Internet Marketing Blog

Google Maps Knows All

A little geek humor. This is a cute, clever and funny short by The Vacationeers about the dangers of Google Street View:

Google Streetview Hits Home

Google Map's StreetView feature has finally arrived in the Twin Cities, reports Pioneer Press' Julio Ojeda-Zapata.

Like Twin Cities bloggers Ed Kohler and Aaron Landry, I've been messing around with the new view.

I've done the usual things with the new feature; looked at my work location, home, haunts old and new, and, of course, the sacred fields upon which I play touch football! :-)

StreetView is cool and well implemented but a little clunky to use. With snow on the ground here in Minnesota, it's a little weird crawling through the streets of Minneapolis and Saint Paul during the summer, when the photographs were taken. The whole dynamic creates a bit of a non sequitur type experience.

The grassy landscape brings up another issue for StreetViews: These days we increasingly expect our information to be very up to date, if not absolutely current. What is Google Maps' plan for updating StreetView? How often can they reasonably re-photograph an entire metropolitan area? Or, even, presumably, the world? That seems like a Herculean task.

Finally, the marketer in me desperately wants some way to add content to the maps, like you can do with the My Maps feature. There's gotta be a way to hook up people's My Maps data with the StreetView maps so we can see the world's annotations. Click a bubble on a photograph of a store for the hours and maybe even current sales or an embedded video.

The technology seems to already exist for this type of augmented reality marketing, it's just a matter of hooking the pieces together.

Augmented Reality Marketing

Remember the scene from Minority Report where Chief John Anderton walks through a shopping mall and personalized advertisements jump out at him from each store? That's Steven Spielberg's vision of augmented reality:

Spielberg's portrayal of the future of advertising probably isn't that far off the mark, except I'd think there would be far less clutter and the marketing would be less in your face and more targeted and useful and on demand.

Rather than basically having customized TV ads pop out at you wherever you go, think of augmented reality marketing as essentially a transparent overlay addition to your vision from which you can "click" for more information on a given thing in your environment.

Say you're walking through a shopping mall just like John Anderton but instead of getting unsolicited ads popping up at you, you get the equivalent of a hyperlink anchored to the store you are currently seeing. If you select that link, you can get the essential information about the store just as you currently can from Google Maps. You could save that information for later reference. You could view promotional content from the store itself. You read user-submitted reviews of the store. Or you could compare their prices and/or promotions with another store you've already saved.

Or maybe you're walking down 7th Street in Minneapolis passing the famous nightclub First Avenue and you want to see who will be playing there this week. Select the  events calendar that is augmented onto the building and you can see the bands playing this week and listen to a few of their songs or simply order tickets for a show.

About 38 seconds into this video, there's an example of how such an augmented reality might look:

This photo is an imagining of what directions might look like in augmented reality:

Augmented Reality Directions
Originally uploaded by kokogiak

This Flickr user has created a nice mashup of how augmented reality might look as a reputation system.

Augmented reality mobile phone concept
Originally uploaded by Leonard Low

The technology for such a future already exists. There are plenty of people working on wearable computing products, including data glove input devices. Broadband wireless access is growing in major metropolitan areas. The success of the iPhone points the way to the consolidation of Internet-connected communication devices. GPS-enabled cell phone adoption is growing. Camera technology gets smaller and sharper by the minute, it seems. Lightweight, flexible video screens exist. Geographic business data already exists at Internet yellow pages and Yahoo! Local and Google Local.

All of the required technology exists to make this sci-fi vision a reality, it's just a matter of pulling it all together and miniaturizing it to the point  that it's practical for everyday use.

TypePad's Embeddable Maps Bug Work Around

I am impressed with SixApart's customer service. 

I got an email last night from them providing a workaround for the problem I detailed in my post on Wednesday, TypePad's Embeddable Maps Bug, a mere day later.  This is the solution they gave me:

At Weblogs > Posts, click on the title of the post to go to the Compose page. Click on the "Customize the display of this page." link toward the end of the page. Select Plain Text and click Save Changes. The page will refresh and display only the HTML for the post which will allow you to edit the post. Click Save changes when you are done editing. More information is available in the Customizing the Post Page Display article.

