Maporama’s foray into Web 2.0
For all of you who thought that we here at BuzzShout weren’t worldly people, this post is for you. Maporama, based out of Paris, France, has jumped into the world of Web 2.0 with their updated site. They have a new AJAX interface with a customizable homepage that allows users to choose from 31 map styles, decide the sizes of the display maps, and have their itineraries included on the page.
In true Web 2.0 fashion, the Maporama site has a BETA section that has an itinerary calculator with real-time traffic information. Also, the user can click on specific parts of their route to see what the road situation is going to be like. Caveat: these services are only available in the company’s hometown region of Paris, France.
Probably the coolest new addition to the site is the ability to make one click and upload directions from the site to your MP3 player/iPod or mobile phone. They can be shown in text or be transformed into audio. Dominique Grillet, the CEO of Maporama International, says, “The strength of our website, and what will make it a reference in the web 2.0 world, is also related to the perfect control of our cartographic databases and to our capacity to improve the user experience.”
Now, I haven’t tried the site myself, but would love to hear what our loyal European BuzzShout users think of it. Do Mapquest and Google Maps have something to worry about here?
July 3rd, 2006 at 2:40 am
Well, yes and no, but it’s certainly a en effort worth looking into. The mp3 functionality is a cool idea, but I guess the others may soon be following. The customization tools are nice in a not-rocking-the-boat-way and still a bit clumsy (you have to choose your own style out of a set of 31 rather cryptic abbreviations), the routing planner is state of the art, though the pedestrian routes should be considered with care (I tried three, two of which included motorways).
July 4th, 2006 at 12:24 pm
Claus,
Thank you for the additional in-depth info on Maporama! Please let us know if there are other interesting European Web 2.0 sites that we should look in to. You know, for those of us who can’t read your blog (is that German?)
Cheers!