Guide to Using ByPlace

The Exact Editions platform provides a ByPlace function. With this a publisher can create free hotspots, which will give app users complete free access in a particular zone; a zone which is approximately 100 metres radius from the centre point of the ByPlace pin. Currently this ByPlace functionality works with all the Exact Editions iOS apps. Since this is a free tool for publishers on the Exact Editions platform, it may be useful to provide some advice on how to set up ByPlace locations for your app. Its a great promotional tool, but you need to inform your potential users of its availability.

First you will need to log-in to your Publisher Account at Exact Editions, then go to your Publisher Dashboard and click on ByPlace.

When you click through for ByPlace, you will be presented with a map. And you may zoom in on this map with point and click with your desktop or pinch/touch on your iPad. The map is global, but by zooming it can take you in close to a city, or even to the scale for individual buildings. Here is a medium resolution view of London with some ByPlace venues set up on a publisher account:

If you want to insert a new ByPlace pin in your map, point and click your way to a scale where you are confident about inserting a pin, and then press the Add Venue button, just click on the pin to move to the exact spot you need. You will then be offered various fields to complete on a form at the bottom of the map.

The Label field, is just for housekeeping. If you are using ByPlace a lot you may wish to see labels on the pins that you are setting up. The Courtesy of field will display the name of the venue, or the magazine, or whoever you select as hosting the resource, users will see this courtesy message while they use the app in the zone. The Available titles field will present you with a choice of your titles on the Exact Editions platform, select one or more of those titles. When you are happy with your placement, the courtesy message and the choice of titles, remember to press the Save button. Within a few seconds your apps for those titles will be live at the location (note the blue penumbra which indicates the extent of the zone). Note also that the button for Delete Venue, will do just that when the time comes to close down your ByPlace access at that location. There is a tab for Page Views, which will display usage of your titles at that location, showing pages viewed each day:

Those are the basic steps for using the ByPlace tool. Now for a couple of hints as to how to work with a lot of locations. First, for the UK, you will find it easy to type or paste the post code for your location into the search box (Magnifying glass) at the bottom left of each map.

When you have typed or pasted the post code into your search box, hit return. The system may give you a pull down list of street addresses, so choose the one that you need. Use your Add Venue button and complete the form!

If you want to set up ByPlace locations which are not in the UK, this is easily done with geolocations taken from Google Maps, or straight from a mobile device. You will need latitude:longitude pairs, with four values after the decimal place (or five or six — four gets you down to individual buildings which is useful, five to trees, six is really more than we need and gets you to the precise table outside a cafe). The latitude:longitude data can be cut and pasted from Google Maps (click on a location, then Ctrl+click/’whats here’) straight to the Search box. Separate the latitude from the longitude with a comma+space and press return.

If you have more than 100 UK Postcodes or Latitude:Longitude co-ordinates we may be able to help you with a bulk upload, we will need them in a tidy spreadsheet. Here is a mini example: