From the Blue Blog: Richard Jackson looks at some of the ways Google Maps are being used by the Party’s youth wing.

The great strength of Conservative Future is not primarily in the national organisation, but in the CF branches located across the country.

The work that CF branches do is varied and worthwhile. Examples include the Exeter City & East Devon branch that helped clean up local flood damage and the Cities of London & Westminster branch that raised £3,800 selling Remembrance Day poppies. CF branches also all make a huge contribution to supporting Conservative candidates by providing an effective and large campaigning force.

With over 180 CF branches we needed a way to easily allow a potential member to find their local branch; this is where Google Maps has come in. Using the free technology we now have a branch map, which lists every CF branch in the country. The Google Maps technology has enabled us to produce it simply and make it easily accessible to members and potential members. By visiting the branch map you can zoom in on your local area and then see the closest branch to where you live, it then lists contact details so you can get in touch.

This is not the only use we have for this simple tool. We have just launched a map for the Norwich North by-election; showing the constituency outline, the location of the campaign HQ and local travel information. Other uses include the campaigning map which lists all CF campaigning events and the ‘CF backs NO2ID’ map we are launching soon, which will list all our University branches that have passed motions against ID cards.

There are near endless possibilities for this technology and it has greatly improved our online presence. These maps look both aesthetically pleasing and allow the user to view data in an easy format.

Related posts:

1. A busy year for Conservative Future in the North East
2. Conservative Future is ready to campaign for change
3. Launching London Conservative Future into 2010