Questions and Answers About Interactive Maps and Floor Plans

The MapsAlive web application and the interactive maps you create with it work on newer versions of the following browsers running on PCs and Macs:

• IE
• Firefox
• Safari
• Chrome
• Opera*

The interactive maps you create with MapsAlive work on the desktop browsers above and also on the following mobile devices that support HTML5:

• iPad
• iPhone
• iPod touch
• Android**
• Other devices that support HTML5**

*As of version 10.61, Opera did not support recursion in flash.external.ExternalInterface. Some features MapsAlive require this support and thus those features will not work with Opera.

** Not all devices support HTML5 properly. You can use the free trial of MapsAlive for testing to verify that your interactive maps will work as expected on the devices you need to support.

Please see our Plans & Pricing page.

MapsAlive is a web application that lets you make your online maps, floor plans and diagrams come alive.  A web application is like a desktop program except that it runs in your browser and you don’t have to download or install any software. It’s available here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, anywhere in the world. It’s always up to date and you never have to pay for upgrades.

MapsAlive is ideal for real estate — houses, condos, apartments, businesses, location maps — you name it.  You can also create interactive business graphics, travel maps, interactive diagrams and more for your web site. Learn more.

Yes, you can create a web site with one or more pages even if you don't want to use maps and markers. You can use MapsAlive to add content to your pages and build your web site automatically.

You need to sign up so we can keep track of your tours and so only you can access and update your tours. It does not cost anything to sign up for the free trial and you only need to provide your email address and a password. When you sign up for the free trial or purchase a plan you have access to our online Tour Builder that automatically creates your tours using your own photographs and text content.

No. We keep all account information confidential.

No. MapsAlive is fully automated so you don’t need any web design or programming experience to create a tour.

No. MapsAlive is web-based. You don’t have to download anything onto your computer to use it. Just sign up and you can begin creating tours.

Yes.  Each MapsAlive tour gets its own unique URL. The tour that MapsAlive builds is actually a mini web site – a set of web pages – with its own URL similar to this:
 
tour.mapsalive.com/12345

In this example, 12345 is the name of a folder on the MapsAlive web server that is devoted exclusively to your tour. Whenever you make changes to your tour and build it again, MapsAlive updates the tour’s web pages so that anyone visiting your tour will see the changes immediately. You can use the tour as a stand-alone web site, or if you already have your own web site, you can use the tour’s URL as a link from your site. You can even have a MapsAlive tour appear within a page on your web site like we do with the sample tours on the MapsAlive home page.

MapsAlive provides a unique URL for your tour, but if you want to use a URL with a more descriptive name we suggest that you use www.godaddy.com to purchase the domain name you want and to have it automatically forwarded to your tour's URL (this is called Domain Forwarding). It's inexpensive, quick to set up, and you don't need your own web site because your tour is on our web site. For example, with domain forwarding you could use a URL like www.myhouse.com and it would automatically be forwarded to your MapsAlive tour such as tour.mapsalive.com/12345.

Yes. Tours that you create with MapsAlive are not dependent on the MapsAlive web application or database. A tour is a standalone folder of files — HTML, JavaScript, Flash, etc. — that execute independently of MapsAlive. So for example, MapsAlive could be down for maintenance, but your tours are always available.

You can use jpg or gif files for your photos and maps. We also support uploading scalable vector graphics maps in SWF format.

You do not need to resize your images before you upload them. MapsAlive calculates the space available for your images based on the tour size and layout you choose. If your images are larger than that size, they are automatically reduced. If they are smaller, they are not changed.

If you want more control over the size and quality of your images before uploading, you can size them using any image editing software.

Here are some ways to differentiate between MapsAlive and Google Maps to decide which is right for you.

Do you need a geographic map (a place on earth) or is your map something else like a floor plan?
MapsAlive will let you use any image as a map. If your map is not geographic, Google Maps is not an option for you.

Do you need a stylized geographic map, or a map with less detail, or a map that is not to scale?
Google Maps are attractive, detailed, and have no boundaries. This style of map works very well for many applications, but if you need a map with less detail, or with a stylized appearance, or where only the area of interest shows (e.g. California by itself without Oregon, Nevada, and Mexico) you'll want to consider MapsAlive.

Do you need GIS capabilities?
Markers on a Google Map are placed by their GIS coordinates (latitude and longitude). MapsAlive does not support GIS coordinates – you place markers anywhere you like by dragging them with your mouse.

What kind of zooming do you need?
Both Google Maps and MapsAlive let you zoom in for more detail. Google Maps uses a tiling mechanism with distinct zoom levels and different detail at each level. MapsAlive scales the map for smoother zooming, but with constant detail at all levels.

Do you know how to program in JavaScript in order to customize your map?
Google Maps has powerful customization features, but to take advantage of many of them you need to be able to do HTML and JavaScript programming. MapsAlive's customization features require no programming. If you are a programmer, MapsAlive will let you use JavaScript to make your maps even more powerful.

Do you need to be able to use your map offline?
Google Maps require an internet connection, but you can use a MapsAlive map offline where no internet connection is available.

How interactive do you want your map to be?
Google Maps are great (we love them), but they don't do much when you move your mouse around (unless you do custom programming). Just look at the samples on the MapsAlive web site to see how much more interactive a MapsAlive map can be.

The bottom line
Both Google Maps and MapsAlive are powerful tools with a lot of features. While they have some overlapping functionality, Google Maps really shine for geographic maps that have a conventional road map look. For other kinds of geographic maps, and for diagrams, floor plans – you name it – nothing beats MapsAlive.

Yes. The interactive maps you create with MapsAlive will work on touch screen (touchscreen) monitors connected to a PC or Mac computer. However, because touch screens have different "mouse" events, you may need to change the way your map works to make it more touch screen friendly. For more information, see the Using Interactive Maps on a Touch Screen section in the MapsAlive User Guide for Integrating Interactive Maps.