Earthware Blog

Here at Earthware, we have recently been working on a number of projects showing quite complex and multi-faceted data sets using consumer APIs such as Google Maps and Bing Maps.  This has led us to explore lots of different ways of displaying more than one thing at a time on a map:  We have looked at pie charts, shading, doughnuts (or donuts to our trans-Atlantic cousins).  But, I keep returning to the view that;

1. Maps are never going to replace Excel – when you get more than two numerical parameters that you want to look at at the same time then it is almost certainly better to use a table or at least a different type of graphic.

2. A picture tells a thousand words – but if you try and show too much it becomes a bit more like a “Where’s Stig?” picture (great present book by the way) than a Rembrant.

3. Just because you’ve got the data in a database, it doesn’t mean you automatically put it on the map – so often we see websites and maps that are designed around the needs of the owner “I want to get as much of my stuff out there as I can!” and not the needs of the user “I want to see only the thing or things that most interest me in the quickest and easiest way that I will understand”.

Anyway, I recently read an article by Matthew Erikson who I think really made my points for me in a very detailed way and so I thought I would point you in the direction of his article.

Neil

With Microsoft Bing Maps’ latest Terms of Use which enable not for profit organisations to use Bing Maps free of charge, Earthware have been working with the Bing Team to develop a free mapping tool which enables not for profit organisations to create, customise and embed project or events maps into their website to display information about their projects/events in an interactive, visually engaging and location based format.

The tool allows the user to create as many maps as they wish, bulk upload events and project information and select exactly which projects or events to display on the map. The look and feel of the map can be customised to fit with the website it is to be embedded in as can the map size and map filters. Users can also add text information about the project/events, as well as upload photos (from their PC or Flickr) and videos (from YouTube or Vimeo) that are related to the project/event.

If you are interested in finding out more about the tool or what more information about using the tool please contact Earthware on info@earthware.co.uk or call 0845 642 9880.

We always say that displaying data on a map is one of the best ways to bring information to life, especially when the information has a geographical element. One obvious place where this is true is when looking at the pattern of earthquakes. The US Geological Survey publishes a list of recent earthquakes. However, a list doesn’t show the patterns or relationships in the same way that displaying this data on a map will.

Which is why, given recent events in Christchurch and Japan in particular, we have done just this – embedded USGS’s earthquake data in a Bing Map using Silverlight technology to create a mapped sequence of earthquakes between 7th and 11th March 2011 as recorded by USGS).

In the sequence you can clearly see the build up of earthquakes in the northern part of the Ring of Fire along the Aeultian Islands starting from the 7th of March 2011.

As well as watching the sequence of events from 7th to the 14th of March 2011, you can experience the last seven days earthquakes or just the last one:

Last seven days of earthquakes in mapped sequence

Last day of earthquakes in mapped sequence

For a more detailed view of the locations experiencing major earthquakes during this period watch our video of the sequence.

Introduction

Twitter is a great service that has given the average person in the street a way to share his opinions and criticism of just about anything with the world. Receiving accurate and well thought out criticism is one of the best ways for companies to improve their products and services, at Earthware we have learnt a lot over the years by listening to what others think about what we do and trying to improve in those areas.

The problem with the two points above is that too often Twitter’s instant availability and it’s 140 character limit has made us all a bit lazy when sharing our opinions and criticism and made us tend to exaggerate or generalise our feedback.

The aim of this blog article is to explore this problem a little further, specifically relating to the opinions and criticism we see shared about two of the most popular mapping platforms Bing Maps and Google Maps.

Comparing apples & pears

Its often difficult to compare two things that arrive at very similar results but from different directions. As a simple example of this lets compare the following two cars:

Both of these are great sports cars and the result of talented engineers and designers but when comparing individual characteristics they are very different and it would be too easy to suggest one of them is much better than the other.

For example let’s compare the top speeds of both, without a doubt the Ferrari is by far the fastest almost 100% faster. However if we compare the emissions of both the Tesla Roadster, being electric, is by far the best performer (assuming you charge it from a zero emission source) and blows the Ferrari away.

If we say one car is better than the other, because one or more characteristic is better, does that mean the other car “sucks”? I think we can agree that’s not true, it’s just that one car or the other will suit the owner depending on what criteria they see as most important to them.

Bringing this back to the world of mapping hopefully you can see how untrue it is to say that one mapping platform “sucks” compared to another if you are only comparing one feature, for example road mapping styles.

