Door Aljan Scholtens op 16 July 2024

For the tech-savvy and the innovators – here are the tips for map makers who want to get everything out of their map.

After a strong start with your interactive map and the handy tips and features you’ve already used, it’s time to take it to the next level. Turn your interactive map into an innovative and professional part of your marketing – to reach even more people and get them moving. We share our ultimate tech tips and features with you.

Master Your Map?

Before you start expanding your interactive map, it’s a good idea to review the basics. We’ve outlined those in Part 1 for you in this post, the first blog of this two-part series. If you’ve been working with Wolf Maps for a while, read on and use our tips as inspiration.

1. Share Your Map with the World

Wolf Maps is not an app, but a web app that runs in the browser. This makes your interactive map very easy to share with users. Sharing can be done in various ways. You can embed your map on your website, use QR codes in all sorts of creative ways, and create and share very specific URLs for a particular target audience or event. We cover everything about it in this blog.

2. Connect Your Map and Expand Your Database with Integrations

Want to make it even easier for visitors to navigate between different locations, parks, and events in a certain region? Connect your map with other map makers. Together, you add more depth to your map. Trust us, this makes your users even more excited. Who wouldn’t want limitless enjoyment?

In addition to interconnections, you can now also create a link with Open Data Platforms. This allows for better collaboration among providers, for instance if you’re creating a map for the same province or region, or targeting the same audience. With such a connection, you can add existing locations to your map with the press of a button.

3. Analytics and Heatmaps

Of course, you want to know exactly for whom and why your map works best. Knowledge is power. We provide reports with insights on how often, where, and when your map is used. For real-time insight, for example during an event, you can deploy our heatmaps. We collect the data ourselves, without help from giants like Google. Festival Oerol uses the heatmaps to monitor where it has been (too) crowded at any given moment. Stats and heatmaps are therefore crucial information, also for ensuring safety during an event or festival.

4. Advanced Management

With these insights from statistics, you can further improve your map. In principle, every location gets an equal chance at visibility because we work with random displays that vary, for example, per user or session. However, you can prioritize popular locations or destinations based on popularity or relevance.

If a small area is extremely crowded with hotspots, we stack the pins. It sounds very fancy, but it simply means that we cluster all the pins while still making it clear that there is much more to discover.

5. Unique Routes

We love dynamism and are always looking for every possible way to enhance user interaction. Of course, with our maps you discover the world around you. But there’s much more! And you’re in control. You can not only share information about a location but also draw specific walking or cycling routes. Manually, by creating your own route, or imported from existing sources. You can even add audio clips that play automatically within a certain area, frame, or range. This way, you not only explore the surroundings but also listen to the most beautiful stories.

6. Collaborating with Users

In Wolf Maps, the environment comes to life – and sometimes you need your users for that. For example, when dealing with environmental management, a changing neighborhood, or simply because you value your target audience’s opinion. You can easily collect suggestions from your users. Just look at how Eet Lokaal does it. They now have an extensive interactive map featuring local, pesticide-free, and green farmers, gardeners, and food producers.

7. Connecting with the Neighborhoods

A visitor deserves to enjoy everything the surroundings have to offer without limits. Sometimes multiple maps emerge for areas, parks, or locations that are close together. Some providers – such as Amsterdam Area – choose to link maps together to strengthen one another and to broaden their area marketing efforts, while still allowing visitors to use your individual map. After all, a good neighbor is better than none… well, you get the idea.

With these seven features, we promise your interactive map will be a huge success. And of course, our list of features will only continue to grow. Check out that list here. Need a little help implementing these features? Or have any questions? Email aljan@wolfmaps.com.