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September 2008 InfoTip: Cool Uses for Google Maps
I can't remember how long ago it was that I switched my default map searching from
Mapquest to
Google Maps, but it's been a long time. Google has been improving its map search fairly regularly, but I have been so focused on finding out how to get from here to there that I haven't noticed. Here are a few of the ways I have been using Google Maps recently.
- To find the number and locations of a type of business in an area. By pulling up the map of Washington DC and searching for "printing", and then selecting the "Copying & Duplicating Services" category, I can see how many copy shops there are within three miles of where my client is considering locating his business.
- To find out what companies are located in a building. Type in the street address, and Google Maps will show all the businesses listed in the telephone directory for that address. Click on any of the businesses and you will see detailed information on the business.
- To see how the distribution of cosmetic surgeons in a city correlates to population density. Are most of the cosmetic surgeons in downtown Seattle or out in the suburbs? How does that compare to the distribution in San Antonio? How did I do this?
Pull up a map of the city you are interested, then click the "My Maps" tab on the left side of the screen, and then click "Browse the directory". Here you'll see an amazing collection of user-generated overlays to Google Maps -- everything from how much light pollution there is at night in a particular area to US Census Bureau population information to a little clock you can drag to any point and see what time it is at whatever location you are currently viewing -- a great tool for everyone who can't remember what time zone Colorado is in (Mountain Time - otherwise known as the "flyover-country" time zone).
- To find out more information about a particular company, without leaving Google Maps. For each of those cosmetic surgeons that I found, I can click the "More info" link and find all kinds of other information. I can see user reviews ("From beauty to beast - beware!"), links to the surgeon's web site, information on the surgeon's educational background, board certification, years of experience, and other information. The information gathered together on each company comes from sites designed to help consumers select a business. For healthcare, that includes
Vimo.com, Vitals.com and
HealthGrades.com. For hotels, you may see links to reviews from
Orbitz.com and
TripAdvisor.com. If nothing else, there
will usually be links to the Better Business
Bureau and SuperPages. And you'll see the company's address and phone number, links to the company's web site, and even an image of the front of the building, if there is a
Street View for the company's location.
- To find out what I don't know that I want to know. One of the features of the My Maps area of Google Maps is the ability to see user-generated overlays for whatever area you are currently viewing. I am heading out to Seattle and have some free time, but I am too
time-crunched lazy to find out what I should see while I am there. So I pull up Seattle in Google Maps and zoom in so that I am just viewing my hotel and about 5 miles in any direction. Then I click the My Maps tab, click "Popular user-created maps" and I see the overlays for Seattle that have been created by others. I can now get pointers to what I should see for a "Seattle Mini-vacation", the best Seattle photography locations, and even "Directions to the places donating cake to the Social Justice Fund's Annual Dinner." How did we ever manage before the web?
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