No More Guesses

Digital Maps in the Internet age come in different types. Many maps are static, 2D, geometrically showing lines defining countries, states or territories visually. While others are dynamic or interactive, even three-dimensional (3d maps).

A popular way of using maps online is to use them as interactive site plan maps, which maps out the different parts of a site or building, and helps people find their way about.

Site plan are used most often in exhibition, trade shows, convention centers, resort, or as floor plan for shopping mall and offices.

Many real estate, hotel and property finder websites are also seen adapting to the latest online technology, and are using interactive site maps as a part of their online presence.

For example, by embedding a clickable interactive map on your exhibition or trade show website, visitors can quickly click an area on the map to find out where the booths and stands are located.

You can also use mouseover image or tooltips to display additional information about each both as necessary. The phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” holds even more true in the Internet age. Your potential visitors can better relate to your information and stay on your website when they’re able to view an illustrative map.

The interactive site map can offer trade show participants a truly insightful experience that help them to decide where (be it a stand or booth) to visit, or which booth to reserve, clarifies about the entry and exit points, and gives a real view of the building prior to their arrival.

Not only interactive floor plan or site maps can help visitors to navigate, you can also show additional information to indicate where the restaurants, hotel, washrooms, meeting rooms, business center are.

Google Map is very well known for creating interactive world maps. Google Map is a very powerful mapping tool, and it is free for embed to your HTML web page. You can use Google Map to generate web maps with street level details, zoom in and out easily. You can also add ‘bubbles’ anywhere on the Google earth map to pinpoint a location, and search locations by simply type in a postal address.

However, while you can use Google map to easily locate geographical locations, Google Map might be too detail or overshot for using on your company website as a navigation tool for sales offices, exhibitions or trade shows.

For instance, you might need

- a simple United State Map, generalize all states or regions for users to use as a state selector

- a single state map (e.g. California) within the USA, showing counties border lines.

- a world map, set colors of each continent or country, use as a country selector

- import your own map (e.g. an exhibition floor plan), adding points and interactive functions

These tasks cannot be done easily in Google map — because Google Map needs to load the entire globe map every time and is co-ordinate based using longitude and latitudes. You can not set a mouse over function for a region (continent, country, state or county) without dig deep into the Google Map APIs.

For these type of usage, you can use an interactive map software, which is usually a Windows based map making program which you can install on your desktop. Most map making software come with a set of ready-to-use map templates, including World, Europe, USA, China, Asia, Africa, North and South America, Australia and other maps.

Most importantly, you can import your own graphic or illustrations instead of country map templates, so to convert any ordinary floor plan or exhibition ground image into a interactive, clickable map.

You can then also export the created interactive map to JPG image format for using in other applications, such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher, freehand, PowerPoint, etc. The map can then be displayed in your exhibition or trade show promotional brochures, newsletters, magazines, bulletins, prospectuses, etc