Tag Archive for hyperlocal

Mapping Faux Pas #1 – Where’s the Map?

October 27, 2011 Skip Cody, Product Manager No comments

In this 7-part series Annie and I will be discussing some of the most common Mapping Faux Pas found on Real Estate websites. Even though we’re focusing on Real Estate sites, these mistakes crop up across industries and applications and our tips for how to avoid them are equally applicable to any application using maps to convey information.

And that brings us to our first Mapping Faux Pas: the Missing or Hidden Map! We all know, Real Estate about three things: location, location, location, and nothing screams location more than a map. Therefore, we feel no real estate site is complete without a map, and if you do include a map, please don’t hide it!

A map is the perfect medium to to show search results, a single property, real estate trends and information that surrounds that property. While there was a time where consumers were somewhat timid with maps not understanding their full usefulness in exploring data this is no longer the case. Today’s information consumers have come to expect maps, and are on the look-out for them. They are comfortable using the common Bing and Google maps and understand how to navigate and interact with them. Should these new map-savvy users stumble across a site lacking a map, they will very likely go elsewhere for their information. Further, maps are a requisite part of the mobile experience, where everything revolves around location.

Almost as bad as omitting the map from your site is hiding the map or making your users undertake the great map hunt. Too many times I’ve encountered sites that have teeny-tiny map links or bury their maps several pages deep into their user experience. Maps are an incredible resource and if you are going to put the time in to add a map to your site, then put the time in and put the map front and center and integrated into the many user workflows on your site.

Real Estate sites need mapping – enough said!

Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you are developing your site so you can avoid our first Mapping Faux Pas.

  • Make your maps easy to find – present users map options and present them early and often
  • Put map links at the top of the page or make them easily discoverable
  • Offer maps at each step of the user experience: Search, Display, on the Detail View etc.
  • Use your maps to present more than just property location. Consider using maps to communicate sales information, market analysis and in reports
  • Don’t relegate your maps to an after-thought. Design your site around the map and make the map count
  • When you do present a map go beyond a single point on a map and put up data that tells the story around that location

What are all the different ways you can use maps on your Real Estate site?

  • Use the map to locate the user to an area and let them begin their property search there using the map
  • Display search results on the map. This allows the end user to instantly see the big picture and eliminate properties that don’t meet the most important criteria of real estate: location.
  • Include a map on the property detail page and add points of interest such as schools, restaurants, churches, coffee houses, grocery stores, and more…
  • Use the map to display sales trends by area (Neighborhood, Postal code, City, County). Trend information is something most sites have already and unearthing that data on a map will help set your site apart.

Following these tips can elevate your web site, keep your end user engaged and will improve your overall site experience, which in the end, is what we’re all after. Stay tuned for more Mapping Faux Pas and tips on how to avoid them in upcoming weeks.

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Why Mapping Will Go Mainstream in 2011

June 28, 2011 Jim Skurzynski, CEO One comment

I’m predicting 2011 will be the year mapping goes mainstream. By that I mean individuals and companies that have not already grasped the relevance of “thinking in maps” will come to understand the value of spatial technology tools and use them in greater numbers than ever before. As they do, we’ll see even more fast-paced and exciting breakthroughs including: sophisticated business, government and consumer uses; a rapidly-expanding pool of useful applications; and greatly enhanced creativity in the way spatial information can be used.

Mapping, and its use in viewing, analyzing and interacting with data, used to be important business tools only for the largest organizations that could afford in-house GIS experts. Today, spatial technology has become pervasive across many business sectors from local government to real estate to the utility industry. As consumers become more “spatially literate” and especially as the cloud makes location technology faster-to-implement, easier to use and more cost effective, mapping technology is becoming a core business tool for large, medium-sized and small businesses, alike.

The paradigm shift for mapping began with Google and Bing Maps, when the whole world suddenly saw the power of finding directions, looking for nearby attractions and otherwise organizing information in a visual format. The move to “spatial literacy” began overnight and hasn’t slowed down since it started. Now many types of businesses and government agencies have incorporated spatial technology into their core business operations as a means to improve their efficiency and decision-making.

At Digital Map Products, our mission is to help businesses of all sizes leverage and succeed with spatial technology. We were excited when mapping hit the public radar, and we’ve watched with enthusiasm and more and more people saw the light about spatial technology. But its only now that we think the universe is aligned for spatial technology to become what we’ve always imagined it becoming – a basic building block in the way businesses gather, organize and share information, analyze trends and make important decisions.

Why do I think the stage is set for a spatial technology revolution? Here are just a few of the reasons:

  • Several key economic sectors already count spatial technology as a core business tool and they are being joined by new industries and government users every day. For example, the real estate industry has always been on the forefront of using mapping information. Real estate associations and developers began displaying information about property in a location-based form – on a map rather than in a list. As the industry has used spatial technology, its sophistication has grown. Now, multiple listing services (MLSs) and forward-thinking real estate organizations are using interactive trend maps, advanced data visualization tools and the analytical power of location-based technology. Other sectors look to the real estate industry for innovative ideas around mapping applications.
  • Developers are creating exciting location-based apps to fit the needs of specific business sectors. Spatial APIs, basically mapping in the cloud, exploded in 2010 and will continue to grow in importance. Savvy developers are turning out exciting new sets of geo-data and mapping features that are ready to plug and play directly into your siteFor example, if your customers want to know about the school district that serves a particular piece of property, there’s an API for that (in full disclosure, we have an API for that!).. Not only are there more data and feature options from which to choose, but businesses no longer have to process, maintain and update their mapping additions themselves because their cloud provider takes care of that. Not only does the cloud help them develop a more advanced mapping application, but with the time they save, developers can focus on applying mapping to their unique business needs. The cloud breeds innovation in mapping.
  • Governments face an increasing demand for location-based services even as they face recessionary budget cuts. While the recession has slowed down some parts of the economy, it’s actually sped up the development and adoption of software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications. We’ve seen local governments turn to the SaaS models to help them offer do-it-yourself services to their residents: users can look up their trash day, research crime statistics and even report potholes. I think as the recession abates, companies that tried out SaaS services because of their cost-effectiveness with stay with them because they tend to be user-friendly and easy to maintain.
  • Data is coming from new sources, both experts and ordinary folks. Major disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti have shown us all the power of crowdsourcing, or using spatial technology to pool our information, keep conversations flowing, and solve problems. Volunteers are mapping roads, buildings, and other location information and finding new ways to share it everyday. This seems to prove the public has embraced both “thinking in maps” and their new role in creating location content.
  • Developing spatial applications is becoming more affordable and more interesting. In the early days of GIS, building an application took a lot of experience and a major time commitment. The new robust cloud-based spatial development platforms reduce the cost and collapse development timeframes. As key players like Google and Microsoft provide base map layers, cloud-based development platforms allow developers more room to dream up novel uses of location information and creative ways to combine information to allow us to see it in ways never before possible.

We’ll keep watching the trends in this blog, and I think we’ll continue to see new industries embrace spatial technology, new frontiers open up in the way mapping applications are used by businesses and consumers, and entirely new sectors joining those that already understand the power of location-based information.

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