Disclosure: Rrove.com plays in the community mapping space. This post aims to highlight the innovations and the usefulness that others have made in this game. We haven’t added ourselves to this list – if you want to know more about Rrove, click here.
A community mapping website, in our definition, is a service that gets its members to map and define places. Through crowd-sourcing, these sites are building a database/directory of local and nearby locations that their users can discover and visit. Why is this important? We all know that search advertising is the fastest growing industry in the Internet. Within that market, local search is the up-and-comer. In the next few years, it will be the largest segment within search!
It’s refreshing to see how others have approached community mapping. Some have focused on map creation while others do it through mobile apps. More than that, some players have mapped the community of users to map the physical community (i.e. neighborhoods). Here’s how nine websites (all free) are doing it, what makes them awesome and how you can use their services in your Internet life.
1) Wikimapia – Describing the Whole World
This is our personal favorite. Wikimapia is a wiki merged with a map. The site is one gigantic Google map and there are no secondary web pages that move you away from it. True to the spirit of a wiki, anyone can add places and/or edit entries, without a login.
The site’s use of satellite images is amazing. See examples here, here and here. More than that, adding places is easy: as you look over neighborhoods you know, you can easily spot and contribute new places with one click. The use of boxes (versus pins) helps in identifying the exact location.
When should you use it: For traveling. Find the tourist spots you want to visit before building your schedule. Seeing all the places in one map will allow you to discover what to do in each place and how far they are from each other.
2) Wayfaring – Following Everybody
Wayfaring is all about maps. Members can create maps of favorite restaurants, childhood places and even a jogging route. Their maps are sharable – visitors can see maps of others and can contribute to it.
Wayfaring has very rich map features: map owners can add Waypoints, Notes and Routes. No other service can do this. Check out the Best of Wayfaring – very interesting content have made itself to Wayfaring and are browse-able through this section of the site. We found this map of the TV show 24 here.
When should you use it: If you’re creating a personal map (duh) for yourself or for your group.
3) Platial – The People’s Atlas
Platial has a good balance of features to find interesting places to visit, create maps and interact with Platial members. Use the MapKit to put your Platial maps on your personal blog or website, alongside your blog roll, Del.icio.us roll and Flickr roll.
When should you use it: Make maps with others. Create a directory of restaurants through a map and allow Platial members to contribute. Put it on your personal site so your visitors can join. Soon, you’ll have a list of new places to dine-in.
4) Frappr – Social Mapping
Frappr is MySpace on maps. The site is really a social network more than a social bookmarking/review service. Create a map around an interest and meet other people with the same interest. While the site if fugly, the numbers speak for themselves.
What makes it awesome? Get yourself and your friends on a map and find other interesting people (not places) nearby. Ala Craigslist, the non-use of fancy colors or designs makes Frappr super-fast. Simple, straight-forward features make it easy-to-use too.
When should you use it: If MySpace is your portal and social networks are your life. Frappr is a good way to meet new people who share the same interests as you. Using MySpace to hook-up? You can do the same on Frappr.
5) Placeopedia – Mapping Wikipedia
Wikipedia has tons of information on places; Placeopedia aims to associate those articles to a map. While it collides with Wikimapia, Placeopedia still makes this list – if you’re after information on a place, you can’t compete with the objective and well-balanced write-ups on Wikipedia. Try the ‘Random Place’ feature and learn something new today.
When should you use it: Placeopedia is a social effort. Expand the warm, fuzzy feeling that you get from contributing to Wikipedia, by marking an article on the map.
6) Tagzania – Tagging the Planet
Tagzania allows you to bookmark and tag places then add them to a map for sharing. While this service is very similar to the other community mapping sites, the site is built by tech-heads. The site has innovative features that you won’t notice but makes a strong impact in usefulness.
Tagzania relates information generously. Each place, for example, shows nearby places, tags and users, allowing you to discover more information and content hidden within Tagzania. Other interesting features include search-optimized URLs, bookmarklets, and pasting Tagzania on your site.
When should you use it: Tagzania is a case study/best practice on displaying content and information. Study this service before building your website.
7) Plazes – Knows Where
Download and install the Plazer software on your computer and put yourself on a map. When connected to the Web (either at home or in an Internet café), Plazes can identify your location and make recommendations of interesting places around you. More than that, the software allows you to share and find people nearby.
Plazes recently launched mobile features that helped it move away from the laptop. Send a text message to Plazes and it will send you a list of places and friends close-by.
When should you use it: Find places and people nearby with your computer and/or mobile phone. Add to your blog so people can stalk you.
8) Yelp – Community Reviews
Yelp is a review site built on a social network. Members can rate and write reviews on anything – restaurants, shops, doctors, plumbers, etc. Unlike the some of other services on this list, the review need not be mapped to a physical location.
Yelp content, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York, is very rich and useful. Searching for ‘massage’ in ‘San Jose, CA’ gives excellent results, all of which are written by the Yelp community. Yelp succeeds with user-generated recommendations because of social networking features such as friends list, the ability to email others and featuring top users. More than that, Yelp has fun parties with lots of hot people.
When should you use it: Throw away the Yellow pages and use Yelp instead. Shopping for jewelry or hiring a lawyer? Do your research on Yelp first, and get the feedback of others before deciding.
9) Dodgeball – Connecting with Friends.
Join Dodgeball, add friends to your account and let them know where you are, anytime and anywhere. Dodgeball lets you do this through your mobile phone – send an SMS of where you are at to Dodgeball and the Google-backed service will forward the message to all your friends.
The fun is in telling your friends your whereabouts and getting them to come to you. More than that, Dodgeball can connect you with friends-of-friends. Browse for people you want to meet and save them to your account. If they’re nearby, the service will let you know!
When should you use it: When you’re out in the town or looking for something to do. Find, hang-out and socialize with friends who are in the area.
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