Comparing building materials vs. the builder

So if it’s difficult to compare two products by only looking at one, or two, characteristics, or only those that apply to one person’s needs, how about comparing two products that set out to create the same result but one is clearly better? Again let’s compare two cars:

If someone offered you either of these cars for FREE I’d be surprised if anyone would take the Skoda. Skoda are not exactly know for creating the best build quality or the most stylish cars in the world (they are known for their value but we are talking about a free car). VW however are well known for their quality and reliability and have some stylish cars. Both these cars are created from the same raw materials in fact some models share the same engine and some of the same parts so why is the VW Golf a much more popular car, winning many more awards?

It’s a combination of factors potentially including the time spent building and designing the car, the quality of the tools used to build them and the talent of the engineering and design teams involved.

Brining this back to the world of mapping this means it’s often difficult for consumers to differentiate between how well a website has implemented and designed their mapping vs. how good the mapping platform they are using actually is.

Too often at Earthware we see users complaining about Google Maps or Bing Maps when actually it’s that the site they are using the maps on has either not spent enough time implementing their maps or their development team doesn’t have much experience creating mapping applications.

Taking a closer look at some common mapping criticisms

Here at Earthware we think both Google Maps and Bing Maps are great mapping platforms and we have used both of them in a variety of client’s mapping projects depending on which one fitted the client’s needs better at the time.

However both platforms are not identical, they have some features in common and some very different. Both platforms have areas in which they are better than the other for some, or all, of the specific client needs. Below are some of the more common criticisms we see and some insight into why these features may differ / ‘are perceived as better’ in one platform or the other.

• Bing maps road map/labels suck

  Recently Bing maps have released a new style for their road maps which have received some praise, and a lot of negativity. Why would Bing change their road map style to something that some people don’t like as much as their old style? Surely there is a reason or do they just not care?

  Digging a little deeper we can start to find the answer, and an angle that suggests Bing Maps may actually be on to something for that is actually better than Google for some uses. Bing actually spent a lot of time and money, and worked with some great talent at Stamen, to produce this new style, but they were aiming for a different goal than Google.

  Bing’s goal for the redesign was to help mapping developers, like Earthware, showcase their data on maps without the bright and colourful maps taking over the show. The new ‘muted’ colour scheme makes it easier for users to concentrate on pushpins and data shown on top of the map. The downside of this is that consumers who are trying to read the labels and roads on the map, without much or any extra data being shown, are now arguably finding it more difficult to read.

  So many peoples perception is that Bing Maps road style ‘sucks’ compared to Google’s. Hopefully you may now see that it does indeed ‘suck’… if you are using it in one particular situation.
  

• Bing/Google maps aerial imagery suck

  Another common complaint is that the aerial imagery available is much better in one platform than the other. The problem here is that it may indeed be worse on Google than Bing but is that just in the town/city/country you are interested in? Elsewhere in the world you will often find a different story.

  Also, you will often find it has a lot to do with when you are comparing them, Bing and Google release imagery at completely different times and have very different plans for when and where to take aerial imagery. You may find Google is better this month, but then Bing release more up to date imagery at the same location a month later.

  Again it’s perhaps easier now to understand why it’s not perhaps not a fair comparison of an entire mapping platform’s coverage if you are just focusing on where you want aerial imagery.
  

• Bing/Google birdseye/streetview is much better

  Users are often amazed by Bing’s birdseye imagery, or Google’s street view imagery and judge the other platform as ‘sucking’ because they either don’t have birdseye/streetview or don’t have the same coverage worldwide. 

  Both birds eye and streetview imagery are brilliant experiences and are useful in different circumstances. For example when searching for a new house streetview really gives you a clear indication of what the front of house looks like as well as the roads around the house. Birdseye however lets you see what the entire area looks like including the back garden and nearby parks. Both are useful if different ways and neither ‘suck’ compared to the other.

