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Multimap Case Study

Featured Site: Multimap
Where? http://www.multimap.com/
Developer: Multimap

The Site

Multimap

Online since 1996, London-based Multimap.com is one of Europe's most popular mapping sites, serving more than 10 million users each month. The site offers street-level maps of the United Kingdom, Europe the United States and much of Asia Pacific; road maps of the world; door-to-door travel directions; aerial photographs; and local information. Multimap also provides “white label” mapping services for other web sites, including basic mapping, proximity searching, routing, aerial images, and local information. Recently, Multimap has begun to integrate on its website Microsoft® Virtual Earth™ and Windows Live™ Messenger, two components of the Windows Live network of internet services. Together, these services enable users to view geotagged information—such as the sender’s location or a business address—and to interact while using maps. The example shows a Messenger conversation taking place based on users being able to see where each other are on Virtual Earth Bird’s Eye imagery.

Why the Windows Live Platform?

The integration of Multimap with Windows Live Services provides several key benefits, according to Matthew Quinlan, Head of Product Marketing at Multimap.

  • The IM capability can drive traffic and increase stickiness by encouraging users to stay on the Multimap site while carrying on a conversation. The participants can also click on geotagged elements—for example, the recipient’s location, a business address or geo-tagged Wikipedia content—and receive further information without leaving the Multimap environment.
  • Differentiated content and ad delivery. “We can deliver highly targeted advertising, based on knowing where the participants in a messaging session are located, and even show a user the nearest places to buy advertised goods on the map when they click on an ad,” Quinlan explains.
  • Access to over 300 million existing Windows Live ID users worldwide immediately increases the reach of Multimap site to a much larger group of users and advertisers than they had previously.

Programming Environment

The integration of Windows Live Services was done using JavaScript developed on a Macintosh computer and debugged with Firebug.

Under the Hood

The code below illustrates how a Windows Live Messenger user can geotag themselves, and update their personal message by clicking on a map on multimap.com. This allows other users to see where they are on the Multimap website, and to start a Messenger conversation.

function addContextMenu()
  
{ MMWCore.UI.Mapviewer.map.addEventHandler( 'contextMenu', function ( type, target, menu, pos, step ){ items = [{ label :
 'Set your location on Live', onclick : function (){ setLonLatForUser( pos ); getPostCode( pos ); menu.remove(); }, 
className : 'MMaddmarker' }]; menu.addItemsJSON( items ); }); } function getPostCode( pos ){ $.ajax({ type: "GET", url:
 "ppc.htm?lat=" +pos.lat+ "&lon=" + pos.lon, success: function (response){ setPersonalMessage( response + " 
("+pos.lat+","+pos.lon+") http://www.multimap.com/maps/"); } }); } function setPersonalMessage( text )
{ MSLiveGlobals.user.get_presence().set_personalMessage( text ); }
Published Wednesday, June 25, 2008 2:57 PM by JonB