Avenza Maps provides advantages to both businesses and map users by delivering a platform for highly customized maps on smartphones and tablets.
What is Avenza Maps?
Avenza Maps is a mobile map platform for distributing and displaying maps. It works with Android and Apple phones and tablets but not with desktop and laptop computers.
Avenza Maps simplifies the process for map creators to distribute their maps on mobile platforms, while providing users access to a diverse range of maps that surpass the content and design of native device applications. This dual benefit enriches maps produced for chambers of commerce, convention and visitor bureaus, hotels, resorts, and various other businesses.
Let’s explore these benefits.
Benefits for Users
Variety
Exploring the Avenza Maps Store reveals a diverse selection of maps for any given area, including those published by government entities, commercial organizations, and private individuals.
These maps differ from the standard Apple or Android maps preloaded on our mobile devices. They feature coverage areas, content, and graphic designs tailored specifically to user requirements, offering a more personalized experience than the generic maps provided by Apple and Google on our phones and tablets.
Curated Content
A principal advantage of many maps available on the Avenza Maps Store is their curated content. These maps feature selective information tailored to serve the map’s specific purpose.
A prime illustration is the map of a park or outdoor area. Locate a state or county park, and its Avenza Map will reveal intricate trails and park amenities not shown on Apple or Google maps. Such custom maps often feature storm shelters, waypoints, scenic spots, natural landmarks, tailored distances between specific points, and even emergency or survival details, providing information tailored to the user’s specific requirements.
For instance, a city map can be greatly improved with curated content from an Avenza Map. This curated selection of restaurants and attractions offers a more tailored experience compared to the seemingly arbitrary points-of-interest that Apple and Google maps display.
Benefits for Businesses
Incorporating a custom map from the Avenza Map Store can be advantageous for businesses ranging from hotels to attractions and state parks. The following are five primary benefits:
1. Promote Valuable Content
A personalized map can offer guests unique details that aren’t available on standard Apple or Google maps, such as tennis courts, swimming pools, saunas, restrooms, and grilling areas. Observe the comparison between the two maps; the custom map showcases an enhanced level of detail and a design that highlights the property’s amenities.
2. Avoid Adverse Content
Creating a custom map can prevent promoting competitors. For instance, a hotel with its own restaurant might prefer not to direct guests to rival dining establishments. Likewise, a chamber of commerce may choose to exclude non-member businesses from their maps.
Apple and Google maps may not be as selective. The custom map highlighted below emphasizes businesses, civic locations, and schools—elements that users typically seek. By comparison, Apple and Google maps display less detail and a seemingly arbitrary assortment of sites. They are designed for the general public, not specifically for the chamber’s audience.
3. Branding
Frequently, the websites of 5-star hotels and resorts feature a simple cut-and-paste Google map. However, this makes a poor presentation. Such maps can appear cheap, fail to display hotel-specific information, and often look bland.
Alternatively, a resort or hotel could commission a custom map that reflects its unique visual style, incorporating everything from branding (fonts and colors) to the company logo. A custom map can make all of this possible.
4. Off-Map Content
An additional advantage for users is the off-map content. While panning outside a designated area in Apple and Google maps only reveals more of the map, a custom map from the Avenza Maps Store can incorporate supplementary elements above, below, or surrounding the map. These can include a street index, a comprehensive list of schools complete with phone numbers, advertisements, photographs, artwork, and vital information about the region.
5. Live Maps
Using a custom map from the Avenza Map Store does not prevent users from viewing their live location on the map. In fact, the Avenza Maps app utilizes the GPS signal to display the location, which eliminates the need for a Wi-Fi or cellular connection during exploration.
Maps accompany us daily and are present everywhere. For individuals with unique requirements searching for specific types of maps, the Avenza Maps platform could be the ideal choice to deliver the content they truly need.
Businesses that provide maps to customers and guests can find added value in custom maps from the Avenza Maps Store, which offer benefits beyond what Apple or Google maps provide. Additionally, if a business commissions a printed map, the mapmaker can easily upload it to the Map Store, enhancing the value of the printed map for the business.
Explore our Cartagram Map Store to discover our offerings. Examine our Downtown Sacramento map and see how it stacks up against similar maps from Apple and Google.
