According to this USA Today article, MapQuest announced the formation of MapQuest Publishing, which will produce travel guidebooks, along with a series of atlases and laminated street maps. Their affinity travel guides are tailored to interests like auto racing, campgrounds and college searches.

Publishers Weekly has more on this move back to books:

MapQuest, which adopted its current name in 1999, began as a cartographic services division of R.R. Donnelley that became a supplier of custom maps to reference, travel, textbook, and directory publishers. Even as the company moved more of its business to the Internet it continued to provide custom publications for such clients as National Geographic and Micheline Travel.

It’s great to hear that a successful internet company continues to use the cartographers and map editors that are a core part of their 38-year history. Their research center in Mountville, PA is only about an hour from me…I wonder if they give tours? And if they need any new researchers or writers for their guides?

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