Recently I’ve found a new obsession. Right on the heels of my 30Boxes experience I came across a service called CommunityWalk. The concept behind CommunityWalk is simple but very powerful. The services allows people to create map based communities.

Like Frappr!, CommunityWalk leverages the Google Maps API to allow users to create custom maps that they can share with a larger group. Unlike Frappr!, you can add items to your map by simply clicking on a location as well as by entering a street address. That’s not the only neat feature though. Items added to the map can be categorized and color coded, making it easier to find specific groups of locations later. Each map contains a legend and a filter to allow the user to view only the categories that interest them.

When adding items to the map you also have a nice array of choices to spice up each addition to your map. Each item allows for a title, description, link and photos. Users can upload photos to be associated with a particular map item or they can capture photos from Flickr. When a visitor to the map clicks on an item they will see thumbnails of the photos along with the standard title and description. Individual photos can be enlarged to allow the visitor to get a good look. Head over to this link to see an example of this functionality.

Another feature of CommunityWalk that has me excited about the possibilities for this service involves the ability to embed links to media or web pages right into the description field. This feature allows a user to associate rich media that can greatly enhance the experience for map visitors. Here’s a practical usage example. If you’re a podcast producer who does frequent soundseeing tours you could use this map to annotate locations of those tours. Each location could have a link to your soundseeing tour where that particular location is mentioned. Click here to see and example of how I’ve linked to a soundseeing tour of the NY Public Library.

The custom maps that you create each have their own unique URL, so you have the option of linking to your map from your website or blog. There are also options to embed different sizes of the map directly into your web page using an iframe. Map visitors also have the option of adding items to the map or commenting depending on the choices made by the map owner in the map configuration. The CommunityWalk blog also has instructions on how to add a version of the map to your Google start page.

All of this is excellent but are there practical applications for business? In my opinion there most certainly are. Anyone involved in real estate or travel should consider creating maps to educate people on areas specific to their business. Companies could use maps like these to provide an interactive graphic representation of their locations around the world. Educators could use these maps to enhance geography lessons. Entertainers could use something like this to list upcoming shows. After all, if a picture is worth a thousands words then an interactive picture is probably worth a whole lot more.

The service could use some minor upgrades to make it a bit more user friendly for inserting embedded media into map items. And service can be slow at times due to the influx of new users recently. The service also lacks support for RSS syndication of the items on a map. I’ve corresponded with CommunityWalk founder Jared Cosulich and he has informed me that there are plans for a number of upgrades to address these issues.

Jared should be commended for his efforts in making the CommunityWalk concept into a real and valuable service for business, educational and recreational users alike. I have no doubt that the service will improve in coming months and look forward to seeing how that progresses. In the interim, I suggest that you browse over here to see what I’ve been working on. And in the meantime think about what maps you could be creating with this exciting new service.
[tags]Social Media, CommunityWalk, Mapping, Google Maps[/tags]