If you’re looking for a local architect or other construction professional, you can now find them on a map. Architects, Engineers, Designers, Quantity Surveyors and other consultants who use twitter are adding themselves to the ArchitectMap in numbers all over the world to help other people find their local professionals.
Whats is the ArchitectMap?
As you know I’ve been collecting architects who use twitter (and other construction professionals in the UK) since 2008, and last Summer Mark Schumann and I set up a new project to map these people using google map. The ArchitectMap is now a free tool that is available via a website and iPhone app. The ArchitectMap makes twitter using construction professionals visible to a local audience.
National News Coverage for ArchitectMap
Yesterday the #Architectmap featured in The Independent in an article by Alex Johnson, aka @shedworking, author of the Shedworking blog and book (also called Shedworking) about people who work from home in garden offices and similar buildings. A few hours ago The Architect Map article featured in the blog’s top five most read articles.
Alex writes about how the ArchitectMap can be a useful tool for people looking for a local architect for their project, as it helps find these people in your location and then you can check them out on twitter (and via other links they share) to see if they are right for your project.
Free ArchitectMap iPhone App
Since I last wrote we’ve also developed a free Iphone App of the ArchitectMap, which has already been downloaded over 400 times in just a few weeks. The app allows you to access all the maps (and we have a graduate map, a contractor map, and a map for product manufacturers too) and see who is in your local area, what they are talking about and how you can get in touch. You can also join the map directly from the app, see what the community is discussing via the #ArchitectMap hashtag and access our podcasts and augmented reality features.
What you can do next
If you’d like to get involved in the map and feature yourself or your business, here’s what you can do.
- Look at the maps online on our website;
- Download the free iphone app;
- If you like the iphone app, please vote for it in the Construction Industry Mobile App awards – its in the ‘Best Useful Tool of Guide’ category. One lucky voter will win an iPad2 so its definitely worth taking the time;
- Add yourself to the map if you are a twitter user. You can do this on the website or on the iPhone App;
- Want to know more about twitter? Read my resources here;
- Join our Facebook Community and share ArchitectMap with your friends on Facebook.
- View an Interactive Visualisation of people talking on twitter about #ArchitectMap
Whats next for ArchitectMap?
There’s a lot of interest in an Android App, and we hope to find a way to fund the building of one – the systems for building iphone and Android apps are completely different, so it will be a brand new project. If you’ve got any ideas and suggestions as to how we might do this, please get in touch.
There will be a new version of the iPhone App coming out soon, why not join us on Facebook to get the news first?
Will we win the ‘Best Useful Tool or Guide’ Award for our iPhone App? I’ll be at the Building Centre on 27 March for the Construction Industry Mobile App awards to meet other app developers – why not come along if you can? Don’t forget to vote for us!
Have you got any questions about the Architectmap or suggestions? Please post them below:
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