Shopping in Sydney with Google Maps

Urban Walkabout is a comprehensive on-line shopping guide to the popular shopping areas in Perth and Sydney, Australia.



The site includes Google Maps for both Perth and Sydney, displaying all the best shops in all the popular suburbs of both cities. The shops on each map are categorised into Fashion & Bodycare, Objects & Art, Food & Drink, Stay & Explore and Shopping Centres.



If you click on a shop's marker on the map you can then click through to read Urban Walkabout's full review of the establishment.



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How to Create a Real-Time Google Map

Best Buy - Live Mobile Scan Map

Best Buy place QR codes on all their products. When a customer uses the Best Buy app, or any other QR code scanner, they are shown the product details for the product they have scanned. The Best Buy - Live Mobile Scan Map uses Google Maps to show the latest real-time scans of products in stores across the US.

The map uses the recently launched App Engine Channel API to update the map in real-time. The Google App Engine Blog has a good guest post by the developer explaining how the app was created. You can also play with a working demo on the channel-map-demo project on GitHub.

The map itself animates between the latest scans in Best Buy stores and makes good use of the Google Maps API styled maps functions to create a distinctive look for the app.
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Google Maps Store Locator Plugin

Google Maps Store Locator Plugin for Wordpress
Viadat have produced a Google Maps Store Locator plugin for Wordpress. The plugin enables you to create sites in Wordpress to show the locations of stores and points of interest.

The plugin allows users to import locations from CSV files and can export locations to CSV and XML for safe storage. The plugin also supports a number of themes so that you can customise the design to suit your website.

Here are some sites already using the Viadat Store Locator plugin:

4Palms Importing

This site uses the store locator plugin to show stores that stock Caybrew beer. It is possible to search the map by address.

Wine Wipes
Wine Wipes are a quick and easy way to discreetly remove red wine stains from your teeth and mouth. Wine Wipes use the store locator to show the location of stores selling the product in Canada.

Florida Assisted Living
A Florida Assisted Living Facility provides accommodation with 24 hour supervision for older adults who can no longer live independently. Florida Assisted Living use the Viadat store locator to show the locations of assisted living facilities in Florida.

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