Just wanted to drop a quick note that I will be speaking at the first Tableau European Customer Conference, held in Amsterdam. I will not be talking Local Search during my presentation, instead I will be focussing on how Web Analytics data needs to be made understandable, at Onetomarket, we use Tableau Software to aid us on our quest to provide great insights and sometimes hard to interpret web analytics data. Unsure whether my deck will be made available afterwards but you can always drop me a note if you are interested in how Tableau Software can help you get better insights from your web analytics data.

In summary my presentation will be about  what it meant for our organisation to start using Tableau Software as well as how we help clients gained better insights by using custom made dashboards, tailored to specific DMU’s within the company.

Post from: Local Search - martijnbeijk.com

Speaking at Tableau EU Customer Conference Amsterdam

This year I will be attending and speaking at SMX Stockholm. There you will find me presenting a Local Search business case with one of our clients; Boat Company Lovers. My fellow speaker will be Jaap Dijkstra, Business Developer at  Boat company Lovers –  one of the leading companies organizing Canal Cruises in Amsterdam. Some of the projects he is currently working on are the world’s first purpose build Fuel Cell passenger ship and an amphibious coach called Floating Dutchman, which will show passengers transferring through Amsterdam Airport Schiphol the city of Amsterdam.

When you are in the opportunity to attend SMX Stockholm, don’t hesitate to drop a note so we can meet up during the conference!

Post from: Local Search - martijnbeijk.com

Speaking at SMX Stockholm – 13 October 2009

According to Belgium newspaper ‘De Standaard‘ Google will soon file a declaration to the Belgium Privacy Commission to continue their Street View project in Belgium. Google thought at first it would not be necessary to file a declaration because of existing certificates that made their datasharing between EU and US possible.

A statement from the privacy commission says:

“Our privacy laws tell us that also foreign establishments that process personal information in an automated way need to declare this with the privacy commission. “

By filing they also declare that the imagery can solely be used for the purpose of Google Street View. Brussel will be the first city in Belgium to get Street View. But other cities will follow shortly after. It will take a couple of months however before Street View will be available in Belgium.

Post from: Local Search - martijnbeijk.com

Google files declaration with Brussels for Privacy Commission

Major cities have now been added to Google Maps Street View for both the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

Grotere kaart weergeven

Cities that have been added include London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Glasgow, Belfast, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Groningen. I expected Street View to be released sooner but I guess legal regulations and privacy regulations delayed things a bit.
This must account for Germany as well where privacy regulations are stricter than in other European countries and Google Street View was signaled there over a year ago .

I hoped for more cities in the Netherlands to be added, like Utrecht and The Hague. But hopefully they will follow soon.

The imagery used seems quite recent. In many occasions probably a lot newer than the map data used.

(via Google Mania )

Post from: Local Search - martijnbeijk.com

Street View now available in UK and Netherlands

Google Maps just was upgraded with a new Layer feature, called Transit. It comes directly from the Google Transit product.
Transit information was already available in some countries, but it wasn’t available from directly from the interface.
The Google LatLong blog reported this just a few minutes ago. Go along and use it and be sure to provide feedback to Google ! 

Post from: Local Search - martijnbeijk.com

Google Maps gets a new layer – Transit

Again, Let’s do something for the user-experience. let’s make it more easy! Bigger Map viewing area for example. Away with the clutter, new tabs (user content)! They now use just one search box! make it easier for you to find stuff, not just pizza!

This UI also affected the European Google Engines.

Post from: Local Search - martijnbeijk.com

Less is…more Maps

There is no such thing as mobile internet, it is the same internet!

This was one of the (quite obvious, but often misunderstood) messages of Mobile 2.0 Europe, which I was attending on behalf of my employer Onetomarket.It was a very interesting event, especially the panel rounds. Most fun part was the discussion between the community/businesses and the mobile operators, which in the end almost turned into a row. Fact is that mobile operators need to change their attitude. You can read my recap on the Onetomarket blog in Dutch or Spanish.(Use Google Translate for English version, but beware )

Finally, Stuff I did’t mention was the Top 11 of Mobile Trends which were given by Daniel Applequist (correct me if i’m wrong! )

• Smart browsing (and browsers)
• Web standards
• Mobile Ajax
• Mobile Search
• Advertising
• Mashups
• Awareness software and devices
• RFID and QR-codes
• Location, geotagging
• Mobile social networks
• Mobile user-generated content & media

