When designing Mapufacture it’s a continuing challenge to provide users with understandable and easy to use interfaces for building maps and finding interesting data sources. The primary concept of Mapufacture is that you can choose an area of interest, and then add data feeds to your map as layers.

The most common difficulty we see is that lots of people are creating maps but not adding any layers. We recently released a number of improvements to Mapufacture, the primary feature being much improved map and layer editing.

Now you can edit your map and add new layers all within the same view of your map. This should make it much easier to quickly make changes without having to go to a new page.

To start, click the “Edit Map” menu on the right-hand side, and choose “Add Layers”. You’ll see a new panel underneath your map with a number of options. Based on your map location, title, and tags Mapufacture suggests several feeds that may be interesting. There is also a list of your Favorited, or bookmarked feeds.

You can also use the Search box to look for other layers based on any keyword, and even limit searches to feeds that correlate with your map’s location.

If you like a feed, click on the title, or the feed [+] sign to add it as a layer to your map. Click “Save” and you’re map should be updated.

You can also quickly add any data source to your map while viewing the feed using the “Add this feed to a map” quick select in the “Share” section.

We’re definitely interested in hearing from you on your thoughts about the new interface. Does it make finding feeds and layers easier - or is there something else we could do?

To let us know, check out our new GetSatisfaction feedback forums where you can ask questions and give feedback about Mapufacture and other tools we help build and support.