2011 February | Mapsys.info Mapsys.info

GetListed Portland

Today, I am presenting at the sixth GetListed.org Local University in Portland, Or. If you are coming PLEASE take a moment to introduce yourself as I would love to meet you.

For those of you that attended the presentation these links will provide background information and details for a pathway to dig deeper into the world of managing your listing on Google Maps. For those of you that are not in attendance, the links provide a good overview of critical base line ideas and tactics that every local campaign should embrace.
Google Maps – Its not your mother’s yellow pages.

Slide 2 – January 2011 Search Engine Market Share
Slide 12/13 – The Importance of Page One Visibility
Slides 16/17 – How the Google Cluster Works
Slide 21- Choosing the Right Category – A Tool
Slide 21 – Writing a Great Business Description
Slide 21 – Google Places Policies: Quality guidelines
Slide 22 – Creating a GeoSitemap – A tool
Slide 28/29 Local Search Ranking Factors – the many variables
Slide 28/29 A brief list of 10 Ranking Factors – somewhat old but still valid and a quick read
Slide 28/29 Thinking about your Business Name in the Internet Era
Slide 30 – Custom Maps – A Goldmine
Slide 30 – User Generated Content – Geo Tagged Photos
Slide 30 – How To Gather Reviews
Slide 30- Where to Gather Reviews
Slide 31- The Importance of Citations
Slide 31 – 20 Citation Sources in the US
Slide 36- A Listing management tool

The workshop to model The Hague

Last month, we told you about an upcoming workshop to help model more The Hague, Netherlands in 3D. They were hoping for a solid turnout, and certainly got one with more than 60 people attending!

Prizes were awarded for the best models created that day and MILO Minderbinder, who isn’t old enough to drive and had to take a three-hour train ride each way in order to attend, was the clear winner. He built an excellent model of “De Bijenkorf Den Haag“, which can be seen here:

For his efforts, he was awared with a 3D print of the model, which was provided by i.materalise. Local firm Design8 organized and promoted the event.

With that many people excited about modeling buildings in The Hague, along with the obvious talent that some of them have, I expect to see quite a few buildings pop up there over the next few months.

For more about the event, be sure to check out this article in the SketchUp Blog.

Broadband Speed Mapped for BBC Look East Research

BBC Look East is calling for people in the East of England to find out their home broadband speed, as part of the TV programme’s week-long special – using our free SurveyMapper tool, at CASA, University College London, to collate and map the results in real time. So far over 6500 responses have been received.

It is estimated only 60% of households in the region have access to high speed broadband.

Look East’s business reporter Richard Bond said that the figure was unlikely to grow much in the next five years.

Home broadband users can take part by plotting their speed onto an interactive map.

The results of the research will then be shown on BBC One during Look East’s broadband week, which runs from 21 to 25 February 2011.

“Fibre optic networks, the key to a fast service, are only available to people in and around the major towns and cities,” said Mr Bond.

“Broadband speeds in rural areas are slow because they depend on copper telephone exchanges.

“Although BT is rolling out its fibre optic network, this is unlikely to make much of a difference to most rural communities over the next five years,” he added.

Speed test

Broadband users can test their upload speed on BBC News’ Technology website.

As broadband speeds on the same connection can fluctuate, it is recommended that people take the test several times and make a note of the highest speed.

Other speed-testing websites could return different results, so it is recommended for this research that third-party sites are avoided.

Once a figure is obtained, people can then plot their results on the BBC Look East map hosted on our SurveyMapper.

It is nice to see maps and indeed crowd sourced surveys used in such a way, SurveyMapper has been developed as part of NeISS (National e-Infrastructure for Social Simulation, funded by JISC as part of its Information Environment Programme.

You can set up your own survey or poll on SurveyMapper – If you have used other ‘polling sites’ then you will be up to speed, except we have taken away the restrictions and added real-time mapping into the mix. Simply sign up (its free) and then your be able to create your own survey and embed it into your own site. Currently we have five levels of survey available – Worldwide, based on countries, European Countries US Zip Code, UK Postcode and a Drag and Drop Pin Map.