  The other common comparison we hear is the coverage Google have in streetview vs. the birdseye coverage Bing have. With Google having streetview over huge areas of Europe and North America it’s easy to think Bing’s Bird’s eye coverage of only major metropolitan areas in these countries is not as impressive an achievement. However consider the following as it might start to seem less of a valid comparison:

  1. Streetview can be taken on any day it doesn’t rain/snow, birdseye can only be taken on cloudless days
  2. Streetview is taken using any normal car, Birdseye is taken from a plane. Costs and laws applying to the use of these two is vastly different.
  3. Streeview required specialist cameras but they are nowhere near as expensive as the cameras and lenses required to take imagery from a plane.
  4. Capturing an entire city in streetview only captures the streets and the areas visible from the street, a small fraction of what birdseye captures with every square metre of the city.
  5. Streetview does not have to combine as many images, taken at different times, from different angles and heights. The sheer processing involved in producing quality aerial imagery let alone birdseye imagery is vast in comparision.
     

• TheWebsiteIUse.com’d new maps ‘suck’ because they have moved from Bing/Google to Google/Bing

  Lastly we often hear complaints from regular users of various websites when that website changes the mapping platform they use. Their complaints are usually a combination of the following factors:

  1. They were used to how the old mapping worked, no one likes change
  2. TheWebsiteIUse.com has not implemented all the features of the new mapping platform, or has implemented them in a worse way often because they try and replace like with like rather than creating a mapping experience that works best with the new platform.
  3. The new mapping platform doesn’t offer the same quality of imagery in their locations as the old platform. However it may now be vastly superior in other regions or the new platform brings ‘different’ types of imagery or data like birdseye or OS maps in the UK.

Enough preaching, what are we trying to say?

Maybe you found our blog today, or read it regularly, or someone sent this article to you after you expressed your opinion on a mapping platform. However you came to read this article, we hope it has inspired you to think a little more about giving a mapping opinion or criticism online. If you have just tweeted, emailed, blogged something maybe you would like to go and add more detail, or suggestions, to your comment and maybe even target it at someone who will gladly receive your feedback and have the power change things?

Why not share your new clearer opinion or criticism with the right people, so try the following twitter accounts in your tweet or tweet the website or product that you are using the maps on.

@bingmaps, @googlemaps, @mapquest, @openstreetmap, @ovimaps, @earthware

Now in our fourth year of partnership with GoLearnTo.com we are delighted that the website we have been involved in developing continues to go from strength to strength. In the last month GoLearnTo has added no less than four awards and nominations to their impressive array of successes including…

Tongue Twister…

The International Association of Language Centres has voted GoLearnTo.com agency of the month recognising them as a leading language travel agency. The IALC recognize the quality and teaching standards of GoLearnTo.com’s range of courses where you can learn Spanish in Spain or learn French in France and over 14 more languages worldwide.

Best holiday experience provider…

GoLearnTo.com have been nominated for a British Travel award in the category ‘Best Holiday Experience Provider’. It’s a great honour to be nominated for the 2^nd year running proving there’s no stopping the public’s appetite for learning new skills on holiday.

Best new agency…

Language schools from over 30 countries worldwide have voted for GoLearnTo.com in the best new agency category for Language Travel Magazine’s star awards. GoLearnTo.com has been specially recognized as a ‘star’ agency for their work to make language learning more fun and a holiday activity by combining languages with a unique range of fun activities such as cookery holidays in Italy, yoga holidays or even surfing, dancing, horse riding and much more.

And the website of the year goes to…

GoLearnTo hope to be in with a chance of winning the Good Web Guide’s Website of the Year Award after being nominated this year.

This proves once again how an aesthetically pleasing, functionally rich and easy to use website designed and developed by The Technology Studio with maps by Earthware can do for you.

We are also really excited to be working on a potentially groundbreaking project with GoLearnTo using Microsoft Silverlight and Bing Maps to offer a rich multimedia experience all within a map – watch this space!

Earthware’s Avimap demos (TheWorldCupMap and CountryBehindTheCup) are being noticed left right and centre with the latest review coming from C21 Media.net, the digital publishers who broadcast all things television business news and information related.  

Read their full article about CountryBehindTheCup here. 

Regular readers of our blog will have heard about Earthware’s TheWorldCupMap which we launched at the beginning of the 2010 World Cup football tournament. This week has seen our newest addition to the map, CountryBehindTheCup, being launched.

Continuing our partnership with Skyworks, the company behind the high definition video footage of the football stadiums shown in TheWorldCupMap, the CountryBehindTheCup map features Skyworks’ HD video documentary originally made for TV which gives a factual tour of South Africa the country, rather than South Africa the country hosting the World Cup.

