Site Logo
Google Maps Archives - The Latest on Accounting Tech for SMEs

Google Adds Reviews to Businesses in Google Maps, Google Search, Google+

by

An update to Google’s verified listings directory for businesses, Google Places, added customer ratings and reviews in Google Maps, Google+ and Google Search to general information such as address, contact details and description.

“With a quick search, locals – or even people new in town – can read reviews from your regulars to find the right place for a romantic dinner, a prize-winning turkey, or the perfect (last-minute) present for Mom,” Google said in its small business blog.

The update to Google Places for Business also gave business owners a review inbox where they could respond to customers’ reviews left on Google. “Are your customers happy with your service? Thank them for the kind words so they recommend you to their friends. Do they mention some areas for improvement? Ask them for suggestions so they visit you again,” the blog said.

The reviews inbox appeared under the Reviews tab in the business owner’s Google Places for Business dashboard, which had recently been revamped.

A business could drum up more good reviews by encouraging customers to post reviews on the business’ page on Google+, Google’s social networking platform. Businesses could verify themselves for free by visiting Google Places.

Image credit: Google Small Business blog

Google Adds Indoor Mapping to Mobile Teams Tool

by

Google’s workforce management tool Google Maps Coordinate has added indoor maps for airports and department stores to show indoor locations of mobile teams. An integration with Google Maps for Mobile on Android and Apple mobile devices gave the tool access to indoor maps of public indoor locations created by Google staff.

The indoor maps calculated locations by triangulating the strength of wi-fi signals instead of using GPS signals which are blocked by buildings.

“If you have a job in terminal two of Sydney Airport you can create a job and specify the location and details, for example to purchase something in duty free,” said Dan Chu, senior product manager for Google Maps for Business. Google Coordinate automatically assigned the job to the closest worker and sent a notification to their mobile device to acknowledge and begin the job.

“Once you’re in Sydney Airport, that blue dot showing your current location will be precise, even without GPS, and that location will be broadcast to the dispatcher. Instead of people getting lost once they go indoors you can still see their location,” Chu said.

The Google Maps for Mobile integration also let Android users receive directions to a location with one click from Google Coordinate, Chu said.

“Let’s say the company needs someone to go to the northwest corner of a building, you can specify that in the tool. With a single click in the Android mobile app you can trigger Google Maps for Mobile and receive navigation to that location,” Chu said.

Google was integrating other apps into Google Coordinate. A dispatcher could use Google Hangouts (an equivalent to Skype) to phone or video call a worker for free.

Google Maps Engine recorded the location of infrastructure and displayed it within Google Coordinate. An electrical utility could see its substations on a map and which teams were nearest to each, for example.

Google Coordinate was developed for small businesses and enterprises to manage their mobile teams of salespeople, engineers, assessors and couriers.

A full suite of APIs (application programming interfaces, which share data from the app) was bundled with Google Coordinate. The program shared information such as the location of a team member which could be fed into other programs.

Integration with other programs were left up to customers. Google Coordinate was not connected to cloud accounting programs such as Xero, Saasu and QuickBooks Online. When the program was launched last year, local competitors GeoOP and Connect2Field said they didn’t see it as a threat.

“The genesis for the product was seeing how many businesses have mobile workers,” Chu said. “Companies usually have very manual processes and don’t know who’s in the field because they’re using paper. The idea is that we have all these technologies with our smartphones, so let’s connect them to the cloud and increase their productivity.”

Google Coordinate was used by small businesses such as Queensland retailer Architectural Doors and Windows to manage a handful of installers.

Enterprises had found a range of applications including security. The director of security for grid iron team the San Francisco 49ers used Google Coordinate to direct security guards to disturbances in the crowd on game day.

“There’s a remarkable need for folks in the field and the technologies they were using were from the dark ages. They were calling each other on phone or by CBA radio and using notepads,” Chu said.

Research company IDC estimates that 1.3 billion people, or 70 percent of the workforce, will be mobile workers by 2014.

