Just in case you hadn’t noticed maps and navigation by means of electronic media has become a major business. The first major step in this revolution resulted from the satellite navigation system developed initially for the US military and enabling soldiers to pinpoint exactly where they were in terms of a six figure grid reference during the first war in Iraq. Essentially there were a series of satellites in geo-stationary orbit all broadcasting their precise grid reference and a navigation system triangulates its position by constantly interrogating these.
Pretty soon the commercial aspects jumped on this and “sat navs” became hot devices for maritime vessels. Rapid development followed from it being a numeric display on a screen to it actually being a moving symbol on an electronic map with a spoken voice giving on a screen and became the status symbol in motor cars. As one knows many high end vehicles now offer Satellite Navigation as standard equipment.
In the meantime the software for PC’s was becoming more and more competitive with Google Earth, Google maps etc being taken on by Windows Enterprise which is mixed up with the Bing search engine. Now while that was happening technology exploded with smart phones and navigation apps on the iPhone and Blackberry and pretty soon on Android devices all over so navigations and maps became freely available for anyone with any form of smart phone or mobile device such as a tablet. And if that tablet has 3G it could be used as a “Sat Nav” device.
Well cool you may ask. What does this do for me and my business. Well essentially on its own very little. However you need to consider the following factors:
• Your customers are so used to maps and navigation systems by now that it is always a good idea to give them precise and graphic directions to your location.
• The software available nowadays will display a street view photo of your premises so the client knows what to look for when he gets there.
• Your physical address, Zip code and phone numbers are displayed below the photo.
• It has a full link to your website.
• And most importantly many of your competitors are likely to have similar displays on their websites.
So it now becomes almost essential that if you wish for your customers to locate your premises you must reach out to their homes and physically lead them into your premises. Well yes indeed that is what it means and you can bet that if the older generations of business owners could have done so they would have. No longer do you need to worry about not being found or your customer getting lost or sidetracked on his way to you but with a few very smart tweaks you are reaching people and leading them in.
Bing Maps offers many other advantages and if you are unsure then you should have a discussion with Softline Solutions who can show you precisely how this facility can benefit your business and can embed Bing Maps onto your website.
