Location or navigation map?
Should you use a location map or a navigation map in your marketing materials, website, social media, etc.?
Location or context map
A location map shows your customers or clients where you are and gives them spatial context for your location. At a glance they can see where your business or organization ir located, and any surrounding information you wish to show.
For example, your location map can show nearby streets, restaurants, parking lots, shops and services, transit stations, and more.
Left to right:
Locator map for Guardian Veterinary Specialists
Area map for Beach Vibe Rentals & Sales, showing their location
Location of rental properties in Montreal for CAPREIT
Navigation or route map
A navigation map shows people how to get to your location. This can be an interactive map, like Google Maps, where people enter their location with your business as the destination, and the app suggests ways to get to you.
Another version of a navigation map is a route map. You often see these in walking tour maps, with lines and arrows suggesting routes between points of interest.
Right: Indigenous bike tour – designed by Kitchener Public Library and Archaeological Research Associates
Or add an interactive map
In a previous newsletter, I talked about a few options for adding interactive maps to your website. Those function as context and navigation maps. Many businesses have embedded Google Maps on their websites, zoomed in to their locations, and those can be customized to show only what you want to show. Often you can click on the map to open the full interactive map, which allows you to get navigation directions.
Questions?
Not sure what kind of map will work for you? Contact me for a free, no-obligation consultation to talk about your project. My business exists to make sure you get the map you need, whether or not I create it for you. So if I can’t help, I’ll point you in the right direction!
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