Brand USA Innovates Map through Instagram & Google
- Online Trip-Planning with thousands of constantly changing photos, geo-targeted for international visitors!
Prospective international travelers considering a visit to the United States can now access an exciting and new interactive map that features content from Instagram and Google Maps.
The enhanced map – created via API access to Instagram, Google Maps and Brand USA - and located on Brand USA’s DiscoverAmerica.com – allows travelers to access real-time content, such as points of interest, relevant photos and travel articles that are positioned at corresponding geo-locations on the map.
Thumbnails of public Instagram images taken by both travelers and Brand USA partners populate the map, enlarge when selected and are geo-tagged to provide accurate locations. For the first time ever, industry partners of Brand USA, the destination marketing organization for the U.S., also can add information about their attractions, destinations and accommodations to the map through Brand USA’s content-management system.
"As the nation’s destination-marketing organization, our goal is to inspire and increase travel to the United States," said Tom Garzilli, Brand USA’s senior vice-president of global partner marketing. "International travelers don’t always grasp the size and scale of the U.S. This new map feature integrates inspirational content shared by other travelers with logistical travel information and helps visitors not just in planning their trip, but in actually discovering all this country has to offer.”
The social-media aspects of the map provide travelers with ways to share their planned itineraries and trip experiences with friends and other travelers.
Users also can access a playlist of songs – through Brand USA’s Spotify profile – that correspond with the themes of suggested American road trips. Instagram and Spotify offer free mobile applications that allow their users to share photos and music.
To view the map, visit DiscoverAmerica.com/roadtrips.
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About Brand USA
Brand USA is the nation’s destination marketing organization, dedicated to attracting legitimate international inbound travel to strengthen the U.S. economy, increase exports, create quality jobs, and promote community prosperity. By running data-driven campaigns and unifying messaging across industry and government, Brand USA positions the United States as a top global destination while providing current visa and entry information.
Since 2012 Brand USA, in collaboration with travel industry partners, has been responsible for attracting an additional 10.3 million visitors who spent nearly $35 billion in the United States, generating $76 billion in economic output, and sustaining nearly 40,000 jobs per year. Without any cost to taxpayers, these efforts have generated $10 billion in tax receipts and returned $20 to the U.S. economy for every dollar spent.