GeoGuessr

GeoGuessr is a geography game which takes you on a journey around the world and challenges your ability to recognize your surroundings.  It's a simple yet addictive
use of Google Maps & Streetview.  Here's how it works, you're dropped into a random location on Google Street View and you have to guess where in the world you are.  Pan, tilt, and zoom around your Streetview location to help you narrow down your location then plot where you think you are on the map.  You are awarded points based on how close your guess was to the actual location.

While this has nothing to do with advertising, you can imagine how hotels, airlines or other travel brands in particular could use this as a compelling way to show off various destinations that they serve as well as run a competition.  I wouldn't be surprised if we see this idea co-opted by a brand in the near future.  Check out a walk through video below or head on over to GeoGuessr to play.





Posted by: Reuben Halper

A Man Like Me In A Place Like This

Here's a fascinating usage/display of personal location tracking.  Rather than place himself on a flat map a la Foursquare, Facebook Check-In or Google Latitude, Tristan Smith has used Google Streetview in combination with Google latitude to show his current location in a way that closer represents reality.  As the about section of A Man Like Me In A Place Like This site describes:

Fame or Privacy. (Not Both.)

By combining data from Google Latitude and Google Streetview, this site introduces a new form of self-surveillance: An almost livestream of the creator's location using Google's extensive photo database.

Both a digital nod to the graffiti tradition of "_____ WAS HERE" and a new form of life sharing.

"A Man Like Me In A Place Like This" asks the question, "just how much of our experience are we willing to put on display?"

See below or head on over to A Man Like Me In A Place Like This to check it out yourself

SafeStyle Windows - Secret Door

You don't need to be a big brand or have a huge marketing budget to create an amazing digital experience.  Case in point, see this beautiful and delightful experience created by Safestyle UK.  Safestyle are 'the largest independent company in the UK that provides top-quality, affordable uPVC double glazed windows, doors, French doors, sliding patio doors and composite doors.'  Perhaps not the most obvious candidate to create an immersive experience using Google Streetview, but that's the power of the web.  It democratizes marketing and provides the means to reach a tremendous audience without needing a massive budget (case in point see Dollar Shave Club or Orabrush on YouTube).   Interestingly, I've read articles that indicate that this is an SEO play by Safestyle UK to maintain it's organic search position.  Whatever the objective, it's a lovely experience for the user.

But I digress...the idea behind the Secret Door is that you step through it and are transported to some of the 'most quirky and interesting places Google Maps has to offer.'  The experience is essentially a curated version of Google Streetview (both indoor and outdoor) and provides serendipity and delight as you allow the Secret Door to take you to various places around the world.

Additionally the site can be embedded around the web, ensuring the experience can be spread far and wide.  So have a play around with the experience which is embedded below.

The Secret Door is presented by Safestyle UK

KLM - Must See Map

For the past couple years, KLM has been setting the bar in terms of how an airline should behave in the digital space.  Recently there was an excellent article about their approach to digital on Think With Google (article is here).  Almost every campaign includes a service design element where they attempt to enhance the user experience either before, during or after the journey.  The latest from KLM is a tool called Must See Map, which uses a custom Google maps implementation to allow travelers to create a personalised map for an upcoming trip.  That functionality alone can be done with the standard Google Maps functionality.  However, Must See Map allows users to invite Facebook & Twitter friends to suggest places to visit and directly add their suggestions to your map.

It's a really nice execution driven by the insight that travelers most often look to friends for suggestions of places to go and things to check out when planning a trip.  Those suggestions typically come in the form of e-mail or social networks posts, so KLM is eliminating the pain point of having all those suggestions in e-mail or list form by enabling your friends to input them directly.

My favorite part of this whole experience is how KLM is bridging the digital and physical worlds.  Once your map is complete, KLM will send you a hard copy of the map within three weeks.

Check out the explanation video below.  Anyone know the agency behind this?

UPDATE: This was created by the good people at Code D'Azur.

Volkswagen - Street Quest

I don't know if it's just an American thing, but I have vivid (and often painful) memories of long car trips playing punch buggy with my brother.  Note: for those of you who have never heard of Punch Buggy; it's a children's game where whoever spots a VW beetle first shouts 'punch buggy, no punch backs' and gets to punch the arm of the person next to them.  See wiki entry here.  Now Volkswagen South Africa & Ogilvy Cape Town have created a contest that brings Punch Buggy into the digital world (minus the pain)

The campaign features a nice integration of Google Street View & Facebook.  Over the course of a month, users are challenged to find and pin as many VWs as they can find on South African  roads in Google Street View.  Each week, the user who pins the most will be flown to Cape Town for a final showdown with the other winners.  They'll then go forth into the real world to spot the most VWs to win the grand prize.  See below for more details or have a play for yourself here.

Uniqlo Undercover

I love seeing innovative uses of the Google Maps interface (such as Levi's Roadwear covered here a few months ago).  Uniqlo has recently partnered with Japanese fashion brand Undercover and their 'UU' website launched a month or so back.  The site uses Google maps as the mechanism to browser the whole product collection.  As you can see from the walk through below, you can zoom in further and further to go from big (and random) pictures to product details on individual garments.  You can also turn on and off different maps layers that will organize the collection by area (mens, babies, etc.), show social comments about the collection or take you to a store locator layer.  Just a great use of a navigation interface that we're all familiar with as an innovative way to show off the entire collection.

Have a play around with it yourself art the Uniqlo Undercover site or see the video capture below.

Additional Articles: FastCo | TheFWA

Google Maps Cube

Back in January Google released this delightful video to promote Google Maps.  It features a wooden block 3D labyrinth of a cityscape that's suspended and rotated to show off a physical representation of navigating via Google maps.  At the time it promoted a beautiful HTML5 walk through of Google Maps, but it always struck me as surprising that there was no digital execution to match.  Fast forward a couple months and now we see the release of Google Maps Cube.  It's a fun WebGL based game/Chrome Experiment that allows users to experience different map based challenges.  The experience digitally replicates the metal ball in a wooden maze-type tilt games while promoting different features and functionality of Google Maps.

Have a play around:  http://www.playmapscube.com/

via Leon Bayliss