Product Introduction

1. Mottosuitai is a location-based service designed to help smokers easily identify and navigate to designated smoking areas through an interactive map interface. It automatically displays nearby smoking zones based on the user’s current location and allows collaborative updates to ensure accurate, community-driven data.
2. The core value of Mottosuitai lies in streamlining the discovery of smoking areas while fostering a community-driven platform where users contribute real-time information, reducing the friction of locating compliant spaces in urban or unfamiliar environments.

Main Features

1. The service provides real-time mapping of smoking areas within a 2km radius of the user’s location, leveraging GPS and Google Maps integration for precise navigation and route planning via embedded Google Maps functionality.
2. Users can search for smoking areas by entering keywords (e.g., “Shibuya Station” or “Cafe”) or filtering by prefecture/city through the “Area Search” feature, which also supports narrowing results by tobacco type (e.g., cigarettes, heated tobacco).
3. Registered users can save frequently used smoking areas to favorites, submit new locations via an in-app registration button, and access advanced features like URL-based sharing of pinned locations or direct route navigation to selected spots.

Problems Solved

1. Mottosuitai addresses the challenge of locating compliant smoking areas in regions with strict regulations or limited public information, particularly in Japan where smoking zones are often fragmented or poorly signposted.
2. The primary target users are smokers in Japan, including residents, travelers, and professionals seeking convenient smoking spots during commutes, work breaks, or leisure activities.
3. Typical scenarios include finding nearby smoking areas while traveling, identifying tobacco-type-specific zones (e.g., heated tobacco-friendly spaces), or contributing new locations to fill gaps in the map’s coverage.

Unique Advantages

1. Unlike generic map apps, Mottosuitai specializes in smoking-area data with crowd-sourced updates, ensuring higher accuracy and real-time relevance compared to static or outdated third-party databases.
2. Innovative features include tobacco-type filtering, one-click URL sharing for collaborative mapping, and a hybrid UI that displays both user-submitted pins and Google Maps layers for enhanced context.
3. Competitive advantages include seamless integration with Google Maps for route planning, a minimalist UI optimized for mobile use, and frequent updates driven by both users and the platform’s own data expansion efforts (e.g., adding 3,000+ locations in a single update).

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. How do I share a smoking area with others? Tap any pinned smoking area on the map, select “Route” to open Google Maps for navigation, or use the “Copy URL” option to generate a shareable link for direct access to the location.
2. Can I contribute new smoking areas without an account? No, user registration (free) is required to submit new locations via the bottom-right registration button, ensuring data quality and attribution for community contributions.
3. What benefits do registered users have? Registered users can save favorites, submit/edit locations, access tobacco-type filters, and utilize advanced navigation features like route planning through integrated Google Maps.
4. Is location permission mandatory? Yes, enabling GPS access is required to automatically display nearby smoking areas, though users can manually search for locations without granting permissions.
5. How are tobacco-type filters applied? Users can toggle filters on the map interface to display only smoking areas supporting specific tobacco types, such as cigarettes or heated tobacco, based on crowd-sourced metadata.