When adding complex HTML, including embed code, to your posts, we highly recommend using the Plain Text editor. More information on adding HTML to posts is available here.

It works perfectly.

The Google Maps embed code uses the IFRAME tag, which I suspect is what is causing the problem in TypePad.

TypePad's Embeddable Maps Bug

I've discovered a bug in TypePad's blogging system. I believe it has not yet been discovered by SixApart because I couldn't find reference to it in TypePad's Knowledge Base nor on their Everything TypePad blog.

You'll notice at the beginning of my last post, Gmail - Customer Generated Video, the first line begins with this typo: "ofIn mid-July Google asked their Gmail users to submit video clips that..."

I cannot go back and fix that "of" at the beginning of my first sentence because TypePad won't allow me to. When I click on the post to edit it, the text from the post displays briefly but then displays the post as follows:

I cannot access the posts using the Edit HTML feature nor can I get at it by making the editing canvas bigger.

The post contains text, hyperlinks, an image of the Gmail logo, an embedded YouTube video and an embedded Google Map. I have never had any problems with using any of these elements within a blog post except with Google Maps.

I came across the bug first on August 23, when I wrote about Google Maps' new embeddable code in a post titled Google Makes Embedding Maps A Breeze.

I have not tested using another map service like Microsoft's, so I don't know if it is embeddable maps in general that are causing the problem, or Google Maps in particular.

Regardless, it's an annoying little bug that I hope SixApart gets fixed right away. And while they're at it, maybe they could make their system much more accessible to smart phones.

I want to use the web interface on my Pocket PC phone.

See Also:

• TypePad's Embeddable Maps Bug Workaround

Gmail - Customer Generated Video

ofIn mid-July Google asked their Gmail users to submit video clips that "all share one element: someone hands the Gmail M-velope in from the left of the screen, and hands it off to the right." Late last month, they released a compilation of the best submitted clips:

Google also mashed up a Google Map with all the submissions:

View Larger Map

This is a fantastic example of citizen marketing through consumer generated media. It is also an illustration of how you can harness the love your customers have for your product or service to create a superb video marketing campaign at little to no cost.

The video was uploaded to YouTube six days ago and has already garnered 2.5 million views.

Google Makes Embedding Maps A Breeze

Google Maps has made using their maps on your site as easy as copying and pasting code, just like YouTube. The Google Maps blog provides instructions. This is a Google map of our location:

View Larger Map

I'd like to see greater flexibility in how you can embed your map. Right now, you can only adjust the dimensions. I'd like to see, for example, the ability to set the default state of presentation, such as whether the map is just a map, a satellite map, a hybrid of both, or a traffic map. I'd like the ability to include the left-hand sidebar that lists the locations on a custom MyMap. Still, it's nice to be able to embed a map without having to go through the step of obtaining a Google Maps API key and then having to insert it into your code.

Twin Cities Meals On Wheels Google MyMaps Mashup

Molly Kennedy of the Twin Cities are Meals On Wheels has created a wonderful Google Maps mashup of Twin Cities metropolitan Meals on Wheels locations. She used Google's new MyMaps feature.

We helped them out embedding the map into their web site, but Molly did all the hard work of creating the map and drawing the service boundaries. The map is an excellent, real-world, practical example of a maps mashup.

Google really needs to improve the ability to unearth quality citizen generated content like these maps, though. If you search for Twin Cities Meals on Wheels at Google Maps, you'll get a list of locations, but the only way you'll find this specific map is if you scroll down to the bottom of the list and click on See user-created content.

A few improvements:

1. The link should be called "See user-created maps", not content.
2. For any search that has user-created maps associated with the keywords of the search, perhaps the link should appear at the top of the list of locations, next to "Modify search."
3. Include a link to any user-generated map that is associated with an "official" location, within that location's listing; perhaps next to or within the "more info >>" link.

