The Last Mile

In our continuing series of posts about Segway Social, today we’ll take a look at the calculator.

It’s been one of the most popular areas on Segway Social and helps you understand the tangible difference between using a car and a Segway PT.

Using the calculator isn’t rocket science. The calculations behind it come closer, but all it really does is bring to life some of the findings in our white paper and data from governmental organizations.

Here’s the green calculator:

To get some results, we need a place to start. Enter info in the three fields about distance traveled per day, the gas mileage you get in your car, and the current price of gas. You can change the units of measurement to make it work for your local geography.

Click calculate and you get this:

We’ll be making some improvements here based on user feedback.

Specifically:

• Unit measurements in liters per 100km for our international friends
• Running tally of the cumulative miles you’ve ridden on your Segway PT

The central place for all goings on within Segway Social is the map.

As a general site visitor, you’re able to jump right on in there and see everything that’s going on within the owner community. As an owner, you’re able to create and join groups, and add glides/places.

If you don’t log in and click on the map tab, Segway Social prompts you to either view the world map or to search your area. If you click on the world map button, the map will randomly show you 10 glide indicators (as shown with a red dot). Want to know where places or groups are? Click on the different color indicators in the lower left. To get more detail on any, click on the dot and it’ll zoom right on in. To view more, click on “show 10 more” button in the upper-left.

If you want to see what’s going on in your neck of the woods, go right ahead and enter a city and state or country name into the search field and click “search”.

Once logged in as a user, you can add/edit glides, places, groups.

Here’s how to add a glide:

• Set up the map using the zoom slider so that you can see the entire glide route you’re seeking to indicate
• Click on “add/edit glide” in the lower right
• Choose whether or not you’d like to associate your glide with a group or not
• Add title and description information to the new window on the left that just popped up
• Click on the map to draw the glide route. Note that the distance is totaled in the left-hand window as you go along.
• Click save

Here is what the end result might look like:

Adding places and groups is very similar, so head on in and populate the map with cool info.

-Eric

We worked hard to ensure Segway Social is a useful tool for our owners. There are a few main areas that you’ll want to know in order to start having fun and connecting with others.

1.) Sign up
This is the first thing you should do to get started. Don’t worry if you don’t have your serial number handy, it’s an optional field.

2.) The map
If there’s a central hub of Segway Social, it’s the map. Once you’re signed up, you can create and view glides (Segway PT ride routes), places, and groups on the map. Each indicator is a different color. Note the zoom level slider in the upper-right corner.

3.) Photos
Use your Flickr account to upload photos to the segwaysocial photo pool. It’s simple and fun to associate photos the groups.

4.) News
This is a news feed from Segway featuring articles, videos, and other posts from around the Web.

5.) Green calculator
One of the coolest parts to the site. Type in your car’s efficiency, price of gas, and the mileage, click “calculate,” and it’ll give you carbon emissions and cost savings after negating out the cost and environmental effects of charging a Segway PT for the same amount of use. Calculations are based off of our white paper.

6.) Tips & Tricks
This is a Wiki area that allows visitors to post helpful information about using and owning a Segway PT.

That’s a very quick top-line overview of some of the features of Segway Social. Next post we’ll dive in deeper to the map and show you how to add glides, places, and create groups.

-Eric

There’s one thing that amazes me about what we do. It’s not the sophisticated technology inside a Segway Personal Transporter (PT) that enables it to balance and provide an experience like none other. Nor is it the chance to work with incredibly passionate people who show up to work each day to face what at times seems like an insurmountable challenge: educate the world on what the Segway PT is, what it’s for, and why they should get one.

The thing that keeps many of us coming back each day is the chance to hear from customers about their experiences using our product. It could be a snippet about what the neighbors say when they first see an i2 go by. Maybe it’s about how their commute was flipped upside down from being stuck in traffic to being free from a defined route or scheduled pick-ups. Or, quite simply, it could be how they were able to experience life in a whole new way.

These experiences come from everywhere around the globe, transcending culture, language, age, and race in a way that seems to reinvigorate confidence in our future while solving today’s problems. And yet, at the end of the day, what we do is simple.

We provide a new (well, relatively so as far as transportation goes) and different way for people to get around. For the more than 650 police departments and security organizations worldwide that use our product, it’s serious business; providing mobility as a means to starting a conversation and reconnecting with the community.

To you and me, the use is less critical, but equally gratifying. It can be a really fun way to get from home to work and grab a coffee and paper on the way in. Or perhaps it’s the most memorable way to tour a city. Regardless of exactly what “it” is, life on a Segway PT is the same familiar world, transformed. Words here can’t describe it. You just have to try it.

Through our customers is a central theme. Therein lies a willingness to make a social sacrifice to try something new and be a little different. Today, we acknowledge your commitment to change and invite you to share experiences and connect with each other.

So with this primary purpose of connecting our customers, please accept our warmest invitation to join us at Segway Social. There you’ll be able to tell the world where you are, what you do each day with your Segway PT, join similar interest groups, swap photos, post tips & tricks, and even educate us about how you’re helping the environment through the use of your Segway PT.

Without further ado, please come on over – owners and non-owners alike – to http://social.segway.com and participate with us as we loosen-up the collar a few notches and show the world a little more about the experiences of being a part of the greater Segway community.

Cheers,
Eric

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Eric Fleming is marketing communications manager for Segway Inc. with close to 6 years being atop two wheels.

Target, one of the nation’s leading discount retailers, is rolling out a security upgrade in 150 of their retail locations, literally. Security personnel will use the Segway i2 Police to patrol parking lots and surrounding areas in an effort to increase mobility, visibility and response time.

Target chose the Segway PTs because personnel stand 8 inches taller, allowing them to scan larger areas at a time; the units can also be used indoors and out, due to their zero-emission, battery-powered platform.

The Segway PTs are expected to roll across parking lots nationally, with immediate plans in Seattle, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles and Dallas.

Thanks to B2B Segway for delivery of the units.

Company press release