Now anyone can comment on marks (places/messages) on the map without needing to sign in. This turns all the marks into mini-blogs. One needs to login to add places/messages, but anyone out there can comment on those. Here is an example of a place where I added my comments: http://www.sadakmap.com/p/2007-Sawai-Gandharva-Music-Festival/
So blog-away on SadakMap…
Facebook users can now access SadakMap directly without having to register for an account at SadakMap. Facebook users can click on Login using Facebook to first login on the Facebook site and then be directed to SadakMap. This way, their userid/password are secure with Facebook (SadakMap never gets to see those - we dont even get to see your email address and would like to keep it that way).
So logging into SadakMap has become even easier - removing one barrier to making marks on SadakMap. We are working on similar integrations for Google/Orkut/Yahoo. We have also started thinking of friend-circle based features that can be useful on SadakMap (e.g. see on the map where your friends are, see what marks they have made, etc).
A new feature was released today that allows users to add places using Rich Text (word like formatting). When you go to add a place or edit an existing one (yeah, we managed to slip the edit-feature in as well), users are presented with a textbox with formatting links on the top. This will allow anyone to create a more appealing page than can be achieved using plain text. All the existing places have been updated to use this new format. Using this text editor, external images can also be linked. Checkout the SadakMap HQ link (http://www.sadakmap.com/p/SadakMap-Inc/).
This email was sent out to our beta community on our one month anniversary:
Dear SadakMap User,
Its been a little over a month since we launched SadakMap and we wish to thank our beta community for all the wonderful insights you have provided through either your direct feedback or through your usage of the site. We are excited with the controlled inroads we are making into the indian online community.
So far, over 90 marks have been made on the map. The honor of the most marks made on the map goes to our first featured user “Miki” (Check out Miki’s neighborhood: http://www.sadakmap.com/spotme/Miki) who added 22 places near Goa, prompting us to add “Goa” to our list of cities in the dropdown. We would like to thank “Miki” and would urge many more of you to similarly mark your neighborhoods up to show what a vibrant community you live/work in.
During this one month we have managed to generate some press and have got great feedback and referrals from these as well.
Among the new features we feverishly worked to add were:
1. Categorization: You are now able to select the type of the marker (Hotel, etc) when adding it (as pointed out by the post on InformationMadness we are working to enhance this).
2. Permalinks: Each mark on the map now has a Permanent URL (e.g. http://www.sadakmap.com/p/Gupte-Hospital/). So everytime you add something to the map, dont forget to note its Permanent URL. This is the easiest way to help point other folks to places of interest on the map. This will also help us get the places/posts you add noticed by search engines such as Google, Yahoo, etc. Basically, we have 90 Permanent Links on the site and the possibilities are endless, so keep adding.
Once again, we wish to thank each one of you in helping us morph into what SadakMap truly wishes to become, a community run platform. We will continue running as Beta for some more time before turning the tap on.
Regards,
Unmesh. Founder - http://www.sadakmap.com
SpotMeUrl: http://www.sadakmap.com/spotme/unmesh
I wonder if the “post messages on the map” feature could be used to bring to light the problems with civic issues (road conditions, infrastructure, garbage, encroachment, etc). All it takes is for users to start posting messages by clicking on the street/intersection/etc on the map where they see a problem. Now just imagine if along with the post, users could select color codes to indicate the severity of the condition. The result would be a color coded map that shows where most of the issues are in a city. The post message feature is available sans the color coding, so go ahead and start highlighting the civic issues in your city. If I see such messages showing up I will move the “color coding” up the requested-feature list.
The beta was launched on Aug 31, 2007. It felt like the site was ready 2 weeks ago, but all the “accessories” (faqs, contact forms, etc) took longer than expected. Anyways - its out now. Currently, enlisting the help of friends and family to give the site a test drive. The “SpotMe URL” has got quite a few folks excited. Get yours by simply registering for your free account. Make it your “digital business card”. Checkout my “SpotMe URL” for an example:
http://www.sadakmap.com/spotme/unmesh
The beta launch is focused on Pune, India. If you are not from Pune, you are welcome to use it for your own place as well. It will be fun to see markers popup on the map from around the world.
SadakMap resulted from the lack of ease in finding local information (businesses, public places, etc) when I moved to Pune, India. For that matter, this is generally true about any major metropolitan city in India. There are a host of providers listing pages and pages of information about the cities, but the traditional way in which this information is presented makes it difficult to use. If you are facing similar problems, wherever you are, then SadakMap.com is for you.
SadakMap was created to provide a map interface to browse for information. It is easy for people to relate to information displayed on a map and making it interactive makes the map come alive. Being a bandwidth intensive site, the target segment is expected to be those that have ready access to a fairly high speed internet connection.
There are 2 main elements to the site. The first, as discussed above, is about local businesses and public places. The user community would take upon itself to populate their locality with such places using the “Add Place” feature. Each such place gets a “review” capability where other users can submit their ratings and review comments.
The other main element of the site is the ability to post messages on the map. This would allow users to post questions/concerns by clicking on a certain location on the map. Other users in the locality, who would typically be best suited to provide an answer, would then respond to the original message. The “Discussion” tab allows for this functionality. The hope is that the user community would use this feature to bond within their localities and exchange information.
Google Maps provides a great backdrop for these features (this site is in no way affiliated with Google). The API’s are intuitive and there is a large community of users’ experiences to draw upon.
We hope you find this site fun and useful and we would love to hear from you.