Mashing It Up With Google Mapplets

Yep, with two Ps...as in Applications, or Mapplications, as Google might have it. On the heels of their announcement of a street-level view for their Google Maps service, Google also released developer tools to allow the public at large to mash up their own custom Google Maps creations:

Google & Microsoft Offer Street-Level View Maps

Both Microsoft and Google announced this week the addition of a street-level view feature for their respective online maps services. Google includes this YouTube video explaining how to use the maps:

Both look like great applications but it looks like Google is opening up their API and betting that the added content and applications that result will help expand and enhance the service.  I've been messing around with Google's mobile phone maps application for a while and have been very impressed with it.

• Google's Street-Level Maps
• Microsoft's Street-Level Maps

Google Maps Mashup Tools & Resources

These are some tools and resources I put together for a demonstration I am doing today on creating Google Maps mashups using MapBuilder.net for MetroGIS:

Essential Google Maps Mashup Tools

• Mapbuilder.net – MapBuilder is a Web 2.0 online application that allows you quickly and easily build custom maps using Google or Yahoo Maps API and JavaScript.  MapBuilder provides a WYSIWYG interface that requires no knowledge of map APIs, geocoding, or JavaScript. Some fundamental HTML knowledge is required. The main features of MapBuilder include Address Geocoding, CSV file importing, icon selection, directions in a pop-up window, collaborative map development, map sharing, hosting flexibility.
• Google Maps API Key – In order to use MapBuilder for creating a Google mashup, you’ll need a Google Maps API Key, which you can get for free.
• Google Account – You will also need a Google Account in order to get a Google Maps API Key. If you do not have a Google account, you can sign up for one for free as well.

Google Mashup Examples

• Minnesota Dry Cleaning Locations – We created this mashup for our client Martinizing Dry Cleaners to graphically and interactively display their Twin Cities locations.
• Twin Cities Entertainment Hotspots - We created this mashup to try out both MapBuilder as a tool as well as to try and use a Google Maps mashup as a method for driving traffic to specific posts within a blog.
• The Sopranos Google Mashup – This is a superb demonstration of  a Google mashup used to promote the HBO hit series, The Sopranos. It is a map of the location of all the “hits” that take place in the show with video clips of that particular hit from the episode in question.
• Weather Mole – This mashup combines Google maps with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data to give you a local weather forecast.
• MashMap – Mashup of Google Maps data and movie showtimes and theaters.
• MapBuilder Examples – A list maintained by MapBuilder.net.

Additional Map Mashup Resources

• Google Maps
• Map Mashups
• e-strategyblog.com Map Posts

Technorati tags: google maps | google maps mashups | local internet marketing | mapbuilder.net | metro gis

Map Of Religious Denominations In The US

We hear a lot about values and faith-based communities but usually it is in a polarized political context, so it's easy to tune it out. But there's no denying that one's religious outlook informs much of how a person views any other issue. It is important, therefore, for marketers to understand the religious context within which they are marketing.

For a course called American Ethinic Geography at Valparaiso University  Professor Jon T. Kilpinen provides a map gallery that illustrated the "cultural mosaic" of the United States by overlaying population density data for different groups by geographic region. There are maps for ethnic groups, cultural regions, religion, language, politics, and socio-economics.

The maps are a fantastic tool for anyone who wants to understand the geographic region within which they are marketing.

Or the political landscape. For example, the map showing the distribution of members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America helps to explain North Dakota's legislature's recent bill outlawing abortion.

These maps are fascinating for anyone interested in the demographics of the United States but they are also an invaluable marketing tool.

Technorati tags: demographics | demographic maps

A Practical Use For A Google Mashup

We just launched a Google Maps mashup for our client, Minnesota Martinizing Dry Cleaning. If you're unfamiliar with the concept, a "Google Maps mashup" is simply putting one source of online data on top of a Google map, so you have data points on the map.

In the case of our client, we created a Minnesota dry cleaners map that features all of their Minnesota locations. If you click on one of the balloons on the map, you get a pop up window with the address and telephone number of the location, as well as a text box to enter your starting location so you can get directions. This is an example of a very practicle use for Google Maps that can add value and usability to your online presence.

