Users of the Toronto and Vancouver city guides on Canada.com can literally put their favourite places on the map – along with pics, video and opinions – as part of a Canada MediaWorks partnership with Platial, an Oregon-based company that’s currently building an interactive atlas with user-generated features.
Mario Alfano, senior VP for CanWest MediaWorks Interactive, tells Media in Canada that ‘in order for this to become a useful tool, it has to be populated. We’re letting the early adopters go in and make the content richer.’ Future branding and sponsorship opportunities could come in the form of sponsored weekly themes such as favourite pet shops or entertainment venues. Flags and tags could also be useful in generating superimposed maps targeting – for example, hikers, bikers or mothers in search of kid-friendly coffee shops. ‘There’s definitely an opportunity here for marketers to bring a lot of good will,’ says Alfano.
Platial CEO Di-Ann Eisnor says that results for what she calls ‘the citizen-driven experiments’ in the two cities will be reviewed within one month. ‘Obviously, if they’re positive, then we’d like to have a footprint wherever Canada.com is.’ Monthly site traffic averages 3.55 million unique visitors.
