Roadtrippers rolls out new embeddable maps

Roadtrippers, the Cincinnati-based startup that helps users discover, plan and book road trips customized to their own individual preferences, now has embeddable maps so that users can display a road trip on their own blog or website.
 
“Now the trips, bucket lists and places that users can create on our site don’t just have to live on Roadtrippers; they can live on other digital properties, which is really exciting,” says Chelsea Koglmeier, Operations Manager for Roadtrippers. “If you go on a trip and you’re blogging about it, you can display your trip right there. People can see where you stopped and interact with the places. If someone want to re-create the trip, they just have to click on the box and it takes them over to the Roadtrippers main site, where they can customize the map and use it for their own adventure.”
 
The embeddable maps function is as simple as logging on to Roadtrippers.com, creating a trip, clicking the “share trip” button, and choosing the proper dimensions for your site. Roadtrippers has also increased the maximum waypoints on a trip from 25 to 40, which is four times the Google Maps limit.
 
“An interesting facet is that we initially rolled this technology out for a website called theonering.net,” Koglmeier says. “They were taking a road trip to a comic book convention and really wanted an embeddable map to document their trip, so we rolled it out really quick for them. It was bare bones, but since then, people just love it. They keep asking for it and asking for it.”
 
After starting with the stripped down version, the Roadtrippers team worked long and hard to make the maps simple and easy to use. But the team has much further to go; up on the wall in their Over-the-Rhine office is a list of all of their 2013 and 2014 product goals, many of which have yet to be rolled out.
 
“The maps are just one piece of a bigger puzzle. A huge part of the travel offseason is that we continue to grow and people continue to be excited about our startup, even though it’s not travel season," Koglmeier says. "With the maps, it’s putting our brand in front of more eyes. Each time you post one on your site, it’s putting us in front of new people.”

By Mike Sarason