Travel agencies and tour companies are always trying to advertise their product as the most comprehensive and inexpensive package available. For the intrepid traveler, however, claims are not enough and unless complemented by the accurate map detailing everything from time required to costs incurred, they will remain unconvinced. Into this scenario, we bring in flash maps and the option of including everything one needs to know in one visually arresting, easy-to-understand map.
How does it work? Well, we begin by choosing an area of interest to the traveler. In this case, we pick Europe as an example. Countries in Europe have sharp seasonal changes and therefore the weather has to be kept in mind at all times. In this case, let’s make a map for a summer break euro trip. On this trip one can cover all the northern and mid-European countries. First thing to do on this map is the mark the main cities, once this is done, the next step is to plot the routes to and fro that point, each route can be provided with a mouse over option which will provide information such as airline and train services and approximate cost of both.
The pin points marking the cities can be provided with a drill down option to provide basic information about the place and also the best time of the year to visit. If the city has a homepage then that link can also be provided on the map. The map can also be colored in order to indicate the areas of Europe that are best visited in certain seasons. Another version of the map can be engineered to show the kind of budget one requires to traverse an area. If a budget-wise color-coding is done, then a student traveler or a luxury traveler would simply have to click on a zone and then choose options accordingly.