ProjectX Technology

We’ve launched a new feature on ZoomIn today – Directions! Thanks to the awesome power of the Google API, you can now show you how to get from A to B on ZoomIn.



You can get directions from any address or place in ZoomIn or simply click on the “Get Directions” link at the top of the page. Its really easy ! Find your way to Te Papa, or Sky City Tower.

Enjoy!

ZoomIn is 3 years today ! October 29th in 2005, ZoomIn was launched to the world. Currently we have 78734 places and 11558 users on ZoomIn ! Thanks to everyone who has contributed to ZoomIn.

ZoomIn has come a long way since that date, here’s a look at some the changes that have happened over the last 3 years.

We’ve completely overhauled the add place process on ZoomIn. Now, if you want to add a place to ZoomIn is as simple as 1, 2, 3.

1. Drag the Add place marker onto the map

Position the marker with X marks the spot. You can adjust the position by dragging the marker to the correct location.

2. Refine your address using the drop down box

We automagically figure out the closest address based on your location. All you have to do is refine the address in the dropdown menu to match your desired location.

3. Add your place content

You can add the name of the place / business, a description and tags .

And you’re done!

We’ve just completed an update to the underlying data on ZoomIn. We’ve just switched to a new suburb set on ZoomIn base onto the “New Zealand Fire Service” (NZFS) suburb set.

Why?

Its about accuracy, we want to provide the most up to date map service around. The NZFS suburb set is being used by all of New Zealand emergency services ie. Police, Ambulance and Fire Service. This update will better represent the way that you think and use addresses in your neighbourhood. The update adds another 1500 suburbs to ZoomIn. We’ve now got a total of 2986 suburbs in our address database.

We’ve completely rebuilt our address system from scratch, which gives us a chance to get all of the address cobwebs out of the system.

Changes to ZoomIn urls

The new address data means changes to the ZoomIn URL’s. Don’t worry, all of the old URL’s will still work, they’ll automatically redirect to the new address url.

Here are some examples:

OLD: http://www.zoomin.co.nz/map/nz/wellington/wellington+wharf/waterloo+quay/28/
NEW: http://www.zoomin.co.nz/map/nz/wellington/pipitea/waterloo+quay/28/

OLD: http://www.zoomin.co.nz/map/nz/auckland/auckland/queen+street/
NEW: http://www.zoomin.co.nz/map/nz/auckland/auckland+central/queen+street/

ZoomIn will be down from 6pm today (7th July 2008). We will be performing several data maintenance tasks, including updated addresses and suburbs. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

The site should be back up within the night, after the tasks have been completed.