Last night it struck me. A light bulb moment. I realized what Uber & AirBnB’s success is built around.
I was watching my wife on her iPad, looking at where to stay in Paris, and how we might get around while in England. AirBnb and Uber were her two areas of focus. The new modern way to plan accommodation and arrange travel. There were lots of variables being considered:
- Where should we stay with easy access to the ‘places to see’ in Paris?
- Where are the most affordable, nicest looking, and available places to stay?
- Where are we travelling from and to in England, and what is the most affordable, easiest option based on these routes?
I saw descriptions, pictures, others comments on their experience. All terribly important. But what stood out for me was my wife’s constant reference back to the embedded map in both the AirBnb and Uber mobile sites. My wife needed answers to ‘the where’.
Uber & AirBnB success is based on maps. Sure we can talk about the marvellous way they gather together in one place all your travel options. How we can search, review, and compare. But the maps and answers to the where that AirBnb and Uber provide, are the building blocks of their respective success.
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Long awaited monster movie Kong: Skull Island hits theaters on March 10th, 2017. Universal Pictures and Legendary joined forces with Google Maps team to promote the event in an interesting geo way – they’ve added the location of the King Kong’s island to Google Maps.
The Skull Island is located south of the equator in the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, there is no actual land but just a point in the middle of the ocean, categorized as an “archaeological site”.
The site allows people to post their own photos and write reviews of the location and so far over 7,000 people have done it.
Pretty cool way of using Google Maps for marketing campaigns.
