MapQuest for AppExchange

MapQuest recently released a mapping application on AppExchange. This is a free application that lets you map an Account or Contact (like you would using the default link to Yahoo! Maps), but adds a cool new feature on the landing page that allows you to find nearby Accounts and Contacts. Pretty slick. Chris Kramer has a good write up on it here.

This obviously has some overlap with the mapping work I do with Salesforce.com and Google Maps and it also attacks it in a different way.

I can think of many possible approaches towards mapping data and many different user experiences Salesforce.com users would enjoy. How do you choose one?

What do you think? What would you like to see in an application that maps Salesforce.com data? How would you design it?

1 Comment

  1. Chris Kramer Said,

    November 13, 2006 @ 1:23 pm

    Thanks Scott – The Mapquest application certainly isn’t perfect but it is a great start that hopefully others will improve upon. A few things immediately come to mind:

    1. Mapping must extend to leads – I’m amazed that Mapquest didn’t think of this
    2. You should be able to perform custom searches. For example, show me all contacts / leads / accounts within 50 miles of zip code 12345.
    3. You should be able to start with the map view (like your application does) and drill down to see accounts within by region.
    4. Ability to enter a “home” or starting point so you can easily get directions or find contacts near your current location.

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