The video footage has been combined with Bing Maps Silverlight technology in the same way as TheWorldCupMap did to create an aerial journey across South Africa giving an example of the ‘art of the possible’ of how any geographical data (text, images and video) can be combined with online mapping to create an interactive and visually engaging experience to the user.

This technology has great potential to change the way people research holidays online – imagine using a travel map which contains similar video, plus images and text, to investigate the location where you are planning to spend your next break. Suddenly your research has become a whole lot easier.

For further information about displaying your data on a web based map or to see how travel maps could help your agency differentiate themselves please contact Earthware on 0845 642 9880 or email info@earthware.co.uk

Having your property listed on a online map has become an essential part of the property marketing process so its little surprise really that Google have joined the party launching their latest addition to Google Maps in the UK – property listings. Any property portal, estate agent or even individual seller/landlord can list their property as for sale or for rent to be displayed on the property maps when a search matches the properties specification.

Listing properties on the map is free (Google have funded the new functionality through advertising placed around the maps) and it is this fact has caused a lot of unrest with the UK’s major property portals such as RightMove, who provide a similar property listings maps but which agents have to pay to advertise on. However, other portals including Zoopla, Zoomf, and Property Pal have chosen to jump on board with this latest free online marketing tool and have formed partnerships with Google to list their properties on the maps. Many other independent estate agents have also taken advantage of the functionality with Google now saying that within 24 hours of the maps being live they have hundreds of thousands of properties listed.

Home buyers and renters can use the maps search functionality, which can be turned on or off by selecting ‘properties’ found under the ‘more’ button at the top of the maps, to find properties to suit their needs. Users can search by city/locality by moving the map and zooming in, or by price range, type of property (detached, semi detached or townhouse/unit), number of bedrooms and number of bathrooms using the tick boxes to the left of the map.

The ideal scenario for any buyer or renter is to only need to look in one place in order to see all (or at least the vast majority of) available properties. It is exactly this position that the portals are fighting to become, with RightMove winning that fight in the residential property market. Google’s move into the property market will only make maintaining their positions as the top property portal list more difficult – something they are understandably nervous about. As for the user – maybe it’s a good thing. It might just force all the portals to improve the service they offer in order to differentiate themselves and retain custom.

If you are interested in using property mapping in your website to market available properties we can help. Contact us on 0845 642 9880 or email info@earthware.co.uk

It seems that we are not the only people who think that TheWorldCupMap, Earthware’s tour of the World Cup stadiums, is pretty cool. The guys at BBC sport also agree and have added it to their dedicated World Cup page alongside their own venue guide and Fifa’s offering too. It’s great to have our work recognised in this way and to see this amazing new technology being used so well.

TheWorldCupMap shows what the ‘art of the possible’ of online mapping is. It is the world’s first release of Aerial Video Integrated Mapping (Avimap) technology which combines the Bing Maps Silverlight mapping API, the latest Internet Information Services (IIS) smooth streaming technology and Windows Azure cloud hosting to give a movie-like experience of a location. 

If you would like more information about how you could use the latest web mapping technology to display your business information in a compelling way please contact Earthware on 0845 642 9880 or email info@earthware.co.uk. 

Here at Earthware we are all very excited about the World Cup. However, it’s not the goals (or lack of!) that has got us energised, it’s our latest web based mapping solution, Avimap, which provides an interactive aerial tour of all the stadiums hosting World Cup football matches. Even if you can’t make it to South Africa in person with this online mapping application you can now visualise where all the action is happening as you fly over the stadiums at the same time as viewing the surrounding area in the map and understanding where the stadiums are located in relation to each other. Take a look for yourself by visiting http://www.theworldcupmap.com.

Avimap combines the very latest in online mapping technology, Bing Maps Silverlight, with high definition aerial video footage, from Skyworks, to create an application using cloud hosting from Mircosoft Azure allowing the user to explore any location in a smooth movie-like way.

To our knowledge this is the first time anyone has combined digital maps and aerial videos and used cloud hosting to produce an experience like this and it’s not just mapping football stadiums that this technology can be used for. The scope for any business, but especially those in the travel sector, is endless. Imagine embedding travel mapping into your website clearly displaying everything anyone could want to know about a destination at the touch of a mouse button.

If you would like to find out more about how digital maps can differentiate your brand, drive customers to your website and convert leads please contact Earthware on 0845 642 9880 or email info@earthware.co.uk.