Google Measure Map FAQ

Google has acquired Measure Map blog analytics service from Adaptive Path. Jeffrey Vee, an Adaptive Path founder and Product Director for Measure Map, joins the Google Team as a Design Manager.

This is very exciting news for Bloggers especially Google Blogspot users. Here are answers to some of the most common questions regarding MeasureMap and Google deal.

Why did Google acquire MeasureMap when it already owns Urchin Web Analytics ?

Google Analytics' has just one problem - it displays too much information which most of bloggers are not interested in. As a Blogger, one is not interested in Goals Conversion or A/B split testing. All we need is a Statcounter or Sitemeter like service with a simple non-complicated interface. MeasureMap is the answer.

Google Analytics vs Measuremap - Is Measure Map back-end technology different from Google Analytics ?

Measure Map uses Macromedia Flash, Ajax, HTML, CSS, Javascript and Flash Action Script. These are the same technologies used by Google Analytics for displaying analytics data. Other popular Google apps like Google Maps and GMail are based on the AJAX platform.

Infact, Google may leverage the Ajax skills of Measure Map team for the development other Google Web Apps.



Will Google MeasureMap work on my Web Platform ?

MeasureMap can be easily configured for any web blog platform including Google Blogger, MovableType, TypePad, WordPress, TextPattern, Drupal, Expression Engine, Typo and even .NET based blogs.

Convinced - How do I sign-up for Google MeasureMap ?

Like GMail and Orkut, Measure Map is open only by invitation.

I received a MeasureMap invite. What's next
MeasureMap will also send you a MeasureMap key. Once you know your key, just insert the following Javascript snippet anywhere in your blog template or HTML page.

<script type="text/javascript" 
 src="http://tracker.measuremap.com/a/[MeasureMap Key]"></script>

Following is the source code of the MeasureMap Javascript tracking code.

var MeasureMap={visitUrl:"http://tracker.measuremap.com/a/1571/visit",viewUrl:"http://tracker.measuremap.com/a/1571/view",leaveUrl:"http://tracker.measuremap.com/a/1571/to",viewId:"53393664",blogId:"1571",firefox:(navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase().indexOf('firefox')!=-1),loaded:false,visitor:null,initialize:function(){this.visitor=this.readVisitor();if(!this.visitor)this.pingVisitor();this.platform.initialize(this);},pingVisitor:function(){var url=this.visitUrl+"?v="+this.viewId+"&repeat="+((this.isRepeat())? "true":"")+"&"+this.nocache();document.write("<script type='text/javascript' src='"+url+"'></script>");},ping:function(){var pingImage=new Image();if(this.firefox)ingImage.onerror=this.clearFirefoxStatus;pingImage.src=this.viewUrl+"?s="+this.visitor+"&v="+this.viewId+"&url="+escape(document.location.href)+"&from="+escape(document.referrer)+"&"+this.postsQuery()+"&"+this.commentsQuery()+"&"+this.nocache();},pingOutgoing:function(toUrl){if(toUrl&&toUrl!=''&&document.images){new Image().src=this.leaveUrl+"?v="+this.viewId+"&url="+escape(toUrl)+"&"+this.nocache();}return true;},onload:function(){this.loaded=true;this.ping();this.oncomplete();},onvisit:function(id){this.visitor=id;this.ping();this.saveVisitor(id);this.oncomplete();},oncomplete:function(){if(this.visitor&&this.loaded){this.complete();}},complete:function(){this.trackLinks();this.saveRepeat();},trackLinks:function(){if(document.getElementById){var trackHref=function(link){return function(){ return MeasureMap.pingOutgoing(link.href);}}var links=document.getElementsByTagName('a');for(var i=0;i<links.length;i++){this.addEvent(links[i],'onmousedown',trackHref(links[i]));}}},postsQuery:function(){var p=this.platform.getPosts();var collect=[];if(p){for(var i=0;i<p.length;i++){collect[collect.length]="p[]="+p[i];}}return(collect.length)? collect.join('&'):"p=";},commentsQuery:function(){var p=this.platform.getPosts();var c=this.platform.getComments();var collect=[];if(p&&p.length==1&&c){for(var i=0;i<c.length;i++){collect[collect.length]="c[]="+c[i];}}return(collect.length)? collect.join('&'):"c=";},saveRepeat:function(){this.setCookie('mmrepeat','true',10000);},isRepeat:function(){return this.cookie('mmrepeat')!=null;},saveVisitor:function(id){this.setCookie('mmsession',id,1);this.setCookie('mmtmpsess',"true",null);},readVisitor:function(){return this.cookie('mmtmpsess')&&this.cookie('mmsession');},addEvent:function(object,method,func){var e=object[method];object[method]=function(){if(typeof e=="function")e();return func();}},cookie:function(name){var n=name+this.blogId+"=";var ca=document.cookie.split(';');for(var i=0;i<ca.length;i++){var c=ca[i];while(c.charAt(0)==' ')c=c.substring(1,c.length);if(c.indexOf(n)==0)return c.substring(n.length,c.length);}return null;},setCookie:function(name,value,days){var c=name+this.blogId+"="+(value||"")+";path=/";if(days){var d=new Date();d.setTime(d.getTime()+(days*24*60*60*1000));c+=";expires="+d.toGMTString();}document.cookie=c;},nocache:function(){return "x="+(new Date).getTime();},clearFirefoxStatus:function(){var f=document.createElement('iframe');f.style.display='none';document.body.appendChild(f);document.body.removeChild(f);},platform:{initialize:function(mm){mm.addEvent(window,"onload",function(){ mm.onload();return true;});},getPosts:function(){<br />return window.mmposts;},getComments:function(){return window.mmcomments;}}};MeasureMap.initialize();<br />

Does Measure Map service have any problems ?

Similar to Google Analytics, Measure Map does have some performance issues. Om hopes that Google's resources will improve the performance of MeasureMap because till recently it has sucked wind and shows all sorts of weird data.

Kevin Lynch introduced Adaptive Path MeasureMap at the Web 2.0 Conference Presentation (see the presentation below)