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Google Maps Integration

 
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Enthusiast
11 posts

New user and I’m really loving the product.

Currently S360 supports bringing up the Google map applet beside the address.

A couple of features I’d like to see added to this:
1) Would it be possible to generate a map with pushpins for all currently selected Contact / Company records?  This would allow one to spot contacts that are close together to plan site visits, customer calls, etc.
2) Assuming it would be possible to do this, would there be a way to select Contacts in a radius - i.e. within 25km of a specified contact and map those on the map?
3) Assuming #1 can be done, would it be possible to have different pushpin colours based on some chosen field value in S360 (e.g. Contacts with a Star (and without), Contacts with an active Opportunity record (perhaps colour based on expected close time frame or probability), Contacts with no activity in the past 30, 60, 90, 120,150 days, Contacts by “Assigned To” field.  Clearly, you;d need a legend beside the mapping to know what colour was what value, but this would be very useful.
4) Would like to be able to access Google Streetview from the same applets, even if you can’t do number 1 above.
5) Add a “snapshot” button that allows the user to take a snapshot of the current satellite view and ideally the Google Streetview and attach it (or even a link, as long as the view will be exactly as you’ve selected NOTE: we’ve had a number of rural clients where the lap location is wrong, but the customer tells you on the phone where to find it, so you want to make sure you go back to the same location exactly, if not allow you to save the actual image))to the client record as an image.  For anyone who calls on clients, this feature would be incredibly productive and an excellent differentiator for S360.
6) Allow two way integration that would allow the User to select the pushpins they want to visit (of course they could see the Contact data when they mouse over it) and in 360 this would sub-select the client list (so you could call them and see if you can schedule a visit) and then automatically go back to Google with selected Contacts and map the optimal route.
7) If you really want to go for extra points, consider exploiting some type of mapping feature that would help visually show demographic information - e.g. like the map that is in Google Analytic showing circles relative to Contacts in each city/area or in the attached Google video on this website:

http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/javascript/

What a great way to leverage tight integration with Google to really stand out.

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Administrator
3952 posts

These are some very insightful ideas. So far, however, we are not receiving many requests for Google Maps nor does it align with the next few steps with our Google Apps integration efforts. You’ve obviously put a lot of thought into this though and we appreciate it.

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Enthusiast
11 posts

I think there might be a lot more leverage than you think by making some minor enhancements to the Map integration.  E.g. leads may best be assigned by geography, I think it would be great to have Google Map integration.  A picture is worth 1000 words.

Any chance of at least doing partial integration based on setting push pins on a Map for selected “contacts”.

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Administrator
3952 posts

It is a cool idea, and it has been discussed, but nothing on the horizon.

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Lyncean
101 posts

Just my 2 cents…I’ve been wanting something that would map my clients all in one place so I could better plan my onsite visits to various clients either for bookkeeping or for QuickBooks training. Currently I can see one client at a time on maps. But being able to see several at a time would make it a lot easier to know how to schedule my visits. I’m sure there is software out there that can do this but it really isn’t a huge part of my business to justify spending a lot of money on it.