'Camp Sight' finder marks next step in travel search

Pitchup.com has launched a content-rich 'Camp Sight' map that removes the need for the traditional search box. The first of its kind in the travel industry, the tool has been custom built with Geo.me - Google’s first UK Enterprise Partner for mapping and geo-based products - and marks a shift in the way travel companies present information to users.

'Camp Sight' layers Pitchup.com's own data over a Google Map, so users can find campsite and holiday park information by looking at specific regions of the country. Users can search for a location, drag and zoom and select multiple data layers to access more information. Examples of features that can be added include:

• Tourist attractions
• The water quality of beaches
• Nearby webcams
• Nearby Youtube videos
• Live traffic
• Local weather forecast

The tool was developed in partnership with Geo.me to provide a more intuitive interface, while showcasing the latest mapping technology.

The tool has launched in labs, with further development already in process.  Potential functionality includes introducing booking filters, additional local area information and integration with social media channels, such as embedding in Facebook or introducing FourSquare check ins.

Jim Strong, Director and Co-Founder of Geo.me, says "In Pitchup.com we saw an ideal partner for our technology and match for Geo.me – a young and dynamic start-up taking a highly innovative approach to a new sector."

Dan Yates, Managing Director of Pitchup.com, says: "For many users, online maps offer a much more natural framework to find a holiday than a traditional search box. Geo.me’s technology has enabled an incredibly rich set of data to be displayed in a simple, intuitive interface."

‘Camp Sight’ key features

• Standard, terrain, aerial and hybrid Google Maps or Night Map
• 'Storefinder' technology to find campsites near any location, or postcode
• Search by name for campsites
• Routeplanner, including the ability to define 'corridors' within 0.5 – 50 miles of a journey between multiple locations. Users can select to view only points of interest within the corridor
• Find campsite information including accommodation types, official ratings, contact details, GPS co-ordinates, rating, features and photos and link to Pitchup.com page
• Find directions between campsites and nearby railway stations, and airports
• Accommodation filters, allowing users to deactivate irrelevant holiday parks or campsites
• Numerous data layers are capable of being toggled on or off:
  • Points of interest
    • Beaches, labelled with 2010 bathing water quality
    • UK’s top 500 attractions
    • Battlefields
    • World Heritage Sites
  • Nearby rich content
    • YouTube videos
    • Webcams
    • StreetView
    • Live Traffic
    • Wikipedia entries
    • Panoramio photography

‘Camp Sight’ can be found at http://www.pitchup.com/campsitemap/.

ends

About Pitchup.com

Winner of Best Travel Information Site at the 2010 Travolution awards, Pitchup.com is the most comprehensive website in the camping and caravanning sector. Launched in July 2009, the site features 5,000 campsites and holiday parks in the UK and Ireland, including many in hard-to-find locations. The website enables users to search and book using more than 80 search criteria to fine-tune their holiday requirements, and features mapping technology to make getting there simple too. The site also lists accommodation near nine National Parks, hundreds of beaches, 17 World Heritage Sites and the main UK festivals and can view nearby Good Pub Guide pubs, National Trust properties and National Cycle Network routes. Website owners can also add custom Pitchup.com listings to their site.

About Geo.me

Geo.me, Google’s first UK Enterprise Partner for mapping and geo-based products, develops web services and rich internet applications for businesses. Predominantly focused on visualising location and time based data, GeoMapper is the cornerstone of its product framework.

The company was founded in 2009 by Stuart Grant and Jim Strong, innovators and directors of web technology in previous roles, and recognised the opportunities for more efficient delivery of software services offered by cloud computing, rich internet applications, service-oriented software architecture and the Software as a Service business model. Geo.me Solutions applies the working methodologies needed to take advantage of these technological advances. It is a best practice, best-of-breed IT services business, built upon the core principles of Agile Development, a Cloud-based, highly flexible infrastructure, best practice and adaptive technology, offering mapping applications ‘by configuration not development’. 

Issued by Flagship Consulting

For further media information please contact:

Casey Mead     020 7886 8450 casey.mead@flagshipconsulting.co.uk

Lewis Shields   020 7886 8449 lewis.shields@flagshipconsulting.co.uk