Post from: Local Search - martijnbeijk.com

There is no such thing as mobile internet – Mobile 2.0 Europe

Google is changing their Local Business Center interface. For many of you, you will start thinking, YES! finally!
Actually I like the new interface and it definitely encourages people to add more data to their business listings. In the old tabbed model you were able to just finish after entering your business details and forget about all the tabs that were actually there. With the new system you get to see all the opportunities at a glance and business owners are more likely to be triggered to enter more of their business information.
I tried and tested the Local Business Center and so far I have come to the following :

• How do I correct my incorrect marker position after I’ve added the listing?
• Where is the bulk upload feature of images like requested here
• The maps overlay in the LBc doesn’t seem to be working in Safari (for windows, or is my system just buggin? )
• Why is this still not available in Europe ??? (including the free category selection!)
• While using this interface I wasn’t asked to re-enter my PIN for my listings, maybe this is because I use bulk-upload instead of manual verification?

Also while trying to delete a listing I was presented with the following screen, which I’m a bit puzzled about, because will Google Maps remove your listings and those from trusted sources if you want them to? What about

“To geographically organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

Or is this the useful part?

Here’s the screenshot btw (click to enlarge) :

Also, I must note that I really like the ‘verified local submitter’ idea in a comment from AmhedF back at Mike’s blog. Especially for agencies or people monitoring large accounts, it’s unbearable and a real pain having to re-verify and re-enter those PIN’s for all of your listings. There should be a better and more efficient way to fight map spam.

Update: Seems like they are having some problems using bulk-uploads in the new interface. In the meanwhile, people in desperate need of getting their business listings online use the bulk upload feature can use the work around I mentioned at Mike’s post about this at his blog:

“change the &gl parameter and/or domain to a european one, you can keep the hl in your prefered language“

Post from: Local Search - martijnbeijk.com

Pain and hassles new Google Local Business Center

I have been using the Google Local Business Center (LBC) for quite some time now.

Setting up your account and adding business locations is really easy, that is, if it’s only a few.

What happens when adding multiple listings using the bulk-upload method? For me this is the preferred method. It’s lightning fast, it tells you which errors to correct (if any) and you see your business listings appearing in a jiffy. Waiting for approval (takes up 2-6 weeks or even more).

So what’s the problem? Well, we want to flavour it up a bit. Add some pictures & videos. But where is the bulk upload feature for this thing? I want to have a branded icon or my company logo added to all the 200 listings I just uploaded using the bulk-upload feature. Not possible! So the next few hours you are busy doing hard labour work, manually adding images and videos per business location using an almost antique photo upload system. Where is the usability on this one Google? It might be good to pay some attention to the local business center.
Suggestion: just add some fields to the upload form with img src destinations to be used.

Instead of adding new features, try to improve the ones that already exist. Speaking of which, when is that category updating coming in Europe?

So hereby, I’m compiling a list of features I would like to see or updated in the Local Business Center.

the list of updates:

• category update (in Europe!)
• Interface redesign / usability upgrade
• Photo upload form
• Bulk-upload photos / videos
• statistics (define impressions / views ) , integrate with Google Analytics!
• insight in (trusted) sources used to gather my information (so I can contact them if something is wrong/missing or incomplete! )
• history on status of business listing (pending, awaiting approval, flagged, awaiting next update, marked as inappropriate, etc )

Feel free to leave a comment if you think something is missing!

Post from: Local Search - martijnbeijk.com

Updates on Google Local Business Center – What would you like to see?

Map spam is starting to become a problem in Europe as well. Most of us might know (almost infamous) Mike Blumenthal for his ongoing vendetta against map spam and battering Google in the process.

According to this article it says that Maps Guide Jen made the statement that businesses were only allowed to have only one listing per business location.

Well, while doing research I encountered the following business listings in Barcelona, while searching for hair treatments and narrowed it down to the results you see in the example (click image for full size)  shown.
Although it is ‘only’ 7 business listings for the same address, the only thing they seem to have changed is the title and the description. This company seems to get away with offering multiple different listings for each and every service they might provide, ranking well in multiple keyword searches in the specific business. Let’s see how Google will solve this problem, and from what I can tell from Matt Cutt’s comments in this blogpost, they’d better watch out. 

Post from: Local Search - martijnbeijk.com

Google Maps spam appearing in Europe – not only a problem in US