But first: What exactly is Map2app? Imagine a website that allows you to create travel apps for iPhone and Android with no tech knowledge, no need to purchase expensive software and/or hire an expert to do the job for you. In fact, imagine the app-version of WordPress. Map2app does for mobile apps what WordPress does for blogs: It makes content publishing easy, intuitive and free.
If you’re a travel blogger willing to make your debut in the mobile app arena, what you need to do is: Register for free on Map2app, open the AppCreator dashboard – from which you can insert and manage the content of your app – upload all the media you need and, when all the places, photos, videos and content are in place, access the Apps Section to request the publication of your app. Now that you have an idea of how Map2app works, here are 5 good reasons to use it:
- It’s free: There’s one catch, though: It’s free for independent authors (aka travel bloggers) while public institutions and travel publishers are required to pay to have their app published. The good news is that, probably, most of you who are reading this post are travel bloggers and can go ahead and publish your travel app. The app will then be distributed by Map2app either for free or at a set price and, in this case, the revenues will be shared with Map2app.
- It’s easy: Remember the first time you logged in to WordPress? Remember the old days when you didn’t have a clue about blogging? The first time you log in to your Map2app AppCreator, that feeling could come back, but only to disappear as you browse around. The interface is easy to understand: You start by creating the desired categories that will be the main menu of your app such as restaurants , hotels, outdoor spaces, shops, museums etc, you then insert the places of interests and, at this point, you can also add comments to each place of interest, as well as photos, audios and videos. When you are done, you can request the publication of your content.
- No need for notebooks: Map2app comes with its own travel app, called PlaceGrabber, which helps you collect and record places of interest while you’re travelling. To do so, you don’t need to be online, PlaceGrabber works offline: You can upload your content to your AppCreator dashboard as soon as a wi-fi is available – an extremely useful tool especially when you’re abroad – and you can then edit and add your content to your own travel app.
- It’s the future present: “Mobile traffic was only 1% of the Internet at the close of 2009. It has grown 10 times in 2 1/2 years” – as reported by Forbes’ editor Robert Lenzner recently. It is important to have up-to-date and quality content on your blog, but if you want to take it to a more professional level, a travel app could do the trick, making your activity as a travel blogger visible not only to your readers and followers but, hypothetically, to any mobile user looking for up-to-date mobile travel guides.
- It’s cool: As a travel blogger and journalist, I found Map2app to be a great idea, developed by a team of young Italians willing to make the design and distribution of a travel app easy and accessible literally to anyone.
This is my very personal opinion, but what about you? Have you ever thought about creating your own travel app? Would you use map2app?
Nice! I like the idea of creating my own mobile guide :) it looks like the Web world is transforming to mobile (finally). My question is: wWill there soon be billions of mobile apps in the app store like we have now billions of blogs & websites?
Hi Roser, it’s Pietro CEO at map2app.
Yours is a very good question! …and my answer is: YES! There will be.
This is what we strongly believe, the number of available apps have been doubling each year in the last 3 years and the growth rate is growing itself!
Human beings love abundance and choice, above all when we talk about virtual goods.
Today there are “only” 1.100.000 apps (iPhone + Android) while there are over 200.000.000 iPhones around (plus the Androids…) and – as you said – billions of web pages. Travel blogs are about 10.000.000 out of 450.000.000 blogs worldwide… we really think there is still a lot to do on the mobile side!
Why is PlaceGrabber only for the iPhone when Map2app is for both iPhone and Android? Would love to have that ability on my Droid!
Hi Jody,
you are right! We started PlaceGrabber as an experiment, not being sure if people would have used it.
We are now discovering that our Authors love PlaceGrabber and we are planning to release an Android version too. It will not be really soon but probably it will be available before Christmas.
In the meanwhile, I hope you will become one of our Authors anyway! :)
Cheers,
Pietro
Hi Roser, it’s Pietro CEO at map2app.
Yours is a very good question! …and my answer is: YES! There will be.
This is what we strongly believe, the number of available apps have been doubling each year in the last 3 years and the growth rate is growing itself!
Human beings love abundance and choice, above all when we talk about virtual goods.
Today there are “only” 1.100.000 apps (iPhone + Android) while there are over 200.000.000 iPhones around (plus the Androids…) and – as you said – billions of web pages. Travel blogs are about 10.000.000 out of 450.000.000 blogs worldwide… we really think there is still a lot to do on the mobile side!
