Independent Contractors Excluded from Google Maps
My article on How To Get On Google Maps Without An Address pubbed today on Search Engine Land – it outlines one of the top most frustrating issues facing some small businessmen who need to have listings in directories without including their street addresses. Google Maps, by policy, does not display listings for those who do not have street addresses, so smaller providers who might actually provide the best quality service work are left out in the cold when users perform local searches. Independent contractors (like plumbers, electricians, building contractors, etc) are the most affected by this issue, but some other businesses are also impacted.
My perception is that this lack of what is something of a standard among traditional yellow pages directories is due to Google’s desire to provide best user-experience. In a map search display, does it make sense to display items which can’t be pinpointed to the map?
My opinion is that it does make sense to do so, (more…)
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Posted by Chris of Silvery on 02/11/2008
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Filed under: Google, Local Search, Local Search Optimization, Maps, Online Directories, Yellow Pages directories, Google-Maps, independent contractors, Local Search, Yellow Pages
Google Sending More Traffic To Google Maps
The New York Times today reported on a recent Hitwise post by Heather Hopkins highlighting that Google was now sending about three times as many of their users over to Google Maps comparing a week ending January 6th with a year ago.
This is apparently due in part to Google recommending Google Maps instead of recommending other mapping providers in addition as it had been doing early last year. (more…)
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Posted by Chris of Silvery on 01/14/2008
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Filed under: Google, Local Search, Maps, Market Data Google-Maps, Local Search, Mapquest
Google Maps to Embed in New Magellan GPS
Barely one day in advance of the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show opening in Las Vegas this week, Magellan issued a press release about their next generation of GPS navigation devices, highlighting how they will come integrated with Google Maps to provide local search capabilities.
John Hanke, Director of Google Maps & Earth is quoted, saying, “We’re pleased to be partnering with Magellan to provide users with detailed, relevant local information while on the road. Magellan devices are powerful, interactive tools for navigation and discovery that serve as a cutting-edge platform for Google’s robust local search capabilities.” (more…)
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Posted by Chris of Silvery on 01/07/2008
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Filed under: Google, Local Search, Maps, technology CES, Consumer Electronics Show, Google-Maps, GPS, Magellan
New Terrain Feature on Google Maps
The Google Operating System blog alerted us to how Google Maps quietly added a new “Terrain” button and removed the “Hybrid” button which combined Satellite and Map content. The official Google Lat Long blog reports that the “hybrid” feature can be accessed by clicking the Satellite button and the clicking on/off the “Show labels” box that appears in a dynamic drop-down.
The Terrain content can look pretty dynamic for mountain areas and other places with dramatic elevation contrasts like this area for the Grand Canyon:
I’m not sure just how valuable this is for the majority of users — (more…)
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Posted by Chris of Silvery on 11/27/2007
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Filed under: Google, Local Search, Maps Google-Maps, Maps, online-maps, Orienteering, Terrain
Google Maps Now Sports Special Logo Treatment
I noticed that Google Maps started using a special logo treatment this morning:
The logo is apparently promoting Geography Awareness Week 2007.
Google has done various logos promoting holidays and other special events on the main Google logo for quite a number of years, but I believe this is one of the first ever done on one of their vertical search properties. Unfortunately, the logo doesn’t link to the special event page, and it looks a lot like a roasted turkey — the smallness of it makes it hard to read visually, so I’m betting a lot of Google Maps users won’t have a clue as to what this is signifying.
Update: the Google Lat Long blog mentions their support of Geography Awareness Week.
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Posted by Chris of Silvery on 11/13/2007
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Filed under: Google, Local Search, Maps, Marketing Google, Google-Maps, Logos
WikipediaVision Mashes Up With Google Maps and Wikipedia
An addictive little mashup called WikipediaVision has combined Google Maps with live data on updates from the English Wikipedia to display the geolocation of people editing articles in near real-time. The map rapidly pans back and forth across the world, pinpointing the locations of users who have just edited an article, and displaying the name of the article and its hyperlink.
