Mobile games are a huge marketing opportunity
Millions of users are having fun playing mobile games every day. This creates a huge marketing opportunity for consumer brands.

Banners are not the perfect solution
The only way brands and game developers are really taking advantage of this huge marketing opportunity is through banner ads adopted from the web. The banners do add revenue for game developers, but most gamers don’t like seeing banners in the middle of their game. In addition, the banners are rarely the right tool for consumer brands and retailers to achieve positive branding, retail traffic and an increase in revenue.

Sponsored Locations
We need to find a tool that ensures that game developers make money and that brands get a great marketing tool in a way that people playing mobile games love.

CloudMade has solved this challenge by talking to leading brands and top game developers and building a service that meets their specific needs. The solution we have come up with is Sponsored Locations.

We look forward to talking to you too
If you are a game developer or a consumer brand that we have not yet talked to about tailoring Sponsored Locations to YOUR needs, we look forward to connecting with you soon. In the meantime, you can learn more about Sponsored Locations here.

Last week at Apps World Conference and Exhibition industry experts and newbies gathered together to discuss the current state and future of mobile applications development. Even the heavy London snow didn’t prevent 2,400 people from attending the show, and it turned out as two excellent days of networking.

With three simultaneous streams (Developer, Marketing and TV, Handset and OEM) the Apps World event aimed to address the entire app ecosystem, and the challenge of development, design and delivery of apps across multiple platforms. Nick Black, CloudMade Co-Founder and Head of Products, spoke at the conference on how location is helping to create and monetize outstanding apps.

CloudMade also exhibited in Developers Zone where we were busy meeting with new and existing developers.

We are always looking for new ways to meet with developers and understand how we can help you build better user experiences and increase your revenue. You can help us by sending information about any interesting events you plan to attend to iryna@cloudmade.com

Another update of our App Gallery brings some new  examples of impressive CloudMade-powered apps and shows how location continues to enhance user experiences for web and mobile services. The range of applications presented in our app gallery is becoming really wide, and it now includes such categories as Navigation, Travel, Business, Reference, Healthcare and Fitness, Utilities, Entertainment and Productivity. Here you can see some newly added apps that we’ve found especially interesting.

Fahrtenbuch is a must-have app for anyone who needs to track mileage for tax deduction or reimbursement. This app is the #1 choice “driver’s log” in Germany, and it is the first one to have full iCal integration. CloudMade Geocoding and Routing services have been used in it.

Choosing a restaurant or a bar for the evening? Drinktown will help you to make that choice by telling you about all the food and drink specials near you. The website is updated daily by tens of thousands of members, and it is very easy to use since it allows you to sort data by day of the week, special type or just browse the beautifully styled map to find nearby deals.

With the Next Time iPhone app using reminders has become extremely efficient, since it now takes into account your location. You can create a list of locations and set reminders for those. Next Time will run in the background to alert you of your reminders the next time you’re at the location. The app is using CloudMade Geocoding and Map Tiles.

TrackMyJourney-Mobile is a multi-function recreational navigation and mapping application for Java/J2ME and BlackBerry phones. It receives its location coordinates by communicating via Bluetooth with a separate GPS receiver, or via the phones internal GPS if supported. The data is then sent to TrackMyJourney website where you can then share your location and recorded tracks with your friends. The app uses CloudMade Geocoding, Map Tiles, Routing, StyleEditor and Web Maps API.

French cycling fans might get interested in Geovelo – a cycling route planner that uses OpenStreetMap data and takes into account not only distance, but also safety. Geovelo maps created with CloudMade Style Editor perfectly complement the impressive design of the website.

You can see more location based apps that use CloudMade services in our App Gallery. If you are interested in trying out those free tools and APIs  yourself, sign up to our Developer Zone.  And maybe your outstanding app will be among thoses featured in our App Gallery soon!

Our app gallery is growing fast, and with every new addition it’s clear that combining  CloudMade’s tools and services with great ideas and skills from developers results in some extremely powerful, compelling products. Take a look at some of  the latest updates to our gallery below:

Galileo Offline Maps is a mobile app that can be used on a daily basis or while traveling. This app allows users to import maps from a computer to an iPhone or iPad and then view them in offline mode. Being able to choose from five attractive CloudMade map styles makes the use of the app a real pleasure. CloudMade tools used to create this app include Geocoding, Routing and Style Editor.

