We're Often Asked:
“Why do we need to pay for custom maps when we can grab something for free on Google Maps or Yahoo?”
The simple answer:
Google Maps or Yahoo Maps can’t provide you with exactly what you need, customized to your specifications.
Customization and Specificity
Interactive services such as Google Maps are a wonderful tool for finding specific locations, obtaining driving directions, or determining the distance from Point A to Point B. It’s a tool that many of us use on a daily basis. But it won’t give you a perfectly-sized 8.5” x 11” map layout of the exact area you wish to have mapped, along with all of the customizations made possible only from a professional cartographer and graphic designer. Do you want to show specific amenities or competition properties on your map? How about company logos or specific icons? We can add these to your map easily to highlight landmarks or points or interest in the vicinity, as well as competition properties within your market.
Custom Styles
Do you need your map to adhere to a specific color scheme that represents your company’s colors? You can opt to use our particular cartographic style, or go with your own. It’s your map. We can customize it any way you like—color palettes, color shading, text fonts, line widths, transparencies for visual effect – all of it according to your specs. Google Maps or Yahoo Maps simply cannot offer you the combination of customization and high-end aesthetics that Red Paw delivers.
Source Files
At no additional cost, we can provide you with the vectorized files (Adobe Illustrator or Encapsulated PostScript) files for easy editing. The advantage of these files is two-fold. First, the maps in this file format are entirely editable with the proper graphics software. The vector file maps allow the user to change every element within the map. Anyone who is proficient with the Adobe suite of products (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, etc.) can manipulate the map layers and graphical elements easily. Second, the map file can be reused an infinite number of times for multiple projects. You’ll be able to reuse a specific map repeatedly. With the vector files, you can make the necessary text or map edits expressly for your next project. No need to come back to us and pay for the same map twice. We don’t stamp our company logo on our maps, nor do we collect any kind of royalty for one-off maps. Once we make a map file for you, it’s yours to keep and manipulate however you like.
Special Projects and Specific Base Map Layers
We understand that custom maps can be costly, and several clients prefer to use our service only when very special projects call for it. As an alternative, some clients might order specific “base map” layers in a vector format, and then add their own set of properties, landmarks, points of interest or competition properties for each project only when needed. This way, they will have all of the necessary base map layers needed to build their own custom maps using their graphics tools without the need to use complex mapping software.
For example, a client in Los Angeles might always have the need to repeatedly use one Downtown LA map for the majority of their deals. Having one ready-made, customized Downtown LA base map with all of the necessary map layers allows them to reuse that one map and stylize for individual deals. This can be done for any market, anywhere – customized base maps for specific cities and regions that are reusable and can be modified on the fly.
