FARZAD SHARIF
February 9, 2015
My Maps Everywhere
Making custom maps more personal & shareable
How can we serve more users?
Today, My Maps is a useful tool to quickly visualize a collection of POIs or places on a map—and we’ve seen that use-case flourish around current events, including crisis response and politics. ��But we can do much better at providing a great experience for travel and recreational activities while on-the-go.
My Maps Everywhere
Deepen the feature set
Creating a more personalized experience, with better content discovery on mobile and the ability to browse UGC My Maps tied to profiles, is the next step. These features will empower the everyday user exploring things like a curated shopping guide, running routes, or museum recommendations.
My Maps Everywhere
A collection of My Maps from freeamsterdam.nl curating visitor activities in the Dutch capitol… unfortunately siloed on their website.
My Maps Everywhere
VICE’s eponymous guide of where to stay, eat, drink, and party in Berlin.
A 36 Hours for hipsters, essentially.
My Maps Everywhere
Let’s back up and talk about why Maps are so important.
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Maps naturally transcend the realm of utility
My Maps Everywhere
Maps are visual, educational and historical. We’ve carried them with us on ships, on horseback, in our backpacks and glove boxes. We’ve drawn them in the sand and on the backs of our hands. Maps are tools we use to take us places we’ve never been, places we might never go, places near and far. They can be both public and personal.
Maps are social.
(A MY MAP MADE BY A FAN PLANNING A TOUR OF MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL SITES IN THE U.S.)
They’re the next shareable document type
Users already publicly share and swap artifacts of all kinds: photos, GIFs, videos, apps, articles, blogs, links, docs, fitness scores, spreadsheets, etc. Maps are a natural next step.
My Maps Everywhere
They’re customizable
Unlike other sharable artifacts that are static—such as photos and videos—digital maps are malleable and ripe for interaction beyond just commenting and re-sharing. The experience of creating something new and unique to share with others is rewarding and emotionally appealing.
(A THOROUGH GUIDE TO PORTLAND’S ESSENTIAL EATERIES BUILT WITH THE MAPS API.)
My Maps Everywhere
(A BLOG WITH DOZENS OF CUSTOM MY MAPS LEADING USERS ON THEMED JOURNEYS THROUGH AUSTRALIA.)
They’re great for storytelling
Maps can tell stories that are time-based, distance-based, location-based, experience-based, etc. They’re also natural aggregates for disparate narrative artifacts such as photos, videos, notes, poems and so on.
My Maps Everywhere
They’re helpful for organization�
The draw of sites like Pinterest, Pocket, Evernote, Wunderlist and Foursquare is that they allow users to organize, categorize, track, share and revisit items that are hard to wrangle—even offline. My Maps could fit elegantly into this platform category.
(A MY MAP HIGHLIGHTING NEW YORK CITY’S BEST RUNNING TRAILS.)
My Maps Everywhere
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We need to bring out the best in Maps
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These My Maps features for
Google Maps for Mobile do just that.
FEATURE #1
Share a public profile
A user can personalize and share a public profile using their existing Google account.
My Maps Everywhere
PUBLIC RECOGNITION EMPOWERS USERS TO:
Feel ownership
A public identity infused with personality spurs users to create and share public maps more often.
Be discovered
Maps that are shared in blog posts, news articles, or social media posts can be traced back to their maker.
Gain recognition
A profile gives users the opportunity to rise to prominence (à la Vine, YouTube, and Instagram “creators”) and feel connected to the My Maps community.
My Maps Everywhere
FEATURE #2
Explore public maps
Users can search for public maps or browse maps based on what’s nearby or relevant to them.
My Maps Everywhere
RICHER DISCOVERY EMPOWERS USERS TO:
Search for content
The more custom maps that are publicly indexed, the more powerful the My Maps knowledge graph becomes.
Find maps that matter
Google suggests maps to browse based on your interests and location.
My Maps Everywhere
FEATURE #3
See rich media
Along with text descriptions, creators can use photos and videos to enrich and personalize their maps.
