Seznam.cz, the number one Czech on-line company combining a media house and technological company, has released a specialised tourist map of the whole world on its portal Mapy.cz. The map includes information on hiking and cycling trails that will benefit virtually any active tourist. The tourist map of the world is available on-line and will soon be released for off-line use in the Mapy.cz app for mobile phones. Maps of European countries can now be downloaded from Google Play for mobile phones with the Android operating system, with an update for Windows Phone and iOS coming soon.
On-line Tourist Map of the World
There are many map services and maps available on-line, but not many quality desktop applications where you can find information on tourist and cycling trails for the whole world. Mapy.cz offers a new specialised tourist map of the whole world with these details. Based on the OpenStreetMap data, maps are displayed in Mapy.cz´s own map key, and provide detailed, yet uncluttered and easy-to-use tourist information.
“We have extensive experience in displaying tourist data for the Czech Republic both on desktops, as well as mobile phones. Throughout the years, we have gained a reputation as the most detailed and most accurate map portal for those who like to hike in the Czech Republic. We have thousands of kilometres of hiking trails in the Czech Republic on our maps and we update the data daily based on reports we receive from people. We hope that people will also report corrections outside the Czech Republic. We will amend these in the OSM system directly and thus these changes will occur correctly both on Mapy.cz as well as in the open source database,” says Martin Fuks, the Senior Product Manager responsible for the Mapy.cz service at Seznam.cz.
Mapy.cz for Mobile Phones – with Off-line Data
Mapy.cz is available as a mobile app for phones with Android, iOS and Windows Phone. The app includes the ability to download data on the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with tourist information and many details useful for planning trips. Once downloaded, the maps are available for off-line use and thus only need switched-on GPS localization and no other mobile data. Seznam.cz plans to offer world data for off-line use in the Mapy.cz app as well.
Last week, Seznam.cz released an update of the app for phones with the Android operating system. The current version available on Google Play, allows the user to download any European country for off-line use. The app includes basic map data, as well as tourist data. This is handy for travellers who, thanks to the Mapy.cz app, don’t need to be dependent on mobile data roaming and can display maps, even with marked cycling trails, off-line. Furthermore, unlike the desktop version that is currently only available in Czech, once the app identifies English as the phone’s default language, it will automatically download the version with basic system orientation tools in English. Thus any tourist travelling to the Czech Republic or Slovakia can benefit from the mobile phone app with the most accurate and up-to-date maps.
“The Mapy.cz app is among the most popular apps Seznam.cz has ever launched. It has more than one million downloads, which for a country of 10 million people means a reach of more than 10 %. The app recommends interesting places to visit in your area in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and plans interesting trips for you. I hope, we will be able to add these features to other countries of the world once. However, I have to admit, we will be concentrating on those countries that are favourite tourist destinations for Czechs – such as Italy or Croatia,” added Martin Fuks, the Senior Product Manager responsible for the Mapy.cz service at Seznam.cz.
An update of the Mapy.cz app for other platforms that will bring the same functionalities as those described above for Android will follow in the near future. Seznam.cz plans to continue adding other countries of the world to download for off-line use as well. Maps to download can be found in the map library in the app.
For editors: More on Mapy.cz
For more than 16 years, Seznam.cz has run its on-line map portal, Mapy.cz. Throughout this time, Seznam.cz developed its own map key and is continuously working on the map database and developing the portal itself.
In recent years, Seznam.cz decided to focus on tourist data. Therefore, Mapy.cz offers the most up-to-date and most specific tourist maps of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Seznam.cz gathers and updates them daily through its own cartographic team. Mapy.cz also allows people to report any changes that need to be made. These are verified by the cartographic team and then incorporated into maps.
This spring, Seznam.cz decided to change the provider of data on other countries outside the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which are covered in-house. After its experience with Navteg data, Seznam.cz decided to use the OpenStreetMap data for the scale of information it offers. Thus in summer 2015, Seznam.cz added a map of the whole wold to its portal. The map of the world is based on the OSM data (outside the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where Seznam.cz has its own data) and is displayed in Mapy.cz´s own map key.
More information is available at http://onas.seznam.cz/en/mapy-cz-en.html.
With nearly 20 years’ experience providing both online and offline maps, the Czech company Seznam.cz has developed an international app enabling all tourists, cyclists, kiters, and travelers to explore the whole world with a single app in their phone. Windy Maps provides the most detailed maps available, with a mission to offer tourists all the …
Hi from the Mapy.cz team. For the last 20 years, we’ve been working to make our app a great travel companion, helping you and offering you great experiences. You’ve been using it for free the whole time, and of course that won’t change. But the operation and the team require an investment of hundreds of millions of crowns. Adding a new paid version will allow us to bring you an even better Mapy.cz, expanding features while minimizing the annoying advertising you don’t like.
Thanks to its corporate membership, the Czech mapping application is now actively supporting the development of OpenStreetMap. The project is one of the key sources of open data that Mapy.cz relies on.
