Schmap launches Schmap.me map sharing service

Schmap, the folks behind the awesome (and free!) city guide service of the same name, today launched a new map sharing service called Schmap.me.

Schmap.me’s entire purpose is to make map distribution dead simple. You pick a keyword, punch in your address and any other details you want to share, and you’re given a permalink URL to send out to your friends and family as a vCard or party invite. No registration required, and it takes all of about 12 seconds. Here’s an example.

While Schmap.me pages are viewable on standard browsers, the idea really shines when you take it mobile. Schmap.me URLs are short (just the Schmap.me URL followed by whatever keyword you chose when you made it), making them way easier to SMS to friends than a Google Maps URL. With the pages being device-agnostic, it’ll properly format all of your map details for just about any mobile browser you throw it at.

The only gripe I have so far: Schmap.me pages are currently configured to require the “www” at the beginning of the URL. Leave that out, and the server will respond with a 404 error code. People tend to omit the sub-domain when typing URLs on a mobile handset unless it’s absolutely necessary, so that may cause some confusion. Beyond that, the service worked well across the variety of handsets I tested it on.