My Maps Everywhere
BETTER CONSUMPTION MAKES GMM MORE:
Visually appealing
Most online social interactions are visually mediated so UGC maps have a lot to compete with.
Personalized
Rich media allow users to fill their My Maps with artifacts that are sentimental, helpful, and unique.
Convenient
The ability to move between a listview, a map view, and a rich media view gives users the opportunity to use the right kind of information at the right time.
My Maps Everywhere
FEATURE #4
Save other users’ maps�
Users can save other users’ publically-shared maps to their own collection of My Maps in Google Drive.
My Maps Everywhere
IMPROVED ACCESS EMPOWERS USERS TO:
Build a library
Users begin to amass a cherished library of maps on a variety of topics and interests.
Access maps later
By saving other users’ maps to Drive, users can access them later when they really need them.
Stay informed
By saving other users’ maps, users will know when content is updated or added-to by the map maker.
My Maps Everywhere
FEATURE #5
Rate other users’ maps
A user can rate other users’ publicly shared maps.
My Maps Everywhere
GIVING FEEDBACK EMPOWERS USERS TO:
Get feedback
This is how users can communicate their opinion to map makers.
Experiment
Scoring helps map makers to see what does and doesn’t work well.
My Maps Everywhere
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My Maps in action
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My Maps is obviously helpful with trip planning, but the ability to browse public maps, save them, and access them later is most important when a user is in a new place trying to navigate. Let’s follow two travelers as they use My Maps features in Google Maps for Mobile to plan and navigate their upcoming vacation.
My Maps Everywhere
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Meet Heather & Amy
They’re a Canadian couple headed to Portland, Oregon for a quick weekend vacation. They’re visiting over three days in late May and want to maximize their time. Heather is a beer snob, and Amy is most excited about the vintage shopping (no sales tax!). They’re both avid runners and want to get in some solid runs as a novel way to see the city.
My Maps Everywhere
At home before the trip
They look for inspiration
At first, they try to plan their trip through the usual avenues (blogs, Instagram, Tweets into the ether, etc.) until they come across the New York Times 36 hours in Portland My Map. Heather and Amy are stoked to have such a good starting point and both save the map to their collections of My Maps on Google Drive.
My Maps Everywhere
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My Maps helps them plan
Over the next several days the two explore other public maps that fit with their hobbies and interests. They use rating scores, tips, photos, and video to help narrow down the best maps for them.
They save their favorites
While searching for running maps they discover an extensive route library from Portland Stumprunners. They save their favorites to Drive to use while they're in Portland.
My Maps Everywhere
Day 1 in Portland
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They consult their map library
Heather and Amy decide what to do first by looking through the collection of My Maps they have saved right in GMM.
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LONG SHOT OF COUPLE IN THE PARK.
Photos of a park catch their eye
The two walk up to the Japanese Gardens from their hotel based on photos of the park in the NTY My Map. They also get walking directions to it right in GMM.
They search for dinner
They’ve worked up an appetite and search for “southern food” in GMM near the venue they’re going to tonight. They settle on Miss Delta, which is right down the street from �Mississippi Studios.
My Maps Everywhere
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Tips help them
navigate the venue
The two arrive early at the show to grab a drink at a hidden bar window in the back and then stake out a good spot in the balcony based on advice written in the My Maps’ pin info card.
Day 2 in Portland
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They consult their shopping guide
The next day they hop around Mississippi Ave using the NYT My Maps listview to see just the vintage shopping spots.
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Beer maps lead the way
They watch video of the brew bike tour on one of Untapped’s My Maps and decide against it. It’s kind of hokey. Instead, they search for and save a My Map of the Brewery Blocks on the spot so they can tour it on foot.
Day 3 in Portland
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LONG SHOT OF COUPLE IN THE PARK.
They end with a great running route
Heather and Amy wake up late, hungover and happy wanting to go for a run. They search through the running maps they saved and pick a scenic route to follow.
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Back home again
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Heather & Amy build their own map
The two build a My Map of their trip to share publicly that includes photos, videos, and tips that they picked up along the way.
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Thanks