Need feedback on webpage (RainMan this means you!)
 

Ok, I am working on a new web service for people in the Texas bar industry(may expand to other states eventually). I have a prototype that is about 40% finished for the map reporting tool and would like to get some feedback before I go much further. There are still a number of small bugs that I am working on and the style will need a ton of work as well but overall I think the basics should function.

I'd mostly like to get feedback on the reporting itself and anything you guys think of that it may need added.

One thing that is being added but isn't yet showing is the ability to show sales data as it relates to Facebook activity(likes, checkin, events, etc) and Yelp reviews.

ok here is the site... Have at it!

http://barsalesmap.com/map.php

You should allow selecting comparatively and overlay two locations.

I would not really have a need for this information so I would use yelp or google maps personally. Kind of cool though. How do you get the data?

I thought you already did something like this?

The data comes from a bunch of different sources, mostly city and state government and of course yelp and facebook for the social data.

I wouldn't expect any consumer to have a use for this data it's for bar owners mostly. I have a friend in promotions that thinks it may be useful in his field as well but I'm not so sure.

In regards to comparing locations.. that is a different section of the site that gets programmed next. You will be able to do that and much more by creating and saving your own custom reports. That's a fairly huge next step though so I want to make sure the basic map reports are good to go first.

Good catch! Yep I did but nothing close to this scale. The old map report tool was VERY VERY basic and didn't include a fifth of the data that this one does... and most importantly the old interface sucked.

I actually though about approaching a few bar consultants like Taffer and seeing if they would be willing to give their input... but I figured you guys could get a first look and make sure it's not a complete embarrassment before I do!

Why the universal jump in sales in 2013 of each year? Does March Madness + Mardi Gras + St. Pat's Day make that big of a difference?

SXSW mostly.. you'll notice it only occurs in Austin. SXSW is just ridiculous.

So any suggestions regarding the data presentation?

In Chrome, Arlington and Downtown Austin look like the ocean (all blue) until you select a bar.

If you make the font size too big, you lose parts of the graph.

When you have the maximum font size to see the whole graph there is too much black space between the map and the graph.

The ocean map is because I haven't set a delay or event listener to make sure all the markers have loaded before the map loads... the map bounds are defined by the markers so that can cause issues on maps with a ton of info. I have a plan for that but it's a bit tricky.

I haven't messed with fonts yet, those will all get changed. The black space issue is actually a tricky one because of the way google maps handles DIVs... I am working on it but I don't think there will ever be a "perfect" solution there.

Thanks for the input! Otherwise it seems to work ok for ya?

Good concept, needs design help.

Thanks!

I have only done the bare minimum on design so far, just enough to make it functional. Design work will be much later. But yeah I agree the look and feel isn't exactly pretty or even consistent at this point.

Yep. Cool functionality.

I'm not a big design guy, but when I think about functionality and how people would use the site, I would see them using the site for:

1. Sleuthing a particular bar, in which case they'd want a search function and the map function. The map function seems good.

2. Looking at overall market trends, in which case it would be nice to do a "select all" and see their sales summed. And maybe be able to select different time periods.

3. Looking at particular groups of bars, such as all bars in an area or all bars that include restaurants or all bars that have dancing or whatever. It seems like a search function by bar attribute would be nice.

How do you anticipate this site being used?

Also, I'm intrigued with where you would get the data for this. Is it something that the state publishes related to liquor licenses?

AH! This is EXACTLY the feedback I needed!

The market trends idea is a good one... I have the bars broken down by category (sports, dive, restaurant, etc) and also by subregions and other factors.. I did this so that you could filter results but didn't consider aggregating dating by those same factors. So you could get a report of dive bars sales in austin vs sports bars or warehouse district sales per bar vs eastside sales per bar... great idea but a lot of work.. unfortunately it's too good an idea so I'll have to do it... asshole! :D Would it be sufficient to run reports like this or would you think it would need to also be integrated into mapping somehow? (basically color coding entire ares of the map and overlaying the data)

The two main uses for the site as I see are

#1 for current bar owners to look at other bars not only in their region or district but by category or square footage or max occupancy then compare their sales with other factors such as Facebook activity and hopefully give them an idea of their place in the market and what they can do to improve

#2 for people looking to open a bar (or a 2nd or 3rd) to give them an idea of what sales to expect based on the various factors and help them pick a location

and that is just off the top of my head, I can't imagine that more uses for the data won't present themselves. All I know is that the bar owners I know have all said they'd want this.

The data is a mix of state(alcohol sales) and city data(sq ft / max occupancy) mixed in with Facebook and Yelp data. The database is actually a bitch to build but pretty easy to maintain. The hardest part is getting city data... most of the city officials I have dealt with are borderline reeruned.

I wouldn't think that it needs to be integrated into the mapping. Honestly, I see the mapping as being of much less value than the search by name with the graphics at the bottom. It's a nice visual, but bar owners will know who they're looking for.

Maybe the mapping would be good for your potential bar owner market, though. Those folks will be less hooked in.

If I may ask, what's your revenue model?

Interesting.

I tend to agree except that I have found a number of bar owners that simply can't keep up with all the bars in their area. (That's probably a purely Austin problem though.) The real value of the map for me is the "at a glance" data that you can then drill down into.

Monthly subscription website(that's how often the data is updated). I'm not certain on pricing though. I have a general idea of what to charge but I have to keep in mind that this service will be offered "free" when bundled with an entire bar/restaurant marketing suite I am developing... so I may "overcharge" for this service to try to promote the value of the suite. Not sure on that yet. Still have time to work that out.

What's going to be REALLY interesting is when/if I expand outside of Texas. Every state has there own unique take on alcohol control and taxation. A number of states simply won;t have the data at all others will require creative means to obtain it. For example, Pennsylvania has a state monopoly on wholesale liquor sales... so in theory I could do a public records request on the sales they make to each licensee(bar). While it doesn't represent sales numbers it would be analogous enough.

OK I have fixed the "ocean" problem and added a bunch of new functionality. The DIVS are still whacky but those won't get fixed until the very end probably. I have to wait a few weeks before the FaceBook/Yelp data can go in so I'll probably put the map on hold soon and get to work on the tabular custom report building section until then.

If anyone has a few seconds.. test it out and tell me what is still broken and give me any other feedback you might have!

Thanks!

http://barsalesmap.com/map.php

If possible could you link to the menu and or specials for each location? Maybe tequila is a hot ticket item on taco Tuesday or some other unbelievable special helps make up for anomaly in the map. Just a thought

Well the map data only updates monthly so daily fluctuations won't matter. BUT along that same line of thinking... the FB data that is now being aggregated for each location will do something similar. You'll be able to see if a bar's sales correspond with FB activity (likes, checkins, events posted, overall activity etc...)

OK, bunch of new stuff on the site, DIVS still are wonky but that's tomorrow's project. Anyone wants to check it out and tell me what is broken, that would be helpful!

http://barsalesmap.com/map.php