In anticipation of the launch of Map Mavin, Apollo Mapping’s pay-as-you-go GIS cloud service, we are giving our valued readers a (second) chance (as we ran this article last month!) to shape the future of this product. Specifically, we are asking you to answer the questions below, send them back to us by email and then the first cumulative 100 respondents will receive a $20 credit towards your Map Mavin subscription!

For those of you that have not heard of Map Mavin, here is a quick, very high level description of this coming-soon GIS cloud service. Map Mavin will feature monthly subscriptions starting at $10 with the option to cancel anytime so that you are not locked into a long-term contract when your project is short term. With your subscription, you are able to access these four components of Map Mavin:

• Cloud Storage – a low-cost, highly-secure cloud platform with pricing based on the amount you store each month.
• Data Sharing – once your spatial vectors and rasters are uploaded, you can create an unlimited number of web maps that you share with the public or only with an approved team of users. We go beyond making static maps as once your web maps are live, you can collaborate with your team members in real-time. In this live map session, everyone sees the same display and is able to manipulate the map when it’s their turn to take control – picture a web conference but specifically built for maps.
• Marketplace – connect with our network of Map Mavin users by offering the unique spatial data you create either for free or for a cost; or download the free datasets we have gathered here to improve your web maps.
• Processing – with a large library of spatial data operations, let our lightning-fast Amazon processors transform your data to bring out its true value.

To secure your $20 credit towards Map Mavin, all you need to do is complete the questions below and send them back to us at sales@apollomapping.com. Please note that you do need to answer yes to the first question and you will need to be one of the first 100 respondents to receive the $20 credit. In some cases, depending on your answer(s) to the preceding question(s), it might not be possible or make sense to answer each question – that is okay!

1. Have you ever created a web map; or wanted to create a web map (but might not have)?
2. How hard was it to create the web map?
3. What software or service did you use to create the web map?
4. What spatial layers did the web map contain? Mainly rasters? Mainly vectors? Or a combination of both?
5. How was the web map used? Did you share it with a team of users? How did the web map help you achieve your project goals?
6. Would it have been valuable to work on the web map with a team of people at the same time (i.e. a real-time mapping experience)?
7. On average, how many people do you share your web maps with? And how many web maps do you make a month (or year if easier)?
8. How would you improve your web maps if you could?
9. Would you make more web maps if you had an easy tool to use?
10. Can you provide examples of projects in which web maps were or would have been helpful?

In future editions of the The Geospatial Times we will give you the chance to earn more free Map Mavin credits by answering survey questions on additional topics – stay tuned!

A big thanks to you from the Apollo Mapping sales team for checking out and completing our survey!