Mapquest, Jim Greiner provides usear research findings

Mapquest, Jim Greiner, Sr VP and GM took the stage to discuss some recent Mapquest research/survey findings. He asks...what benefits users? Research findings recently conducted regarding online map users. Success factors and Mapquest research survey findings - demonstrate value to users, give user the control, reinforce the foundation, don’t just provide data but help them make a decision, evolve with your users. Once users are shown a benefit of use then they will adopt the technology – only 18% of users are using advanced imagery but 47% plan on increasing usage. Interest in personalization increased from 49 – 68% once given examples of usage. Giving the user control – people want to save addresses or planned routes; people want point and click routing, 59% would share their custom maps only with their trusted network but less than 22% would post publicly (blogs)… only 23% want to add photos to a map. Don’t just give data – people want more info like is a road a toll road and if so, how much does it cost. Incident records like accidents and historical records are of interest to the user and help them to make decisions. Evolving with users – 41% want to send maps and routes to a mobile - of note: Greiner did not discuss the new API in his presentation