“CloudMade provides plenty of stylish and good-looking map styles which please even the most fastidious users.” – Evgen Bodunov, galileo-app.com

Travelers who own Macs should be really excited about Knapsack 2 app. This new version of Outer Level’s personal travel planner, built with our Geocoding and Web Maps Studio, adds interactive maps with street level detail and world-wide search. Knapsack allows you to lay out your travel plans, destinations, activities, and can be even used as a trip journal.

“Our customers wanted a searchable world map with street level detail and CloudMade was the perfect solution.” – Jon Trainer, Knapsack

iGMap proves that products created with CloudMade tools are not only really cool, but can also meet the most diverse needs. iGMap iPhone app is a virtual GPS designed for use with the desktop flight simulators. It provides a wireless hand-held moving map display to aid navigation, especially useful on VFR flights, while saving valuable screen real-estate on the desktop, and uses iOS devices to display the current position of the aircraft. The app was built with CloudMade’s StyleEditor and Web Maps API.

“CloudMade services allow a small company to deliver cutting edge mapping solutions while targeting a niche market – without the prohibitive cost.” – Fermin Fernandez, FSWidgets

Thanks to developers of Map My Tracks, outdoor sports and fitness enthusiasts have their own social network now. With this website they can easily track, review & share outdoor activities with friends & family. Map My Tracks provides a comprehensive range of tools to help better understand how your training session went and keep a central log of all your outdoor activities.

“The flexibility of CloudMade’s API mean that we can always deliver the maps we want.” – Nick Tatt, Map My Tracks

If you like Map My Tracks and plan to use it, you should really consider complementing it with this OutFront app. Not only will this app allow you to measure speed, pace, calories burned, duration, elevation gain/loss and much more for each activity you do, but it will also give you an an easy way to share information about your outdoor activities live on Map My  Tracks, Facebook or Twitter. CloudMade Map Tiles, Static Maps and iPhone SDK were used to create this app.

“Using CloudMade’s iPhone SDK made it super easy to add maps to our iPhone app. That, and reliability make CloudMade our first choice map provider.” - Nick Tatt, Map My Tracks

Cycling fans will enjoy using Bike Hub, also  called a ’satnav for cyclists’. It displays clever short-cuts and bicycle-friendly routes on OpenCycleMap, cutting journey times for many users. The feature I really like is ‘bike shop finder – a simple button that can call up UK bike shops within a six mile radius of an iPhone.  Map Tiles and iPhone SDK are CloudMade tools used in this app.

“Cloudmade API provides the slippy maps within the app and helps to fast-track the development of all the map interactions that users have.” – Carlton Reid, BikeHub.co.uk

Want to see more CloudMade-powered apps?  Check out our Application Gallery.

Inspired by these cool examples and feel that you could create something great yourself? Sign up to our developer zone and try out our free tools and services.

This fall is packed with industry events and CloudMade is making sure not to miss the most exciting ones. Here are some events we will be speaking and exhibiting at, sponsoring or just attending.

MobileAppsWorld – October 19-20, London

This two-day conference led by speakers from all parts of the mobile ecosystem will probe the latest thinking in app creation and promotion to achieve real business benefits from apps. Nick Black will be sharing his valuable insight into the future of mobile apps in a panel discussion on Day 2 – don’t miss it!

October Geomob Event – October 21, London

If you are a London-based geo or mobile developer and prefer more informal gatherings, you should definitely participate in the October Geomob in London next week. The event promises to be both informative and fun and we’ll be sponsoring it, so come talk to us.

Ad Tech New York – November 3, New York

Brands, agencies, publishers and service providers will come together at Ad Tech New York to network, learn and do business in the area of digital marketing. We will also be there to hear great speeches and check out Innovation Alley, Mobile Marketing Zone and App Exchange exhibition zones.  Send us an email if you want to meet up an learn more about our Location Based Advertising for developers, advertisers and ad agencies.

MeeGo Conference – Nov 15-17, Dublin

Another interesting event we will be attending, the MeeGo Conference, targets a technical audience of MeeGo developers, operating system vendors, original equipment manufacturers and other MeeGo project contributors. The first two days of the event will have scheduled sessions, and the third will be unconference day, with great lightning talks and wonderful networking opportunities.

ME Awards 2010 – November 18, London

ME Awards evening rewards companies doing outstanding things in the mobile content space. The organizers have introduced  a new nomination category for the Best Location Company this year and announced CloudMade as one of the finalists. This promises to be an exciting evening and we’ll be in great company amongst other innovative location companies such as Foursquare, Layar, Rummble, Skyhook,  and Booyah.

