Build maps and make money from what you enjoy

Start with “Why”

Many Mapotic users create maps in order to map what’s important to them, or they want to share it with others and connect with people with similar interests.

A number of books have been written on the subject of successful projects and business, not only in the world of startups. One of the most famous books is Start With Why by Simon Sinek. It describes how to successfully carry out a plan of whose mission you are so internally convinced of that you are able to overcome all possible problems and failures on the way to the goal.

Other important guidelines are, for example, a Lean Canvas (or a Value Proposition Canvas), which will help you summarize your ideas, compare your idea with other existing projects and also give you a basis for possible future negotiations with project sponsors, partners or investors.

What type of projects is Mapotic suitable for?

Most long-term prosperous and active projects can be divided according to the motivation for their establishment into the following groups:

• hobby mapping,
• preparation and search of information for trip planning,
• monitoring socio-economic and environmental problems and visualizing their occurrence on a map,
• mapping of places important for a certain human activity,
• creating maps combining supply and demand,
• visualization of data that is important for business or entrepreneurship.

We have been involved in the creation of dozens of projects in which the map plays a key role. Many of them have been successful from the very beginning, others have failed to start. Their authors mostly ran out of enthusiasm and strength before they managed to activate the target community. Another type of maps are the so-called “one-time ones”: e.g. trip planning, activities during your stay on holiday (visits to monuments, entertainment events …), etc.

We have noticed that long-term successes often have several characteristics in common:

• Behind the project is a person, community or organization that has been dedicated to the area for a long time and is very enthusiastic.
• From the map, these administrators need more than just to display points – most often the involvement of users in the creation of content or the possibility of evaluation, a more complex structure of information, categorization and filtering of places, etc.
• Over time, new content is added and old content is updated regularly.
• The map serves external or internal users for better decision-making, whether around leisure activities, environmental or business issues.

Mapping the competition

The first step before starting most projects is to search for similar projects and competition. Depending on the type of project, search locally within your own area/state, or look for larger projects around the globe.

To find out how your competition is doing, Google is all it takes to get started. Asking the right questions about your project topic will guide you to what you need to know. It is also suitable to use comparison platforms such as ProductHunt or AlternateTo, etc. Write down everything that is directly or marginally related to your project and examine the best ideas of the competition in detail – you should find plenty of reasons to start a new project or map. You can also use the above segmentation map or Lean Canvas.

Determining the size of the market

Furthermore, it is good to know in the given sphere how big the given market is, how many people (potential clients) can participate in it or how much purchasing power they have. This information will be especially useful when negotiating with potential partners, investors or competitors.

In addition to using search engines, it’s a good idea to go through Facebook pages and groups and get an overview of the biggest ones that somehow relate to your future project. These can serve as a good source of acquisition of people who may be interested in your project in the future. It’s good to know the biggest players in the industry or to think about who could benefit from the visibility of people and companies dealing with a given issue or activity. Manufacturers of goods or companies that would like to reach people from the group are looking for enthusiastic employees.

If you are looking for external financing of the project, potential sponsors or investors are likely to be interested in more information about the size and possibilities of advertising or brand visibility. Therefore, you should definitely not underestimate the preparation of presentation materials.

Do it with your heart and with full commitment

Many creators of successful maps have been active in the field offline and online for a long time. In most cases, they have a strong bond with this topic, are dedicated to it and approach spreading the knowledge in this field as their mission. (see Start with why).

Put together quality content that will interest people

We do not recommend copying texts, it is always better to have new, unique or to at least copy similar ones in your own words. Also take full advantage of all the possibilities that maps provide you – you can have many attributes and parameters for each place. In addition: the better you structure the information, the better visitors will be oriented in the map and the more the map will be visible in search engines.

Read also: Tips on how to set up your new map.

Before you show the map to others or start spreading or sharing it, you need to reach a certain limit of “minimum attractiveness”. People are overwhelmed with information today, and if you show them an empty map with a nice name, they may support you with a kind word, but don’t expect them to start adding content (no one wants to be the first), rate it, or recommend the map to others.

Depending on the type of project, the map makes sense and benefits others if there are at least dozens, but rather hundreds of places. You can get them there either manually, or first prepare them in a table (xls, spreadsheet) and then import them. Maps or databases already exist freely for different areas of human activity and for different fields. Otherwise, the founder has stopped managing them, and then it’s worth contacting him and asking him if he would provide you with the data. It can then be imported into your map in Mapotic in bulk.

Attractive images or videos can raise the level of the map and bring more visitors. It can be inserted into the map directly from YouTube.

Video: How to batch import places into your map in Mapotic

Promotion or how to get the map among people

Whether you have a free map, a map on your own domain or a mobile application, in most cases you want it to reach as many people as possible. Try a few of our tips that can help you:

• Quality and unique content – will get you to a higher position in search engines.
• Social networks and groups – don’t spam groups, but contact their administrator. Ask them if they don’t like your project enough to link to it in the group.
• App Store – a good name, screenshots and description on the App Store can bring you other users.

Impact measurement and useful statistics

Driving a project without statistics is like driving a car blindfolded. In order to take the right media and marketing steps, you need to know the traffic, the number of events that have taken place on your map, trends or reactions to sharing.

Sponsors and advertising

It is important to think about why the sponsor or partner should contribute to the project. Usually it is visibility in front of the right target group or a contribution to the right project, which can be used in media communication and promotion. In this way, it is possible to improve brand awareness among existing or new clients.

The logo of the sponsor or partner can be placed in the header of the site or implement it more sophisticated when uploading the map in the background, or we recommend a decent placement “Sponsored by” under the project logo. In the premium version of Mapotic, you can, among other things, add the sponsor’s logo when uploading the map, to the project header, to the about page, etc.

Promotion is also possible directly at individual sites – within them you can link to related sites with greater commercial potential (e.g. eshop, etc.). Alternatively, it is possible to establish a special category for the sponsor for an agreed period of time. For example, you can add a special “Pilsner Urquell‎ for Refreshment” category on the bike route map.

Donation

The mobile application, in turn, allows you to run targeted advertising that is targeted to a specific space. We use Google Firebase and Adwords, so you can use the power of these tools. Links to services such as Double the Donation, Click and Pledge, Fundly can be placed in the project, the project can also be linked to crowdfunding and other platforms.

OCEARCH mobile app

Examples of successful inspirational map projects

Vozejkmap: web map and mobile application with more than 12,500 barrier-free places in the Czech Republic.

Mapko: map of places connected with composting and cultivation in the city. You will find everything from community gardens to a neighbor who will give you a few earthworms in your compost.

Swimplaces: map of non-traditional places for swimming in nature

Ocearch: application and web map for watching sharks live

Expats: map of Czech scientists abroad

Bitperia: map of traders in the Czech Republic who accept payments in cryptocurrencies

SentCrypto: a non-public map that the user can access after payment