Posts Tagged ‘car’

We’re assuming that most of our readers are aware of something called Google streetview by now (if not, then where have you been?). Anyway, as you will (or won’t) know… it’s a handy feature of Google maps that allows you to view 360 degree panoramas of a particular street or location… all very cool stuff!

Google streetview started in the US a year or so ago… and up until now, only a few major cities across Europe have been photographed.

In order to create the interactive panoramas, Google have invested in a number of especially adapted (rather wacky looking) vehicles with something that looks like a cross between a PA system and a speed camera strapped to the roof. Eagle eyed spotters might have seen some of these cars in the UK … and the good news is that in time, all of the major cities (and maybe a few of the minor ones) will be snapped.

Whilst the UK version of streetview hasn’t officially been released, a new site has been launched that uses the technology (we think it might actually be Google behind the site… using it as a testbed prior to a full launch).

So if you fancy yourself as a budding taxi driver, or you’d simply like to take a virtual tour  of London, then why not visit the Seety site? Once there, simply click on the street you would like to view and interactive photo will pop up.

If you’d like to know more about streetview, you can check out the video tutorial below. We’re not big fans of lycra, we’re not fans or the colour orange… and we’re especially not fans of orange lycra, but if you can stomach the presenter’s tight fitting outfit, then it’s not a bad intro!

Via the Londonist

Although we’re based in Surrey, we often need to travel to London to meet clients etc. Whilst we prefer to take the train, there are some instances when we simply have to jump in a car. Off peak, the journey normally takes around an hour but (as anyone local will know) it only takes a minor incident (such as a broken down vehicle) to significantly delay the journey.

There are several major routes we can take into the city (A316, A3, M4 etc) so it’s handy to know if there is a problem in advance (so we can add journey time or choose an alternative route). Before we set off, we like to check out the route using live traffic webcams. This may sound like a time consuming process, but in fact, it takes nothing more than a couple of mouse clicks.

In addition, we can also check road conditions for colleagues or clients on the road. If they call to advise us that they’re “stuck in a jam”, we can look at other routes, and suggest those that are less congested.

The two main webcam sites for London are Transport For London (which is navigated using a user friendly map) and BBC London Jam Cams (where camera locations are listed alphabetically). Both sites use the same cameras, and display a still image taken usually within the last 5-15 minutes. In our experience, the TFL site is the easiest to use, and seems to be updated more frequently.

Whilst we’ve focussed on London in the above example, there are also many other other areas with live traffic cameras. KeepMoving.co.uk shows a map of England, split by region, and shows both city and motorway cameras. The BBC also has good coverage, and covers most major cities (including Scotland and Wales):-

BBC England webcams

BBC Scotland webcams

BBC Wales webcams

If there isn’t a camera listed for your route, then a quick Google search for “live traffic camera” (followed by the place name) should reveal what you’re looking for.

Also, as an added bonus, if you are familiar with Yahoo widgets or the Mac dashboard, you can download widgets and configure these to show cameras of your choice using a single keyboard button press. For example, the London cameras can be found at:-

London Traffic Cameras (Yahoo widget)

London Jam Cams (Mac dashboard widget)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The past 2-3 years have seen massive growth in GPS navigation. Most people we know (clients, friends, and family) have either purchased a ’satnav’ or are planning to do so. Whilst the market for these devices may be reaching saturation, the opportunities for marketeers, are only just starting to come to fruition. For instance, leading manufacturers ‘TomTom‘ recently introduced an ‘add to TomTom’ button for business websites, stating:-

“Put an ‘Add to TomTom’ button on your website and customers can instantly download your business addresses onto their device. It takes minutes to install the button using the easy-to-follow wizard and it’s free”.

Here’s the button we’ve created for blue sky (we’ve also added this the ‘contact‘ page).

The ‘button’ could be a really useful tool for larger companies with multiple branches (e.g. restaurant chains) where the user could potentially download all of the branch addresses and save them as ‘favorites’ in one step (alleviating the need to manually search for addresses and type in postcodes).

The ‘Add to TomTom’ button could also be useful for smaller businesses (an idyllic country pub that’s tricky to find for example)… or those aiming specifically at the motorist (e.g. independent garages).

The opportunity is not just limited to retailers however. Brand owners or product distributors could also use this feature in conjunction with their ‘find your nearest stockist’ page of a website… directing consumers to the relevant locations, in turn driving footfall for retailers.

In our view, the implementation isn’t as quite as straightforward as tomtom make out. We’re assuming that most of our readers will not have access to their website’s files (or even if they do, it is unlikely they will start wanting to edit HTML code – the language used to construct web pages)… so really this a job for your web designer. That said, it’s pretty simple task for a web designer to undertake (so don’t let them charge you a fortune!).

Another feature TomTom is promoting (and this is something we really like)… is integration with Google Maps. Simply search for a business on your office PC for example, and it’s location can be downloaded on to your TomTom device. Click on the video below to see this in action.