paul_r
8th January 2007, 04:18 PM
Many of you will want to put location information in your 'Contact Us' page. A map is always a big help and here's a great way to do it.
You can either include a map or link to it. Linking is my preferred way because users can then open the map in a new window, at any size they like.
There are a few options for providing links to online maps that users can then zoom in or out of to get the location and directions right.
I like the relatively new Google maps because they can be viewed as a traditional map, as a satellite image so you can see what the surrounding landmarks are, or probably best of all is a combination of both (Hybrid view) that is basically the satellite image with road names marked. However, Google doesn't cover all areas in as much detail as say Multimap so I'll show both here.
Google Map
To link to a Google map go to http://maps.google.co.uk/maps
Zoom and find your location or search for it using a postcode or address.
Select the map type you want in the top right of the map screen, e.g. 'Hybrid'
Just above that click on the 'Link to this page' link.
That will change the URL in the address bar from http://maps.google.co.uk/maps to something like http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=bt6+9hl&ie=UTF8&z=16&t=h&om=1&iwloc=addr which is the specific location on the map.
Copy that URL and link it to a suitable piece of text in your website, e.g. 'Click here for a location map' in your 'Contact Us' page.Then, when a user clicks that link a new window will open displaying the Google map with your location marked.
One limitation to note is that the Postcode may not always show up at exactly the right place on the map. In our case our postcode is displayed about 600 metres further down Montgomery Road on the opposite side that our true location. If that happens to you it's advisable to note that in the website beside the map link. Ideally there'd be a way to manually mark a specific location but if that's possible I haven't found it.
Multimap
Go to http://www.multimap.com
Enter the postcode (you need to pay a fee to use a specific address rather than just a postcode) and click 'Find'
This centres the map on your location and marks the spot with a red circle (a bit more accurately than Google in some cases).
Above the map click on the 'Link' icon.
This takes you to a page where you can enter your organisation's name and choose the default zoom level (the user can still zoom in or out when they open the map anyway). The Latitude and Longitude information will already be filled in for the location you entered at steps2/3.
When you click the 'Generate link' button you will be given HTML code that you can copy and paste into your site. If you want the actual map to display in your site page just use the full HTML code provided. If you prefer to use a text link use the same code but delete the <a href=" at the start and the </a> at the end.An example for Vi Sport below.
To include the actual map in the page use this HTML code:
<a href="http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?local=h&scale=10000&title=Vi%20Sport&lo n=-5.88481758998537&lat=54.5792050166227&icon=x">Vi Sport</a>
To link to text just text link to:
http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?local=h&scale=10000&title=Vi%20Sport&lo n=-5.88481758998537&lat=54.5792050166227&icon=x">Vi Sport
You can either include a map or link to it. Linking is my preferred way because users can then open the map in a new window, at any size they like.
There are a few options for providing links to online maps that users can then zoom in or out of to get the location and directions right.
I like the relatively new Google maps because they can be viewed as a traditional map, as a satellite image so you can see what the surrounding landmarks are, or probably best of all is a combination of both (Hybrid view) that is basically the satellite image with road names marked. However, Google doesn't cover all areas in as much detail as say Multimap so I'll show both here.
Google Map
To link to a Google map go to http://maps.google.co.uk/maps
Zoom and find your location or search for it using a postcode or address.
Select the map type you want in the top right of the map screen, e.g. 'Hybrid'
Just above that click on the 'Link to this page' link.
That will change the URL in the address bar from http://maps.google.co.uk/maps to something like http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=bt6+9hl&ie=UTF8&z=16&t=h&om=1&iwloc=addr which is the specific location on the map.
Copy that URL and link it to a suitable piece of text in your website, e.g. 'Click here for a location map' in your 'Contact Us' page.Then, when a user clicks that link a new window will open displaying the Google map with your location marked.
One limitation to note is that the Postcode may not always show up at exactly the right place on the map. In our case our postcode is displayed about 600 metres further down Montgomery Road on the opposite side that our true location. If that happens to you it's advisable to note that in the website beside the map link. Ideally there'd be a way to manually mark a specific location but if that's possible I haven't found it.
Multimap
Go to http://www.multimap.com
Enter the postcode (you need to pay a fee to use a specific address rather than just a postcode) and click 'Find'
This centres the map on your location and marks the spot with a red circle (a bit more accurately than Google in some cases).
Above the map click on the 'Link' icon.
This takes you to a page where you can enter your organisation's name and choose the default zoom level (the user can still zoom in or out when they open the map anyway). The Latitude and Longitude information will already be filled in for the location you entered at steps2/3.
When you click the 'Generate link' button you will be given HTML code that you can copy and paste into your site. If you want the actual map to display in your site page just use the full HTML code provided. If you prefer to use a text link use the same code but delete the <a href=" at the start and the </a> at the end.An example for Vi Sport below.
To include the actual map in the page use this HTML code:
<a href="http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?local=h&scale=10000&title=Vi%20Sport&lo n=-5.88481758998537&lat=54.5792050166227&icon=x">Vi Sport</a>
To link to text just text link to:
http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?local=h&scale=10000&title=Vi%20Sport&lo n=-5.88481758998537&lat=54.5792050166227&icon=x">Vi Sport