It’s interesting and hypnotic to sit and watch where in the world (more…)
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Posted by Chris of Silvery on 11/05/2007
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Filed under: Maps, Research and Development, Tools FlickrVision, Google-Maps, Maps, Mashups, Wikipedia, WikipediaVision
Los Angeles Times Google Map of California Fires
Every day it seems like someone else is using Google Maps for some interesting application, and today’s yet another example. The LA Times has put together a special map of the fires raging in California:
(click to enlarge) or (pan/zoom map)
Share-able online mapping systems like Google Maps have really empowered people to easily use geographic data in extraordinary ways.
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Posted by Chris of Silvery on 10/22/2007
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Filed under: Maps California-Fires, Google-Maps, LA-Wildfires, Los-Angeles-Fires, Los-Angeles-Times, Wildfires
Google Maps forces Navy to redesign swastika building
Quite some time back, I came across this Swastika-shaped building via Google Maps, and posted the screengrab in my Flickr account. Since then, it became one of my most popular Flickr pictures, since strange stuff like this can become quickly viral. Loads of people (16,000+) have viewed the photo’s page, and then various journalists contacted me and posted the photo on news stories in Europe and elsewhere. Here it is:
(click to view swastika photo profile page)
I researched the building and found it was a Navy building, apparently built unintentionally in the shape of a Nazi Swastika in California. This was built way before people anticipated the general public would be viewing buildings from the sky all that much, but now the easy accessibility of viewing satellite pics from Google Maps, Yahoo! Maps, Mapquest, Microsoft Live Maps, and other utilities have made birds-eye-viewing all too common. I photo-blogged the info I researched on the Flickr page, and quite a few people commented and favorited the unusual picture over time.
Today, CNN reported on the swastika building, and they added one really interesting new detail: (more…)
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Posted by Chris of Silvery on 09/26/2007
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Filed under: Google, Maps aerial-images, aerial-photos, Google-Maps, Mapquest, online-maps, Satellite-Images, Satellite-Photos, swastika-building, Yahoo!-Maps
Dealer Locator & Store Locator Services Need to Optimize
My article on local SEO for store locators just published on Search Engine Land, and any company that has a store locator utility ought to read it. Many large companies provide a way for users to find their local stores, dealers, or authorized resellers. The problem is that these sections are usually hidden from the search engines behind search submission forms, javascripted links, html frames, and Flash interfaces.
For many national or regional chain stores, providing dealer-locator services with robust maps, driving directions and proximity search capability is outside of their core competencies, and they frequently choose to outsource that development work or purchase software to enable the service easily.
I did a quick survey and found a number of companies providing dealer locator or store finder functionality: (more…)
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Posted by Chris of Silvery on 09/13/2007
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Filed under: Best Practices, Content Optimization, Dynamic Sites, Local Search Optimization, Maps, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, Site Structure chain-stores, dealer-locators, Local Search Optimization, local-SEO, store-location-software, store-locators
Examples of Roof Ads
I thought it might be interesting to do a survey of roof ads from around the country, so here are a number of examples that can be found in online mapping systems such as Google Maps.
Roof Ad in New York City
If you recall, over a year ago I wrote a tongue-in-cheek post about how to optimize rooftop ads for best exposure in online maps, although some of the tips could actually be taken seriously if one did wish to market through advertising in this manner.
Roof Ads near Miami Airport (click to enlarge)
Now, most of the “roofvertisements” I could find were likely done with the intention of targeting promotional messages to airplane passengers, since most of the examples I can find are from buildings located near major airports. In happy serendipity for these companies, these ads are now also visible through the satellite images and aerial photos that have become table stakes for map search interfaces, so they’re getting dual use for them along with extra ad impressions. It’s pretty surprising to me that more companies haven’t painted promotional copy on their roofs, though, since I see tons of expansive, white roof “canvas” that would be ideal for this located near airports.
The Salvation Army in Seattle – (click to enlarge)
Click through for even more samples. (more…)
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Posted by Chris of Silvery on 08/30/2007
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Filed under: Advertising, Maps Advertisements, Advertising, Google-Maps, Guerilla-Advertising, Rooftop-Ads, Roofvertising, Satellite-Images