Ciao Rachele, happy to read your post about Map2app on Travelllll.com (and that you became a author, well done!) Very proud that we had the chance to meet Pietro in Rome during the Travel Blogger Elevator in February 2012. I shall test it personally asap. I think Pietro (Ciao!) is doing an outstanding job. Forza Azzurri :-)
Ciao e grazie dei complimenti!! Feel free to play with map2app… and, if you like it, spread the word!! If you don’t, write me in private ;)
Fascinating, and well worth investigating. As for there being billions of apps – well, how many books are out there?
@Mike: think about how many trees we could save publishing our travel guides as apps rather than as books ;)
@ Michele: Ciao e grazie dei complimenti!! Feel free to play with map2app… and, if you like it, spread the word!! If you don’t, write me in private ;)
I don’t think guide books these days are causing too many trees to be felled!
The one about trees was just a joke!! …we will not save the planet by making apps instead of books unfortunately :(
Anyway, to answer your question about “how many books are out there”, check this out: http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2010/08/books-of-world-stand-up-and-be-counted.html
…very interesting ;)
Yes, I realise it was a joke, which is why I replied with a joke!
Ciao! I’m a travel blogger and I own TooMuchTuscany, a blog about unconventional Tuscany. I created and published 6 apps thanks to map2app. My guides are free and I get payed by advertisers. My first app was released in January and it’s close to 3000 downloads.
For me, map2app was a good opportunity!
Hi, I saw your travel guides… very good job! very professional and useful apps!!
…How much did it cost to create six apps? is it expensive? I saw you made them also for android… I think I will try to make my own ;)
Ciao Michael! Thanks for your appreciation. It really butters me up :)
There are a few choices for publishing your guides, but at first I suggest you do it for free. As a matter of fact you can publish your app on payment and share with map2app the revenues. I did so for the first two apps, because it’s much easier and you don’t have to worry about money, or at least about spending money ;)
If you need any further help don’t hesitate to contact me, I’ll be glad to answer any questions.
I look forward to receiving news of your app soon ;)
Thank you TooMuchVale!
It really looks like a great opportunity!
I tried the platform and it is very simple to use. In a couple of hours I had a first draft ready and I tested on my iPhone! I think I will make my first app as a Publisher, it is so cheap that I will give it a chance!
Ciao Micheal! Sorry I missed you answer.
Great idea to be a publisher, that’s what I’m doing now with my apps. You can get your money back with local advertising for example. What will be the subject of your first? Can you tell me or it’s a secret?
If you need any tip or suggestion I’ll be glad to help :) Just let me know
Hi TooMuchVale,
Thank you for your advises.
I lived many years in Santiago and I am thinking about creating a guide about “hidden gems in Santiago”.
…I will let you know more soon!
Cheers
Michael
This looks like a great resource! I can’t wait to try it!
You should! To help you to start with map2app we just published some video tutorials about different functionalities that we offer. Check them out at: http://map2app.com/en/support/tutorials.
…and if you want to help us, just spread the word among writers and bloggers ;)
Do the App’s work even when there is no internet / WiFi connection available?
Hi Cyril,
Yes it does!
All of our travel guides work offline. This means that all the content are stored on the phone and you don’t need any connectivity to read about places, watch pictures or listen to audios.
The only thing that is online is the map. We use Google Map in order to show the places around you and – unfortunately – you need connectivity for this.
Ciao Cyril,
I published 6 apps with map2app all about unconventional Tuscany. You can work offline while you’re traveling thanks to a special app they created that is called PlaceGrabber. It is very easy to use and it’s very useful because you can create your app on the go. For example last week I was in San Gimignano and find out a few things I didn’t include in my guide, such two belvedere and a tiny museum. So while I was at the first belvedere I took my iPhone, geolocalized myself, then took a picture and add a brief description of the point of interest. I did the same for the other points. Then the next day when I was home I uploaded the data directly onto the backoffice and updated my guide TooMuchSanGimgnano. Especially for me this function is awesome since there are so many places in Tuscany that aren’t on a map and working offline with Placegrabber makes my work much easier! If you have any question about my apps, don’t hesitate to contact me :)
TooMuchVale’s guides are noteworthy also because many of them are audioguide and this boosts them incredibly.
If you are thinking about making your guide consider adding audio content!
Are the apps available also for android tablets and iPad? If I publish as an author is there any map2app branding?
Hi Mike,
as to date we support iPhone and Android “small and medium” devices. We will release an iPad version hopefully in September, while for Android we do not have clear plans yet. Anyway, keep in mind that our Android client is very flexible and it adapts well to any screen dimension up to the Galaxy Notes, that is pretty big (though, not a tablet yet).
