Simplify sales activity planning, territory management, and geo-targeted communications with intuitive, LWC-powered map displays for Salesforce.
Highlights
- Create interactive map visualizations for standard or custom Salesforce objects.
- Easily interpret and categorize your data using color coding pins, custom area selection, and direct-from-map record editing.
- Maximize the efficiency of field reps through the use of optimized and user-defined routes.
- Enjoy a comprehensive mobile experience with turn-by-turn directions and Salesforce mobile app integration.
As companies demand higher productivity from employees, it’s critical for sales and field service teams to maximize their activity every day. But manual activity planning can be a cumbersome, time-consuming task that often results in wasted time, excess spending on fuel, and missed opportunities.
Without automation, inefficient routes often result in excess fuel consumption, excessive wait time between appointments, and missed or rescheduled visits, which can lead to a negative customer experience and a potential hit on revenue. Wouldn’t it be nice for teams to minimize these risks?
Vision-e Maps for Lightning helps reps plan an ideal visit schedule. Plus it includes handy features for reps to adjust on the fly, like identifying nearby accounts to visit in the event of a cancellation. Unlike list layouts, interactive maps give Salesforce Admins and users instant awareness of the geographic relationship of their accounts and the local area.
This comprehensive review explores the essential features, advantages, and ideal use cases of Vision-e Maps for Lightning. It provides an overview of the setup process and outlines how rapidly your team can implement and leverage this powerful tool to enhance productivity and streamline location-based workflows.
Features
Increasing your team’s in-field activity level is the main goal of Maps for Lightning. By combining automation with geographic account data, reps can turn one- or two-visit days into highly productive, multi-visit bonanzas.
Maps for Lighting starts with the address, which it translates into latitude and longitude to determine the pin position on the map…a process known as geocoding. Using Vision-e’s built-in geo-coder, Accounts, Leads, and Contacts are readily available to geocode. Custom objects can be field-mapped to those records and geocoded as well. Depending on the volume of your data, the processing time will vary, so make sure to return to the Vision-e Geocodes tab to monitor progress and upload to the Salesforce records once ready.
Creating and Loading Maps
Once the records are geocoded, it’s time to create the actual map. To start, simply navigate to the dedicated Vision-e Maps for Lightning app included in the package.
The page is composed of multiple Lightning Web Components, enabling you to arrange them on the page in a way that best aligns with your existing Salesforce processes. It is useful, however, to keep all the components, as you and your users will likely make use of them all.
Creating a map is straightforward and fast. Simply give it a name, choose the desired geocoded object, then apply filters or make use of existing Reports or List Views to choose records.
You can also use filter logic to leverage multiple fields, and you can also traverse relationships: for example, you can filter on the Account Owner’s role if needed. After saving the map, the records appear as pins on the map.
Soon enough, your team will have multiple maps available, and that’s when the genius of combined views comes into play. Individual maps can be overlaid to display objects that can’t be related in a Salesforce report, like accounts and leads. Each map will maintain the filters you choose when creating it. How valuable is that?
Selecting and Updating Records
After the pins appear on the interactive map, users can click on each of them and review or update record details in a LWC. The component leverages the compact layout, so while the maximum of 10 fields limit remains, you can still customize it as needed. Additionally, if there are any Tasks or Events related to the record, they appear in a dedicated tab. The Events only component displays a list view of your choice, to provide instant awareness of upcoming Events when planning activities.
The record(s) selected also appear in the component below the record details, where you can search for records within the map.
For operational purposes, such as reassigning Accounts, selected records can be exported to a .CSV file to be manipulated and then imported back into Salesforce.
Color Rules
In this example, having all Accounts on the map is useful, but additional criteria can be added to create an even more insightful visualization. Color rules help users quickly discern unique record characteristics such as product, account value, or opportunity stage.
Also, it’s easy to use map view in a presentation. The familiar “picture” icon snaps a screenshot of the map and automatically downloads it to the user’s device.
Establish the Route
Now that you know how records are displayed as pins, let’s create a route for the Account Owner to follow.
Maps for Lightning offers various ways to select records, including shapes such as circles and squares, and a draw tool for freehand. If you’re not happy with the selection, you can clear it with the eraser; otherwise, click the Pin icon to add the Accounts to the route.
If the shapes don’t correlate with the records displayed on the map, use the pen functionality to freehand draw around the records you want to capture for the route.
