New widget on MapQuest Local powered by National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
ALEXANDRIA, Va. & DENVER — (BUSINESS WIRE) — August 24, 2009 — MapQuest, http://www.mapquest.com, and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC) today announced the availability of a new widget on MapQuest Local, that includes valuable missing child alerts and information from NCMEC. MapQuest Local provides users with locally-relevant content including news, events and restaurant reviews for the city or destination of their choice. The new widget features pictures and information about children who are missing from the geographic area for which the MapQuest Local page is set. Also included is the ability to search for missing children by name and link directly to NCMEC’s homepage and other missing children resources from NCMEC. The new widget can be found at http://local.mapquest.com.“In the National Center’s 25 years of existence more missing children come home now than ever before, but much more needs to be done,” said Ernie Allen, President and CEO of NCMEC. “The generosity of AOL and MapQuest has enabled us to increase the scope and channels by which we can share information about missing and exploited children. We are grateful to have a direct line of communication to MapQuest’s millions of users each month through the new MapQuest Local widget.”
Through the widget, users can view the pictures of missing children and details about their disappearance. If they recognize one of the children or have information about one of the cases, they should contact NCMEC through their website, www.missingkids.com, or toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).
“We worked with NCMEC to create the new missing children widget on MapQuest Local to provide our users with a way to help bring these children home,” said Christian Dwyer, general manager and senior vice president at MapQuest. “Working this information into our Local site helps visitors to be constantly aware of how they can help in areas where they live or are visiting.”
AOL has worked closely with NCMEC for more than 10 years on child safety initiatives for online and offline safety. The organizations collaborated on NCMEC’s creation of the CyberTipline, a reporting mechanism for child sexual exploitation. Additionally, they worked together on the formation of the Technology and Financial Coalitions with the goal of eradicating child pornography on the Internet. An industry leader in efforts to establish best practices for online safety, AOL has introduced enhanced Parental Controls that are accessible to users across the Web, and launched Safetyclicks.com, a website designed to educate parents on how to best protect kids and teens in a Web 2.0 world.
About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Since it was established by Congress in 1984, the organization has operated the toll-free 24-hour national missing children’s hotline which has handled nearly 2,400,000 calls. It has assisted law enforcement in the recovery of more than 142,100 children. The organization’s CyberTipline has handled more than 721,330 reports of child sexual exploitation and its Child Victim Identification Program has reviewed and analyzed more than 25,734,200 child pornography images and videos. The organization works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice’s office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. To learn more about NCMEC, call its toll-free, 24-hour hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST or visit its website at www.missingkids.com.
About MapQuest, Inc.
MapQuest provides Internet, mobile and business solutions delivering on the promise of helping people research and discover: where is it, how I get there and what’s nearby. MapQuest is one of the leading mapping brands online, offering maps and directions, reaching more than 43 million users in June 2009, according to comScore Media Metrix. MapQuest's mobile solutions are compatible with a variety of mobile devices, including iPhone and BlackBerry devices. MapQuest, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL LLC, is based in Denver, Colorado.
About AOL
AOL is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings. AOL LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. with employees in 18 countries across the globe.
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