Google Maps Development

Google Maps is a free interactive web mapping service provided by Google. This allows users to see maps of the world in street map style, as satellite images or as a hybrid of both. As well as being able to search to specific locations, you can obtain directions and plot a route planner or even find local businesses in an area.

Using the Google Maps API, Cornish WebServices are able to embed these maps into client's web pages and provide the interactivity offered by Google Maps through the client's own website. This service provides a number of utilities to further customise Google Maps by adding extra content and features to make robust interactive mapping applications for your website. To find out how we can help you to showcase your business and really get visible on the map, call today to speak to one of our expert marketing and development team on 0330 555 4680 or send us a message and we'll call you back.

Google Maps Functionality

Remap Website You can navigate Google Maps by dragging and dropping using the mouse, and double clicking to zoom in on a particular area. Zoom functionality can also be achieved by using the mouse wheel forwards and backwards to zoom in and out respectively. You can zoom right in to street level or zoom out to look at your chosen location from a global level. In the Google Maps search box, you can type in a postcode, street name, town or place of interest and it centre to its location, also providing an information box about the target searched for.

Like other mapping services, Google Maps allows you to obtain directions for road journeys. To do this you enter a start point and destination and you are given step-by-step instructions on how to reach that destination. The distance of the journey and the time it will take to complete the journey is also provided. An added feature allows you to alter the default route offered by Google Maps by dragging the proposed route to specific roads allowing you to arrange a route that will avoid certain traffic hotspots you'd rather avoid. As you do this the directions provided by Google Maps as well as the distance and journey time will be updated accordingly.

Google Maps Web Design

Google Maps are primarily used to show the geographical location of a business or office. This helps with local search marketing as well as providing an informative tool to help locate the business. The added interactivity gives an extra dimension to this feature and helps the potential customer locate the client.

Google Maps also allows users to enter their postcodes and learn where the client is located in relation to them. Google Maps will then also provide customised directions to the clients, which ultimately will be more useful to the user compared to the typically offered generic directions.

We have used Google Maps when a client has multiple offices around the country. By using Google Maps to do this, interactivity can be introduced. We can use this feature to add specific contact information to each plotted location on the map.

But this still doesn't quite do Google Maps justice. Google maps can be integrated with other parts of Google's framework to make some amazing applications. Google are a constantly upgrading and expanding their framework, which in turn increases the potential for services that can be created using it. As a web services company, we stay at the forefront of theses changes and are eager to develop ways we can implement Google's free services to benefit our client in terms of marketability, usability and search engine optimisation.

Google Maps Example: Remap

Remap are a charity that custom make equipment for people with disabilities. Their head office is based in Kent and the company has a further 80 different panels evenly spaced around the country which deal with enquiries in the regions they are located. When someone wants to make an enquiry, the idea is for the enquirer to contact his or her local panel.

Remap Website When they first came to us, Remap had a huge problem with spam. All their regional panels email addresses were listed on the site and as a result were being picked up by crawlers and sent miscellaneous emails. In addition to this the contact form on their website was not working correctly and enquires were not able to contact the correct panel.

Remap requested us to produce a map, which showed all of their panels. A user could then click on a particular panel on the map and through this locate the appropriate contact information. If they wanted to email the panel, they could click a button and fill out a form, which would then be sent to the correct panel. This needed to be implemented in such a way that the email address would be hidden from view. This would prevent spam crawlers from being able to harvest the email addresses and would ensure that the email address would go to the correct panel, provided the correct panel was clicked on in the map view. Remap also requested an alternative search method that would provide the user with the panels that were nearest to their location when the user typed their postcode. All of this functionality had to be easy to update by staff that would have a limited knowledge of computers.

Based on these requirements we created a Google Map of the United Kingdom and plotted all the panels on the map. The markers for the panels were placed in the centre of the region in which they operated.. When a user selected a panel they would be given the name of the panel, a contact for that specific panel as well as various phone numbers. On this informational window there is also a link, this directs the user to a contact form which indicates which specific panel they are contacting. Once the form is filled out it is then emailed directly to the correct panel. The postcode search functionality was also provided alongside the Google Map this provided the closest three panels to the location entered. The information displayed on the Google Map was stored in a database. This database was connected to the map and the contact form to allow the map to be flexible and dynamic.

This meant we could provide a backend administration system for Remap to allow them to easily update the data. A miniature version of the Google Maps was placed within the admin system to allow Remap to find the exact point of a panel graphically. We implemented this in such a way that interactive tools of zooming and dragging the map could be used to find exact centre points for their panels. This meant all Remap had to do was press one button when they were happy with the target destination and the data would be stored and uploaded to the map on their website. This administration system allowed Remap to add, edit and delete current panels and the information associated with them.

You can view this Google Maps implementation live by visiting Remap's website contact page.