For an example of a Google Maps mashup that is purely a marketing vehicle, check out HBO's absolutely amazingly done Sopranos Map. Click on a location on the map and you get a short video clip from season five of what happened at that location, a text blurb explaining the context, and other information that is tightly integrated into the Sopranos section of HBO's site.

The Soprano's map created a lot of online buzz when it was released and that buzz helps create excitement for season six that begins this Sunday.

Technorati tags: minnesota | dry cleaning | dry cleaners | martinizing | minnesota martinizing | minnesota dry cleaning | minnesota dry cleaners | maps | google | google maps | google mash-up | hbo | sopranos | sopranos map

Marketing With Google Local Maps

Yesterday, on NPR's All Things Considered, Mike Pegg, who runs the Google Maps Mania blog that tracks Google Maps "mashups," was interviewed about the phenomenon.

"Mashups" are value-added Google maps that are overlaid with useful--nor not--information. An example cited in the piece was the Beer Mapping Project, displaying breweries and brewpubs accross the US on a Google map.

While the location of breweries and brewpubs may be useful only if you're a beer afficionado, there are some obvious practical applications Google maps mashups can have from a marketing persepective.

One that I find particuarly useful is a map of free wi-fi hotspots near my office. You can see from the map that most of the hotspots are provided by coffee shops. So, if I need some quick wireless access, as I often do, am I going to Starbucks and their T-Mobile for-fee wi-fi access, or do I go to my local Dunn Bros coffee shop and get access for free? That no-brainer drives my business to Dunn Bros.

You can see then, that the ease and usefulness of Google maps can provide businesses with numerous stores not only a useful tool for your web site visitors, but a great local marketing vehicle.

Xbox 360 Sales

Xbox 360 sales are not what they could be and Microsoft has only itself to blame.

The marketing of Microsoft's next-generation video game console, the Xbox 360, may go down in marketing history as a textbook example of how to drive your customers directly to the feet of your primary competitor.

What makes the failure of the Xbox 360 launch so stunning is that it was executed by Microsoft, a company with abundant marketing savvy.

Microsoft launched their marketing campaign with a bit of buzz marketing in the form of the mysterious Our Colony web site. They continued by drip drip dripping a drop of Xbox 360 info here and a dash of Xbox 360 news there through various video game sites and techology events. Photos were leaked. The technical specifications of the box were revealed.

Soon enough they'd whipped the public into such a frenzy that they had to start qualifying some of the launch expectations: Due to their global launch, there would be shortages.

But once they announced that consumers could expect shortages, they had to deal with conspiracy theories positing that Microsoft was creating scarcity in order to amp up demand.

Not that I wouldn't put it past Microsoft, but I never really bought the idea. Microsoft is gunning for market leader, Sony, who will likely launch their own next-generation system, the PlayStation 3, in Spring 2006. The idea of launching before Sony was to lock people in to Microsoft's next-gen system. The Xbox 360 is also costing Microsoft more to make than their asking price; they have an obvious interest in recouping those costs in volume and in software sales, which are clearly useless if you don't have a console with which to play them.

The reasons Xbox 360 shortages are not in Microsoft's interests are too numerous to mention here, but for a superbly done piece on the subject, see the L.A. Times' Michael Hiltzik's Golden State blog.

Not only did Microsoft screw up their launch by failing to meet demand, the stories of shortages no doubt had the effect of driving up demand through the considerable influence of Johnny expecting an Xbox 360 beneath the Christmas tree.

So what's a desperate parent to do when they can't get their hands on the hottest item of the season and don't want to bid for upwards of $900 Xboxes on eBay? As Christmas approached, I noticed more and more electronics departments with only one or two Sony PlayStation Portables in stock.

You figure Dad can't disappoint Johnny, so with no 360 to be had, the kid's disappointment would surely be erased if he got coolest portable gaming system this season. And at a $250 price point, Dad can save a couple hundred in the process. At the end of the day, Microsoft has closed the deal for Sony.

I wouldn't be surprised to see that PSP sales rose precipitously as a directl result of Xbox 360 shortages. Sony seems to be anticipating just such a scenario.