Life In Leavenworth

No, I'm not talking about the federal penitentiary in the heartland of the US. I'm talking about a town that, in 1968, on the cusp of an implosion of the local timber industry, decided to take a different tack and focus on tourism and the creation of a unique destination.

And so we are here again. All told, I think this is my 5th trip to this sleepy town that hosts 17 major festivals a year and whose building code is pure Bavarian, literally. You can not tell from the Starbucks from the local pizza parlor from the McDonalds. Their brand trumps everyone else's and that is in writing.

So imagine my response as I open their brochure to look at their maps and what I see is something that is not unique, not distinguishable from any other destination and just not consistent with the level of thought and effort that they have seemingly put into every other aspect of this town.

Furthermore, take a look at their web site at http://www.leavenworth.org/ and they are a classic example of being a destination but not showing their customers where they are until they go to the "how to get here" page. Geographic context is again completely under-utilized and under-appreciated.

I am hopeful that someday they will get it as they (the people of Leavenworth) deserve it. And I think that SideStreet may play some part for, as I was reminded again today driving through the old downtown of Monroe, yesterday's Main Street is today's Side Street.

Oh my gosh, it's like being immersed in the brochure online!

So this past weekend I had the opportunity to participate in my first non-conference, the WhereCamp PDX event held at Souk (Old Town Chinatown).

It's one of those completely collaborative events (again, never been to one before) where the first hour is spent putting giant post-ups on the wall to brainstorm on topics, ideas and anything else that might be of interest to the group. You can actually visit the schedule (and a map of Souk) here: http://www.sidestreet.com/wherecamppdx/nonconf.html.

During the posting of ideas I volunteered one of my own (note that I am in a crowd of developers, coders, software engineers and that I was not overly comfortable nor confident in whether or not I had anything to add to this conversation). My Map, My Brand.

Simple, straightforward, but meant to not talk about me and SideStreet, but more about what is happening outside of Google Maps or whether or not everyone is relegated to Google Maps becoming the map brand... (all you graphic designers out there may as well start a new life).

So the conversation started off all over the board: discussing whether Google was a brand-neutral service or whether or not it over-shadowed the brand; why anyone would want to push branded content to the web; the cost-benefit analysis of any custom solution (including Google or Flash); the perceived need to require Geo-spatial accuracy and so on. Very educational to see what a simple topic could deliver!

But the point here came when a certain participant (let's call him Seeq) espoused his dependancy on Google Maps and Google Earth and that, at the end of the day, you needed to plug in a KML file to Google Earth to get data through that medium. (I was on a very steep learning curve here). When specifically asked about "branded content," Seeq commented that it held no value to him and that he was more focused on accuracy, immediate access to neighboring towns, destinations, etc.

At that point, another participant asked me to bring up an interactive map NOT of the Google kind: http://www.vashonmap.com/.

Seeq looked at the screen and without hesitating exlaimed: "Oh man, I love this, it's like being immersed in the brochure!"

The silence that settled while we all reflected on Seeq's response was exquisite (for me). His emotions just overrode his functional processes in a millisecond in the recognition that he was going to experience something different (i.e. not Google Maps). Check it out and see the power of branded content and the influence on even the most adamant technologist.

Understanding Your Own Limitations - Compete or Collaborate with 3rd Party Services?

Today I had an interesting exchange with the interactive manager of a large tourism bureau about maps. It was interesting in that they were releasing a new service called GoSeePortland and they wanted to know how they could work that service in collaboration with the SideStreet service.

The GSP service uses Google Mapping technology to, first of all, instantly access a huge standard database (but the last 3 recommendations I've made were new additions to that database. Interesting...). Using this technology, users can create on the fly tours that are instantly mapped out. Pretty cool stuff, and I will be the first to admit it.

However, that is not what SideStreet was designed for. SideStreet's basic assumption is that an organization has a custom map that, short of investing a lot into Flash development, they would like as an interactive part of their web site. By interactive I don't mean a "download" and I don't mean "indexed" (clicking on the map scrolls down to a specific section of the web site). By interactive I mean a dynamic information portal that enables me to discover and to explore and to find more than what I was originally looking for.

This is my first time in Portland so, please, someone, just tell me what the Top 10 can't miss attractions, to-dos, restaurants, etc. are in this fabulous town. I want the experts to guide me and then (this is important), then I want third-party validation from my peers (i.e. GSP).

But I digressed. The basic point was that SideStreet will take the custom map and turn it into the interactive "widget" that webmasters everywhere are looking for. Numbers are coming in from the first round of implementations and I may have to start using the word "uber-sticky" when talking about SideStreet's enabling technology.

And how is this relevant to GSP? We can actually build that content directly into the custom map. Top 10 things to do in Portland? All of which were validated by the tips and opinions of the GSP audience. I feel pretty good about what I'm going to do now (FYI, the Top 10 list involves a number of brewpubs).

This is where it can be really easy to try and take on the Big Kahuna, but, you know what? It ain't worth it. GSP can use Google Maps for all its worth, and you know what, to an extent it just makes sense. But that doesn't mean you can't integrate the content and have a series of social maps interlaced with maps of what the experts recommend. Heck, isn't that what they are being paid to do anyhow?