapquest.com. The API returns HTTP 403 when the monthly transaction allowance is exhausted; check the account dashboard for current usage.

How do I calculate a route between two cities through Jentic?

Run `pip install jentic`, search for 'calculate a driving route with MapQuest', load the schema for GET /directions/v2/route, and execute it with the `from` and `to` parameters set to the city names. Jentic handles the API key and returns parsed JSON.

Can the MapQuest API return alternate routes?

Yes. The GET /directions/v2/alternateroutes endpoint returns up to two alternate paths between an origin and destination alongside the primary route, which is useful when the main path is congested or blocked.

Does the MapQuest API support batch geocoding?

Yes. POST /geocoding/v1/batch accepts an array of addresses in a single request and returns a coordinate result for each one, which is faster and cheaper than calling /geocoding/v1/address in a loop.