Interactive property developments site-plans
The modern web is so much more than just text, images and videos. In fact, it’s packed with various interactive solutions that provide a great way to enrich the web browsing experience. In this article, I’ll try to shed some light on a few solutions that I find particularly interesting. In this first article, I will focus on plugins and features that are great additions to property marketing websites.
The primary solution I’d like to describe is custom interactive maps. The idea is to turn simple, boring site-plan imagery into more usable and user-friendly content, which could enhance the customer journey through the development.
The basic features of a map like this are, for example, zooming, panning and fullscreen, but there’s a lot more to it.
Markers, regions and pop-ups
A site plan can contain markers displayed on it, just like on Google Maps. Moreover, regions can be created which allows various mouseover and mouseclick actions over certain map areas. After a region or a marker is clicked, a custom action can be launched (most likely a popup with some information). I’ve implemented this feature on one of the FPCG clients website. Every building has a customised pop-up with a short description, an image and a button leading to the home details page.
source: https://kitchenerbarracks.com/find-home
Siteplan legend
As you can see in the picture above, a map can include a legend. Every label can be clicked to zoom-in to a selected home and to show its description. More complex areas could also include a search field.
The backend magic
More advanced map solutions can include a website backend configuration screen. This feature allows for easier regions, markers and pop-up manipulation. What’s more, it gives an opportunity to update day-to-day information, like prices and home statuses, without touching the website source code or graphics. This way it’s possible to, for example, display a map with available homes coloured in green, reserved in yellow and sold in red:
source: https://www.mapplic.com/real-estate
Going a step further
Interactive maps don’t have to be limited to site plans. With just a couple of modifications, it’s possible to create a 3D-fashion floor-plan with the same markers, pop-ups and search functions. It can even support multiple floors. More sophisticated products may also include a wayfinding feature, which could be really useful for bigger objects like museums or shopping centres.
source: https://www.mapplic.com/routes/
The cost
There are a lot of plugins offering an interactive map solution. The price varies from £20 to £200 per site plugin installation, depending on a number of features and support level. To make the plugin work, however, the map graphic is needed.
Most plugins use SVG graphics files and it takes several hours of design and web development work to create a proper SVG image. After that a plugin has to be installed, configured and styled on the website. This again can take up to several working hours, depending on complexity.
Finally
Interactive site plan maps are worth considering as an option of further illustrating a development area to the customer. Interactive maps can wrap all necessary information in a modern, nicely served package, which is a lot more accessible than a simple image or a PDF.