“It improves communications between real-time location of team members to see who is the right person to accomplish a task most efficiently,” Chu said.

Google Coordinate cost $20 per user per month on a one-year contract or $24 per user per month without a contract.

 

How to use Google Apps on the iPad and iPhone

by

In my role I am always under pressure to bring myself fully into the Google ecosystem – which means moving from the iPhone and iPad to Android tablets and phones, and moving from my Apple MacBook to a Chromebook. However, I am coming to the realisation that I can have the best of both worlds using Google products with my iDevices.

Over the last couple of months Google has come to the party by investing time and effort to get their design skills up to “Apple Standards”. Google Apps’ new generation of iPhone and iPad apps I feel are better than their Android counterparts. Here are my favourite ways to use Google Apps on the iPad and iPhone.

Gmail
My number one app on my phone is the Gmail app. It connects to my Google Apps account and provides a great alternative to the native iOS Mail app. It uses notifications instead of Mail’s push-email method (via Exchange ActiveSync) which lessens the load on my devices battery. And it’s designed to complement the Gmail web interface so colours of labels, conversation view, and all emails are easily accessible.

Google Chrome
Chrome on my iDevices is very similar to my experience on my Mac. It is fast, easy to use and uses the latest Google browsing technology. I get extra, invaluable features when I log into my browser. I can sync my open tabs, bookmarks, passwords, and omnibox data from computer to my iPhone or iPad and vice versa. I can also send web pages directly from Chrome to the computer and access them offline as well. I rarely use Safari on either my iPad or iPhone.

Google Maps
Google came to the table by delivering the Maps application Apple wishes it could have given us. Google Maps on the iPhone is fast. It now uses a different type of graphics engine based on vector graphics which provide a better viewing experience than on any PC or Mac. And it now has voice-guided, turn-by-turn directions and a new interface that makes navigating around the app all that much better. The Google Maps iPhone app is a way better experience in comparison to its Android counterpart.

Google+
For all the social networks out there, my life revolves around only two – Twitter and Google+. Although there is much scepticism around the commercial performance and lack of content on Google+ comparative to others, in short Google is playing the long game here. Slowly but surely it is starting to integrate Google+ into all its products. This is evident in Gmail and search, as most people have a Google+ account without really knowing it. I also love the fact that Google Hangouts is available via this app so I can be on the road and join an internal hangout from my iPhone. The app is quick, easy to navigate and is integrated with more services, and I can see more people start to use not only the app but the social network more.

Google Drive
There has been a great emphasis on this product in 2012 and it will continue in 2013. Google Drive had a great year! Google introduced the Google Drive iPhone app last year, and later releases included a sync tool for our PCs and Macs that let users edit documents offline. Google also invested heavily on improving the quality of conversion from Word documents to Google Docs through the acquisition of Quickoffice’s technology. Also with the acquisition,Google Apps Business customers have access to QuickOffice for Google Apps which lets you edit Microsoft documents offline on your iPad.

Google Search
Google voice search is better than the iPhone’s Siri. There are many comparison articles out there however my experience with both leads me to believe that Google Search is quicker and provides better results. On top of the voice search, the app also has the ability to engage Google Goggles Search which allows searches by taking a picture. It also allows searching within a webpage using the built-in text finder.

YouTube
With the removal of the in-built Youtube app in iOS 6 users had to wait for the app to become available on the App Store. The good news is that the app is a much better implementation of the user interface and now looks and feels like other mobile versions of Google Apps. Although it has much the same features and functions as before the slick, new interface stamps Google’s continued success in designing great apps for the iPhone.

As most of my life incorporates some type of Apple product, I am hesitant to move over and join the droves of users joining the ever growing Google ecosystem. The good news is that, with the quality of the Google Apps being better than the legacy apps built for Android, I don’t have to.

About D1

Digital First covers news and opinions on accounting technology and is read by tech-savvy accountants who understand the importance of technology in establishing competitive advantage.
>