Local Search Optimization - Martijn Beijk » user experience

Google Maps visuals added

martijn — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 07:19:46 +0000

Google has added extra visuals in the map data to show where specific points of interests and landmarks are. Libraries, museums, pharmacies, restaurants, shops and all kinds of other places are now easily recognizable by embedded visuals in map data.
A negative side-effect of the feature is that a map can get a bit crowded. Big markers, small markers, points of interests, public transportation items..Although usefull many of the times, they all seem to clutter op the map more and more.
To me the interesting part is how a specific place is being interpreted as a relevant Point of Interest and how to get yourself a nice visual embedded in that map data.

Post from: Local Search - martijnbeijk.com

Google Maps visuals added

Recent interface changes to Google Maps

martijn — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:28:58 +0000

It has been a while since we have seen some major interface changes to Google Maps. Today I noticed some of the following changes and wondered for how long they have already been there.

update: i was a bit behind on my reader and noticed Matt posted about this onÂ SEL as well

I did some searches for company names inside Google Maps and found out that google was saving my previous searches and storing the markers in seperate colors inside a new part of the interface (something they call the rv_panel / revision panel?) as the screenshots below will show.

Apart from this I also noticed a ‘zoom level specifier’ in text-view mode but was unable to reproduce it in order to make a screenshot. The ‘zoom level specifier’ was shown alongside the small map in textview and Â had numeric values of the zoomlevel with labels ‘street’, ‘place’ , etc to identify its zoom level depth. Let me know if some of you people have seen this experiment and please send me a screenshot

Post from: Local Search - martijnbeijk.com

Recent interface changes to Google Maps

MyLocation coming to browser!

martijn — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:59:20 +0000

The Google team just announced that MyLocation, the feature we all know from the iphone Google Maps application will be available from our desktop if you run a supported browser. A blue dot will automatically appear when Google Maps is able to determine your location.

Supported browsers currently are:

Google Chrome 2.0+ (using Gears),
Mozilla FireFox 3.5+
any browser with the latest version of Gears installed.

A step forward to bringing locally relevant results to your desktop!

Post from: Local Search - martijnbeijk.com

MyLocation coming to browser!

Google Maps takes the lead

martijn — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:52:02 +0000

Seems its official now, Google Maps has taken over the lead from mapquest and is now the number one most used mapping product. This, according to figures of both comscore, compete and as of this weekend, also Hitwise.

(via: Mike Blumenthal)

Post from: Local Search - martijnbeijk.com

Google Maps takes the lead

Google Maps Interface Revamped for Street View

martijn — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:44:45 +0000

The Google Maps interface was revamped, again, to get a better user experience, especially by putting more attention to Google Street View and to increase maps usage in general. This was just announced on the Google LatLong blog

When you drag the pegman (the little yellow mascotte) from the zoom bar to the map you will see thumbnails of Street View appearing on the area you drag it to. You can see directly which areas are available in Street View. Very Cool!

Some of the new features include the mini map in the bottom corner, showing the area around you. Almost as it looks like with Street View on the newly released firmware for the iphone.

For a video `showing off` the features click the |> button below:

another question I’m asking myself with this new update is how I put the ‘new’ zoom bar and icons in use with the Google API, but I bet I’ll read about that soon enough in the Maps API Groups.

Feel free to join the conversation with your thoughts on the interface update!

Post from: Local Search - martijnbeijk.com

Google Maps Interface Revamped for Street View

Google Maps Errors – TeleAtlas data needs some finetuning?

martijn — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:19:17 +0000

The recent announcement of Google switching to just one map supplier, namely the dutch company TeleAtlas, has caused an increase of alerts on Google Maps errors in the Google Maps Help Groups.

I’ve seen reports so far of incorrect routes, missing cities, wrongly placed addresses, etc, etc. And as Miriam Ellis points out on her blog it can lead to some serious issues. Or take a look at this issue, in Alberta CA, where people might be relying on the maps service as their sole information provider on where to get their services (haha, this is where Yellow Pages must be getting their awesome ROI from ). The whole switch is causing some glitches, however, the data from the web and the API now seem equal according to some sources. In the past, sometimes the data didn’t correspond because Google was still using Navteq data as well. Now Google is asking the user base of Google Maps to report any errors, or glitches you may have found and report them directly to TeleAtlas by using this link. So now it’s just a matter of time and hopefully Maps Quality will increase. Although TeleAtlas (acquired by TomTom end of July) will have to take the hit to their reputation in the mean while.
With the Google-TeleAtlas agreement, TeleAtlas will have access to Google Maps updates made by the community as well. You can read more on this advantage here.

Post from: Local Search - martijnbeijk.com

Google Maps Errors – TeleAtlas data needs some finetuning?

Quality Guidelines and reinclusion for Google Maps

martijn — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:36:50 +0000

Some technical difficulties with his blog doesn’t stop Mike to get up early today and post his very interesting findings on an update in the Google Maps Help Center. The Google Maps Help Center now contains some guidelines for your business inclusion and also, what to do when you got kicked out of Google Maps for spamming. This report from Google corresponds well with my previous post about Google tightening its submission policies.

You can find the guidelines by clicking on the following link:
Google Help Center Guidelines for Local Business Center Submissions

Honestly, I still find the guidelines a bit vague, taken into account previous statements;
“be as descriptive if you can for your business in your business title’ doesn’t really correspond with “Represent your business as it appears in real life”. Or is this just my point of view?

Can I use “Italian Ice cream and Cappuccino Bar Bella Napoli” or should it just say “Bella Napoli” because I registered with chamber of commerce with that name?
In my opinion it should add up to the user experience and thus allowing the first one.

In the Help Center, Google is now also referring to the Google Maps group for Business Owners where they can report abuse of the Quality Guidelines.

Post from: Local Search - martijnbeijk.com

Quality Guidelines and reinclusion for Google Maps