Ed Burgass is the owner and founder of FlyFishMap.com and his main goal is to put Fly Fishing into a Global perspective through the use of social map technologies.
First a little bio about yourself and introducing your product . . . 100 or so words.
I’m the owner and founder of Flyfishmap.com. Brought up in Nottingham, England, I now live in London with my long time girlfriend, Bryony (whom I’ve even taught to fly fish). I’m 39 and aside from FFM, work as an Internet publishing consultant to media agencies and direct clients in the UK. I’m well traveled having lived and worked in Australia, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka and of course, I’m a fly fishing addict.
Where did the idea for this technology come from?
A couple of years ago, I became more aware of Google Maps mashups and their potential and realized that I could develop something pretty useful based around fly fishing. I looked around and found directory sites and localized maps but nothing that really covered fly fishing from a global perspective and so I set about developing FlyFishMap.com
You are encouraging user interactivity, not much seen in the fishing world, why?
We realized pretty early on that this would only have legs if the content was user generated. There are plenty of Google maps mashups out there where the content has been solely generated by the site owner, they’ve basically mapped all they can and the site is essentially finished. But Flyfishmap will always grow and develop because there will always be another great video, photo or article around the corner.
What is your ultimate goal with this tech?
The site continues to grow and we aim to get as much useful and entertaining information on there as possible. I envisage the site going through several stages as the content grows. Stage 1 being ‘interesting’, then stage 2 ‘useful’, stage 3 ‘valuable’ and stage 4 ‘invaluable’. We’re still in stage 1 right now for most visitors and leaning towards stage 2 for the international angler. We also have exciting plans to develop the site further and increase the functionality of markers. Ultimately we want FlyFishmap to be a unique one-stop shop for planning fly fishing trips anywhere in the world.
What’s your background?
Well I’ve been fly fishing since I was 8 years old. Business wise, I’ve worked in magazine publishing and new media for most of my career and am passionate about the web and the opportunities it offers, having worked in start ups as well as with established businesses growing their digital offering. Outside of work and aside from fly fishing, I like to shoot when I get the chance. I’m also partial to a game of snooker and enjoy watching football (soccer!) especially my home team, Nottingham Forest.
How is this tech relevant to the everyday angler?
I love to fish new places and FFM is proving to be a great way to find new places to go or to dream about going fly fishing. At the moment the site is probably most useful for the traveling angler but as we are moving into Stage 2 ‘useful’, the everyday angler looking for more local information will find the site helpful. Of course, because the content is generated by users, we hope fly fishers everywhere will embrace the collaborative nature of the site and add their own photos and videos. We would also like them to encourage their local tackle shops, guides and places to stay to add their own markers too – the more people and companies involved, the more useful it will be for everyone.
One of our main targets this year is to encourage more conservation organizations to use the map to its full potential and show anglers the important issues that are affecting the areas they fish in. I hope that FFM can play a role in educating fly fishers about critical conservation issues because the more people who know about them, the more people there are to fight for government/local authorities to take action. When we promote the content from these organizations on FFM, we can help build a stronger voice for the fly fishing community all over the world.
Where do you see your site in 5 years?
We’ll hopefully have many thousands of markers in 5 years and the site will have become an invaluable tool for planning fly fishing trips anywhere in the world. We also have lots of exciting plans to develop and expand the technology and launch more services to businesses using the platform, as well as giving our users a lot more functionality. We certainly have mobile aspirations and as Google develops its mapping technology we will be taking advantage as we see fit.
What role do you see the use of social media in the future of the fishing industry?
Social media is playing an increasingly important role in many types of business and the recreational fishing industry is no exception. This new ability to communicate and interact directly with people from all over the world and from all walks of life is amazing and I think companies which don’t seize this opportunity are shooting themselves in the foot basically.
From the start, I felt it was important to develop a presence on Facebook, Twitter and Linked In, places where we can directly connect with fly fishers and fly fishing companies and more importantly where they can interact with us.
I think we’ll see increasing usage of people accessing these sites via mobile in the next few years and it will also be interesting to see how location based services such as Foursquare and Gowalla can become applicable to fly fishers.
Explain your favorite fishing experience or best day on the water.
Well there’s so many to choose from and the great thing about fly fishing is that there’s always the chance of another ‘best’ day around the corner J. A couple of years ago, I did have a fantastic day on the River Avon in Hampshire, UK. It was a mayfly hatch that I will never forget as there were literally clouds of them in and around the water. The fish were going absolutely crazy and I caught a few nice ones but to be honest it will remain in my memory as just an amazing spectacle to behold rather than a red letter day.
Favorite fish species?
Probably the sea trout (sea run brown trout or ‘sewin’ in Wales.). It’s a fantastic fighting fish and we usually fish for them at night in the UK. They’re very wary and difficult to catch but it’s incredibly exciting standing in a Welsh river at night, casting a fly into the dark, then getting a savage, arm-wrenching take and trying to control an explosive bar of silver as it leaps around the pool.