Mapsofworld and Been There Done That

Most websites repurpose, repackage and reprocess travel content that is floating around and easy-to-do, making the journey easier. However, this is not what Mapsofworld subscribes to. We decided that Mapsofworld should try to do as much of “been there done that” content for travel section as possible.

“Been there done that” for a world site is easier said than done. Having decided that we would put our feet on the street, the sheer magnitude of our project decoded in front of us. Immediate thought was this is not doable for a business of our size. It would be far too expensive for us so we would need to think of some way else. Much deliberations later, our stance remains the same – we have to have first hand content, not shared anywhere before.

Hundreds of articles in Mapsofworld have evolved after we put our feet on the street and in a few cases our feet were my feet.  I particularly remember a few posts, one of which is Street Food in Istanbul. To do articles, completely original ones like these, one needs patience, module flexibility, equipment and unending commitment. Once all of that is brought on the table, taking any challenge head on ceases to be an issue. For this one article, I walked the streets of Istanbul taking notes, coming back with my camera to take initial shots and  then returning to take some more. At the end of the day, however, it all feels good to have been able to stitch together a photo-story, which is real and believable.