Map Your Billboards
By: Loy Ripple,
BillboardSpace.com
Google has a new mapping system called community
maps. It allows the users to input their own information onto a community map
and save the map.
This is a valuable free
tool for the billboard owner to map and locate his property with interactive
mapping. With this tool the billboard owner can create for free, unlimited
amounts of information about billboards that need to be sold, rented, or even
maintained by the billboard company. The results of this information can be made
viewable by the public or kept private. The map links created by the user can
also be saved and then the link to the map can be placed into an email or
embedded into the users’ website. See BillboardSpace.com for an example. This
user generated information saved onto the map shows up with a blue marker
instead of the typical red used for their normal mapping system.
If you do not have a Google
account it only take less than a minute to create one and get started with
interactive mapping. You can use this link to log in and get started from
BillboardSpace.com: “Map Your Billboards”
After logging in, go to the
top left hand corner of the map and click on “My Maps” which is just to the
right of the Search Results button. If you are not logged in click on “Create
new map” which will bring you to the login page. You will again click “Create
new map” after you have clicked the link you will notice below that you now have
a Title and Description block ready for you to input your information and below
that you can choose you privacy settings.
On the Google map itself you
now have some new buttons at the top left of the Map. Click once on the blue
marker that looks like an upside down tear drop. You can now drag and drop this
place mark where your billboard location is on the map. You should now see a new
window open with another Title and Description block for you to edit. You can
use plain, rich text, or html. I have found the rich text as easy as composing
an email. You can insert a picture and link to it also. I have linked my
billboard to my BillboardSpace.com site that has all the pertinent info for
would be renters to see. When you are finished click ok at the bottom then
click the “Done” button above the title you created to the left of the map.
Congratulations! You now
have linked your billboard to an interactive map which the whole world can see!
About the Author:
Loy Ripple was
inspired by the good people at
OutdoorBillboard.com to create his own site at:
BillboardSpace.com which is a free classified ad service for the outdoor
advertising media industry and operated by his company at:
FreewayBillboard.com