Apps World – November 30-Dec 1, London

For those willing to become educated and inspired by the latest developments within the multi-platform apps industry, Apps World is the right event for you. There will be workshop sessions available within three different zones –  focused on Marketing, Developers and TV, Handset and Operators. One of the sessions will be led by our co-founder Nick Black and will cover the different aspects location-based applications development. Also, CloudMade will have an exhibition stand, so you are welcome to stop by and take a closer look at our products offerings.

You can also pre-arrange a meeting with us at Apps World by visiting http://www.apps-world.net/exhibitions/exhibitors/290-cloudmade and submitting your details – look forward to seeing you at the event!

Juha presented specifically on what the location landscape looks like in 2013, how location will make it into every type of app available and why companies and developers in the mobile value chain are acting now to be a part of this money train. He emphasized how over 300,000 people are crowdsourcing an incredibly detailed, rich map of the world and how this is an invaluable resource for creating the most contextually relevant content and location services possible. Here’s his presentation:

This new investment will be used by CloudMade to do two primary things:

• Expand our support to developers and businesses in building and monetizing apps, products and services that use maps and location – this will supplement our existing developer products which include:  Style Editor, Data Market Place and Navi Studio
• Building out and adding to our popular suite of consumer mapping products, Mapzen which severely reduce the complexity of mapping for all

We welcome Arnon Dinur, Partner at Greylock to our Board of Directors and look forward to leveraging his expertise. Commenting on the funding Arnon said:

“CloudMade is leading a dramatic change in the way maps and location data are being created, distributed, used and monetized,” said Greylock Partner Arnon Dinur, who joined CloudMade’s Board of Directors as part of this investment. “We believe that consumers and developers’ needs for daily updated maps with greater detail and relevance, will explode in the coming years. Using CloudMade’s platform enables the best return on investment to meet this growth.”

We look forward to continuing supporting developers and the OpenStreetMap community with new innovative products.

Here’s what we’ve added:

1. Easier to work in areas with lots of land use

It’s now a lot easier to work more accurately with land use and other areas, with the ability to turn their filling on or off to provide a clearer view of what you are putting a perimeter around when viewing the satellite imagery or background images.

2. Easier to align roads to satellite imagery

A new Hide/ Show Elements button has been added to the bottom of the editing window allowing you to quickly turn on / off elements to better see the background objects.  This is really useful when trying to align roads to satellite imagery.

3. More control when adding lines and areas

A much requested feature that you’ve all been waiting for.  Now you can press ESC to cancel any editing made to shapes of lines and press ‘Enter’ to end editing with line types.  This is really useful when adding new roads.

4. Mac Users: no more annoying zoom in / zoom out

If you have a magic mouse from Apple or use a MacBook touchpad you might have experienced sudden jumps in zoom level.  If you have suffered this problem, you can now disable the ‘scroll’ function to prevent the map from accidentally zooming in or out.

We hope you’ll find these updates useful – please continue to email us feedback, it’s incredibly useful to help us evolve and improve Mapzen. Here’s how you can get in touch

• Leave a post in the Mapzen forums
• Report a bug on the Mapzen issue tracker
• Send us a mail to mapzen@cloudmade.com
• Get in touch with Nick, Yuliya or Anton through Mapzen

The next Mapzen blog post will look at some new features coming up in the April release of Mapzen Beta.  Until then, if you don’t have a Mapzen account already, you can sign up for one and start using Mapzen here – happy mapping!

Mapzen POI Collector 1.1 – Now in the App Store

Mapzen POI Collector is CloudMade’s smash hit iPhone mapping app that lets you easily and quickly add a huge range of places of interest to OpenStreetMap. The latest version includes numerous updates and improvements – all based on feedback we received from Mapzen users.

Mapzen POI Collector 1.1 lets you map faster and smarter:

• Choose from over 45 new POI types based on user requests, including ‘Grit Bins’ for winter mapping, ‘Traffic Cams’ and many more
• All POI icons are full color for a more vibrant mapping experience
• Quickly find the POI type you are looking for with a slick new search feature
• Add even more detail to the map with new attributes including disability access, seating capacity and religious denomination

Other bug fixes and enhancements:

• GPS location functionality is faster and more reliable
• Faster map loading with an enhanced map engine

You can get the latest version for free from the App Store. Existing users can give feedback and help make Mapzen POI Collector even better.

Share your mapping adventures with the world

With the latest release of Mapzen, mappers can share their mapping adventures with friends and family or publish them for the whole world to see. An exciting cross between mapping and blogging, mappers can publish their mapping activity feed – which includes details of recently mapped areas as well as posts made by the user. Posts can range from short, Twitter style updates to longer, blog style entries that let mappers share their experiences. Mappers’ activity feeds are tagged with the location of their posts which means they can be used by other applications – like this demo shows.

