Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Taking Store Locator Maps to the Next Level


Why bother designing a whole website when you can just pack everything you need into an awesome Google Maps based user interface?

Uniqlo Undercover is possibly definitely the best store locator map I've ever seen. In fact to call it a store locator map is an insult really.

Sure, you can use the map to find Uniqlo stores around the world but there is so much more to this map than finding your nearest retail outlet. For example check out the 'Looks' map view. This loads custom map tiles of photographs of The Uniqlo range alongside some historical information about the company.

If this has got you intrigued to view the stores clothing range you can then select 'Products'. This map view allows you to use the Google Maps zooming and panning tools to view Uniqlo's products.

By this time in your exploration you will want to tell all your friends about the Uniqlo map. Luckily the map also contains a 'Social' map view. Here you can view the Twitter thumbnail portraits of all those who have shared the map on Twitter and you can of course make your own Tweet.


Uniqlo have a long history of using the Google Maps API in innovative ways to promote their range. In 2009 Uniqlo created a stunning synchronised video and Google Map. That map is now dead but I did manage to capture some video of the map in action:

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