Create the Route and its Optimized Version
Generating the route and the recommended optimized version is done with the click of a button. Simply click the Pin icon to add the selected records to the route. Within the “My Route” component, users can easily reorder the records as needed, and the optimized route will update accordingly. The optimized route displays exactly how much time can be saved by following the recommended directions.
Note that on the map itself, users can choose their preferred view, display traffic conditions or incidents, or toggle to a heatmap to quickly see record concentrations.
Add Point of Interest
One of the essentials of an early morning trip is the hot coffee you get before you set off, right? Maps for Lightning ensures that the route remains adaptable to the user’s needs, including stopping off at Starbucks before starting any meetings.
To add a temporary point of interest, use the “+” sign from “My Route” and enter the destination address. The pin can be adjusted directly on the map as needed to point to the correct location. Temporary POIs disappear when the map is refreshed or a new route is created.
Send by Email
Once happy with the route, the user can save it or update it if a saved route was used. When ready to use the route, users email directions directly to their device so they won’t have to return to Salesforce while en route.
Turn by Turn Directions on the Go
Remember the email we sent above? It includes links to Google Maps and Here Maps for turn-by-turn directions in the preferred navigation app. The email also includes a detailed breakdown of each turn, including the estimated duration.
These features reduce the need for laptop access on the go. If the rep determines there is another record they can visit in the local area, they can simply retrieve the record from the Salesforce mobile app and get directions.
The dedicated Vision-e Maps (mobile) page allows them to make use of the Lightning Web Component to click into the record they need and open the directions in their navigation app. Google Maps, Here, Waze, and Apple Maps are supported.
Use Cases
Sales teams are an obvious use case for this solution, especially for those that plan territories. But Vision-e Maps for Lightning can be used by other functional teams for different purposes – whether they involve actual travel or not.
Public Sector
Within the public sector, social workers are under increasing pressure to keep up with mounting caseloads. Maps for Lightning’s intelligent route planning tool can help them optimize their workday based on appointment location, time, and duration. “My Route” quickly identifies time gaps that workers can use for additional appointments or office work.
Geo-Targeted Communication and Marketing
In October 2024, a US-based financial services company used Vision-e Maps to alert customers in the path of Hurricane Helene. Using the freeform drawing tool, the company outlined the projected path of the storm and identified all Accounts within the specified area.
They exported the resulting Account data to a .csv file and uploaded it into Marketing Cloud Account Engagement to send time-critical messages to affected customers.
Product Tracking and Market Penetration
Color-coded map displays are an effective way to quickly visualize product dispersion and market penetration. An Australia-based non-profit veterinary organization uses Vision-e Maps to track the progress of its vaccination program.
Pin concentrations and heatmaps readily identify underserved areas–a key element in strategic planning.
Coaching
Vision-e Maps for Lightning also provides managers with a valuable coaching tool. Managers can quickly determine best practices by analyzing daily activity levels, then disseminate those lessons across the team.
Setup
Getting started with Maps for Lightning is easy!
Simply install the managed package from AppExchange, assign a license and the readily available permission sets, and geocode your records. The last stage may take the longest time if you have many (hundreds of thousands) records to consider, but once that is done, you and your team can start creating the maps and routes.
Support
While the setup is straightforward and intuitive, Vision-e has also created the complete course for Maps for Lightning directly on their Vision-e University learning platform. The course is completely free. On top of the written instructions and details about each of the components, it also includes hands-on demos, which you can click through even before the installation to get a glimpse.
Pricing
Vision-e Maps for Lightning is currently priced at $39/user/month, which is all-inclusive – the geocoding tool and interactive map with associated components, as well as live onboarding, configuration, and training.
Summary
If you are looking to increase productivity, save time and fuel, and/or send geo-specific marketing and strategic messaging, Vision-e’s Maps for Lightning may be exactly what you’ve been searching for.
By easily visualizing standard or custom object records on a map, creating optimized routes, and conducting territory planning, this tool can make the end-to-end planning process a breeze for admins and users alike.
If you enjoyed this overview and you’d like to try out Maps for Lightning for yourself, you’re in luck! With the free trial, you can take it for a spin in one of your sandboxes or developer edition orgs. You can also schedule a bespoke demo here, and the Vision-e team will be more than happy to explore how the solution fits your use case.
