Online maps vs. custom maps

Planaroo.com launched its first custom map today -- an overview map of Orlando.  Expect to see more custom maps in the days ahead.

You may be wondering why we didn't just insert Google Maps to create a mashup.  That's a great question. Google Maps are high quality, free, and they have a great developer API. But when it comes to online maps for tourists, they leave something to be desired.

¡Viva México!
For example, my friend Curtis and I are flying down to Mexico City this Friday for a Labor Day weekend trip.  We visited the city years ago and had a good time. Curtis speaks passable Spanish, and I've never let language be a barrier to travel. We saw some of the major sights around the city last time, but this time we wanted to stay in the historic central district to minimize travel. After researching hotels on TripAdvisor I reserved the Sheraton Centro Histórico on Hotels.com.

Now it's time to figure out what do to. 

A trip like this one puts me into tourist mode more completely than a trip to Orlando or Las Vegas (Planaroo's first two cities) ever could. Thinking like a newbie visitor helps a lot with feature planning. I know the Sheraton is in the historic district, but I want to see what's around the hotel. The Sheraton's web site includes an embedded MapQuest map of the entire city that's entirely useless.  MapQuest hasn't evolved much over the years, and even if the map was focused on the neighborhood it wouldn't be very helpful. (No offense to my friends at Starwood. I can see why Mexican maps would be a low priority.)

Google Maps is my go-to online map provider, so I scooted over there instead. The Google Maps product was revolutionary (scrolling!) when it first launched, and they are constantly expanding coverage, improving the points of interest database, and tweaking the feature set. Maps should eventually play a huge role in mobile advertising and e-commerce so the investment makes a lot of sense. Google Maps doesn't actually have the Sheraton in its POI database, but a user seems to have entered it manually.  Given the user-provided info Google quickly found the Sheraton. All the usual goodies are there -- map view, satellite view, terrain view, Metro locations, etc. It even displays a photo (the hotel's rooftop patio?) if you click on the marker. 

Context
But what's around the hotel worth doing?  There are lot of buildings, but they all look alike. There are parks and roads, but it's hard to tell what's on the tourist path and what's not. It's far better than the MapQuest map, but I still can't plan a trip with it. There is far more information than what I really need in this case.  And at least for now there is no way to filter out the stuff that isn't relevant for a tourist.

Conclusion
Automated mapping systems are fantastic at giving point-to-point directions, but they provide too much information for vacation planning purposes. 

When you're planning a trip you don't need to see every road and building -- you need to see the ones that are most likely to appeal to travelers like you.  Guidebooks do this very well, and maps are a big part of their appeal.  It's certainly possible that online providers like Google and Yahoo will be able to offer that type of functionality in the long run, but that will require the providers to create a lot of metadata that isn't easy to compile or to keep updated. For now, hand-crafted maps are still the best way to get a handle on an area at a macro level.

Unfortunately, the beauty of automated mapping systems is that they scale.  Custom maps take time and money, so we'll need to be careful about how many and which ones we commission. (I found a great freelancer on Elance.com.) Still, I think they're worth the investment. 

Thoughts?

Comments

[Caryn Dahm]

Kenny-
I couldn't agree more with this posting. My husband and I are often frustrated by the auto-generated maps and their lack of relevant information for planning a trip. Whatever you paid to have these done it will be worth it!

- Caryn

[Brenda Pate]

This is a great idea. Thanks

[Brenda Pate]

This is a great idea. Thanks

[Brenda Pate]

This is a great idea. Thanks