Credit: By Jim Probasco
Citymaps is a social mapping platform where the word “map” means much more than location, directions and transit. In Citymaps' world, created by entrepreneurs, Elliot Cohen and Aaron Rudenstine, a map is an experience – better yet, a story.
Cohen and Rudenstine spoke with Benzinga about the Citymaps platform, about the recent appointment of former Nokia HERE CEO, Michael Halbherr as Executive Chairman of the company’s board of directors, and about the platform’s new cutting-edge desktop app that lets users organize the places, experiences and stories they want to remember and share.
Benzinga: What is Citymaps and what does it do?
Elliott Cohen: Our product is a visual one. When we tell our friends what we are and what we do, typically they’ll have a light bulb moment once they see the app. At a high level, Citymaps is a mapping platform that allows users to make map collections.
A map collection is a collection of places. Places are represented on the map in a very visual way. We built the platform to support the ability to collect places.
Everything we do has a social flavor to it. The concept is to let people explore the world through the eyes of mapmakers who could be you, your friends, family and others.
Map products today are very good at what they do – routing and navigation. The social concept of Citymaps map collections is secondary in those products. We wanted to make that our primary goal.
How did the idea for Citymaps come about?
Cohen: Fundamentally maps are one of the oldest communications platforms in existence. They date back to cave men, evolved into street atlases and globes and even hasty drawings on bar napkins. We wanted to bring back the lost art of making map collections.
Think about that bar napkin for second. A friend or somebody you meet draws a few lines on a napkin and says, “Oh, you’re in New York for one day? Here you go!”
Look, I have nothing but great things to say about Apple and Google Maps, but we think there’s a major market that nobody’s really filled – the concept of using maps to tell a story. We wanted to make it possible to tell a story using a map the same way you could tell a story on a napkin.
Screenshot taken from CityMaps website.
Neither of you are cartographers. You are idea guys. What made you think you could do this?
Cohen: The truth is, we are cartographers now. (laughs) We’ve been at this for four and a half years and we certainly have more expertise than 99% of other people out there. I studied urban planning at Cornell. Much of what we went through was early cartographic representation of cities.
That said, I never really saw a career blossoming from those studies. It wasn't until Aaron and I really got together. We both have a background in technology and we noticed that maps were really starting to skyrocket.
When we started this, Google Maps had just come out, MapQuest had been around, but that was really it. We had a hunch that maps and location were going to underpin everything. We had no idea how difficult it would be to build our own mapping platform. In some ways it’s been a beast.
Citymaps had two big announcements in mid-December. Can you talk about both of them a little bit?
Aaron Rudenstine: Michael Halbherr is joining the board of directors as chairman. Michael is the former CEO of Nokia’s mapping business called HERE map, which recently sold for about $3 billion to a consortium of German car manufacturers.
It’s exhilarating to have Michael join us for a number of reasons. First he’s a visionary in the mapping and exploring space. Second, he’s a seasoned executive with tremendous operational and management experience. And third, he believes very strongly in the opportunity we are going after.
The second thing we are announcing is the launch of our Web platform. If you go to Citymaps.com you will be led to the Web platform. It represents the completion of our location-based cloud solution and serves as a complement to our iOS and Android applications.
Why are you building a Web application in what some would say is a mobile first or even a mobile-only world?
Rudenstine: The Web platform is a strategic release for us for several reasons. First, we’ve always been a platform that in the iOS and Android worlds allows people to make map collections.
One of the most requested product enhancements that we have received, is for people to be able to make these map collections on a larger form factor such as a desktop.
There are four important reasons for the Web app. The first has to do with utility. People want to keep track of places in their neighborhood or in their cities.
The second has to do with trip planning. People typically visit around 28 websites when they plan a trip. These people want a Web application so they can quickly pull together in one place all the data they collected on these other 28 sites.
The third reason has to do with sharing. Users who spend a lot of time creating these map collections have an interest in sharing them. They want a way to share their map collection in a friction free manner. Unfortunately, in our app happy world if you share something that forces a viewer to download an app to look at it that’s a fail, both for the person sharing the content as well as the person trying to view it.
The fourth reason has to do with the fact our platform has been adopted by some of the biggest publishers in the world, such as Buzzfeed, Travel and Leisure Magazine, Gothamist and a whole variety of hotel groups.
In order for these media publishers to make map collections and use them for their own purposes, they needed a way of doing so quickly on a normal computer with a normal keyboard and not be limited to using your phone.
Citymaps is filled with graphics and photographs. Does this reflect a conscious decision to make Citymaps more about the experience than the location?
Cohen: Yes, 100% and even more when it comes to the desktop website. The first thing we said was, “map as a canvas.” We’re not really going after routing and navigation. We don't have to be as detailed on the map itself. We want to be better than anybody in the world in what’s on top of the map.
We map out the world and represent places with logos. We’ve actually built up one of the world’s largest databases of merchant logos because we want the map to be much more visual. Google took care of dots on a map. We want to be different. We want to be better.
Given the recent announcements and the fast pace Citymaps seems to be on, what does the future hold for the company?
Cohen: Michael (Halbherr) brings a terrific skill set. He’s certainly one of the foremost visionaries in mapping. Products he built 10 years ago were ultimately built into the number two mapping company in the world.
We’ve been writing the script as we go along. Now we’re going to be able to ask questions of a man who really understands the space inside and out.
Our goal is to create the top publishing platform for maps, for individuals and for organizations and to become the default mass publishing tool for big media and publishers.
We hope to focus on map-making, map publishing and, of course, social exploration.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