Stay up to date with your friends’ mapping activities

Mapzen now makes it easier than ever before to keep up to date with updates from your mapping network. Your Dashboard now includes a mapping activity feed from all of your mapping friends – so you know who’s been mapping what, where.

Map faster, worry less with the new Undo/Redo history panel

Mapzen’s undo and redo feature lets you map without having to worry about messing up anyone else’s work. Mistakes can be undone with the click of a button and now you can view a full history of your edits – making it easy to jump back to the exact point before it all went wrong.

Go to Mapzen to try out all the new features for yourself!

Coming Soon – What’s Next for Mapzen?

The next release of Mapzen Beta is just a few weeks away. We’ve been listening to your feedback to make it a better, faster, more fun tool to use. Mapzen Beta Belz includes these top requested features:

• Natural features like lakes, forests or landuse zones and other areas can be tricky to map, with lots of overlapping layers getting in the way of each other. The next release of Mapzen gives mappers control over the appearance of natural features and other landuse areas, making it easier to map in places where lots of different types of landuse areas are required
• Faster loading of Mapzen will let you quickly start mapping sessions and swap between the “View” and “Edit” modes
• Ending line or shape features can be tricky in Mapzen – especially when you want to end a line that you’ve just added a point to. Keyboard controls in the next version of Mapzen will make it easy to end line and shape drawing.
• Some Mac users have experienced problems with the scroll to zoom functions in Mapzen, especially when using an Apple Magic Mouse or MacBook or MacBook Pro touchpad. These problems will be fixed in the next release of Mapzen

If you can’t wait to try out Mapzen Beta Belz you can join the Mapzen Community Panel to have the chance to try out the latest features before they hit the web. Community Panel members get access to unreleased features and give feedback that makes Mapzen better for everyone.

Waiting for a feature that we haven’t talked about?

If you didn’t see the feature you want in the list for Mapzen Beta Belz, don’t worry. The features listed below are planned for the April release of Mapzen. We’d love to hear what you think about them. To provide feedback, comment on this post or send a mail to mapzen@cloudmade.com or check out the Mapzen forums.

• Merging lines is a top requested feature that will appear in the April release of Mapzen
• The presets panel is starting to get a bit crowded with all of the line, point and shape types that can be added. A handy search feature will make finding the right object easy
• Hint strings will help new Mapzen users get started quickly and help existing users get more out of Mapzen
• Mapzen can be slow sometimes – but don’t worry – we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeves that will make mapping a lot faster

Tell us what you think

The Mapzen team want to know what you like and what you don’t like about Mapzen. There are loads of ways to get in touch with us:

• Leave a post in the Mapzen forums
• Report a bug on the Mapzen issue tracker
• Send us a mail to mapzen@cloudmade.com
• Get in touch with Nick, Yuliya or Anton through Mapzen

CloudMade is going to have a busy MWC, we’re meeting with press, developers, partners, investors and if you’re game,  you too! If you’d like to meet us come along to one of the below events or if you’re a developer why not come to one of our Developer Drop-In sessions we’re running daily where you can enjoy a coffee and pose your questions to our developer team.  CloudMade will have a table in the restaurant ‘Buffet – R2′ which is located here:

To reach the CloudMade table at MWC:First, enter the courtyard between building 1,2,4 and 5. Then, head out of the courtyard towards the area between building 1 and 2. Look for the place called “Restaurant Buffet”

Or if you are a FourSquare user? Get an impromptu meeting by searching for one of the team:

http://foursquare.com/user/nick_b
http://foursquare.com/user/copetersen
http://foursquare.com/user/cnilson

Sunday, 14 February
19:00– late  - Mobile Sunday – Come and socialize before the big event at the Mobile Sunday drinks evening. You’ll be able to recognize us from our CloudMade name tags and badges

Monday, 15 February
14.30-20:00 – Mobile Premier Awards – We’re presenting as a finalist but still want to catch up with as many people as we can after or during the event, so please come talk to use we’ll be wearing badges
11-12:30  - Developer Drop-In

Tuesday, 16 February
16-17:30 – Developer Drop-In

Wednesday, 17 February
16-17:30 – Developer Drop-In

Thursday, 18 February
11:00– 15:30 – WIPJam @ MWC – ‘Getting Cool Content from the Cloud’ (location: App Planet Auditorium (Hall 7))
16-17:30 – Developer Drop-In