Ooops, I forgot to answer about branding:
If you publish as an Author your app will have a small “info” icon on the top right of the first menu. Once clicked, it will open a pop up with two sections:
- About map2app
- About the author (that’s you)
As you see we get some visibility, but we also give visibility to you!
Hi, this sounds great!
Can I have content that’s not on a map, too? say a list of recipes, or historic facts about a destination?
Hi,
sure you can, we already published apps that are not “map based”. If you want to see an example look for “Taste Turkey” on the Apple Store and Google Play, it is an app about turkish food and culture. Actually with map2app you can create apps that are lists of content and “content” can be places, events or stories. A story is just a text plus media (images, audio and video) so that you can make what you want of it!
Hi, it seems great!
I am interested in starting a fashion blog and I want to ask you how big the images must be? I am not really expert with the PC and I am afraid to have to cut & resize to fit my pictures inside my app. Moreover how can I be sure in Android and iPhone both display well?
Can you help me with this problem?
Hi Kate,
don’t worry about pictures size, you just need to upload them “big enough” and map2app will do all the cutting and cropping needed.
Images should be at least 1280×800 in order to have a good definition on any screen size.
You can test your app anytime while you are creating it, both on Android and iPhone so that you will see how it performs on different devices.
happy map2apping! ;)
Ciao! I wish I had your PlaceGrabber when I visited Italy last year!
I have one question, is it possible to have an offline map in the app. One problem with similar platforms like Mobile Roadie is that they are very internet dependent so an offline map is out of the question but for a traveling app this is very important because of the high cost of the mobile internet when you go abroad. Also regarding this, is it possible to use custom maps like the ones provided by OpenStreetMap?
Hi Huan,
unfortunately we do not support offline maps yet!
We know it is something important especially while you travel but as to date we support google maps only.
You are not the first one to ask us for this feature and we are seriously considering it! By the way, it is something “really big” that will involves both the clients and the AppCreator, for this reason we don’t plan to release it before Christmas!
Rachele, thank you for this interesting article!
I am trying map2app in these days to create an app that shows our WiFi hotspots (we are an Internet Service Provider) and I love it! Great resource! Thanx for sharing
Ciao Antonio,
please get in touch if you need any help. I like your idea above all because is something that is not strictly a travel guide but still could be very useful for people who are looking for a wifi connection.
It would be great id I could add also RSS feeds to my app. Is there a way to do that?
Antonio,
you can easily do that. When you create a new category just select the RSS radio button and paste the URL of your RSS.
That is all you have to do ;)
thanx a lot!
You are welcome, happy map2apping
That’s nice! I just downloaded Place Grabber, I have a question: can I save some places with placegrabber and then organize them in different category after I uploaded everything my map2app account?
Hi Simone,
sure you can! When you upload content from placegrabber it will be saved in one category called “from mobile”. Then, once logged in to the AppCreator, you can drag and drop your places from this category to any other category.
Pretty soon we will allow you to see your categories from placegrabber so that you will be able to save content in the right category from within placegrabber.
What about the possibility of using inside maps? for example for museums and trade shows
At the moment this is not possible, but it is something we thought about and could add to our pipeline soon.
This sounds really good though! I have just one question: if I do publish an itinerary for example, does you get ownership over that? Or is it still my material that I can post on my own website as well?
Hi Sara,
We claim no intellectual property rights over the material you provide to the Platform. Your profile and materials uploaded remain yours. However, by using the Platform to create your App, you agree to allow others to view and share your Content.
Of course you can keep posting your material wherever you want!
So if I have purchased the rights to some audio for my app, I can’t use your system because someone else would also have access to that audio and be able to use it? Which would break my licensing agreement with the artist. Does this work the same way in the premium accounts? I guess I’m not really sure what you mean by view and share Content? If someone creates a successful app, what is to stop someone else from using their content and creating something similar… but not exactly the same?
Looks great and easy to use. Are you thinking about sharing some info from your app into facebook wall? I think it could be usefull to promote the app
Hi Francis,
you will soon have soon a nice surprise!
We are adding social features to our app. The first one – that we will roll out in few days – is the “content sharing button”, i.e. a button that allow you to share and comment a place
Wow! That’s cool and impressive! .. I will have a look and I will write about it in my blog!
Thank you Miguel for the support!
This app made me so, so sad – and happy, all at the same time! Sad because the basic idea was one that my wife and I had been discussing for the last month. As usual, someone else has already done it! But happy because you did this in such a way that I can still take advantage of it and even make some money along the way. How cool is that?
The next question is … which travel guide service will buy you out first? lol