Voices of Women

  • Annie Schwab
    Director of Marketing, Digital Map Products
Coming from a consulting background in the aerospace and defense sector, Annie Schwab now heads up marketing and strategy as Director for Digital Map Products (DMP). The company provides a host of cloud computing based mapping and data solutions for real estate professionals, online real estate Websites, government agencies and location technology companies.




Tell me a little about Digital Map and who is using your real estate solutions.

We work with several of the MLSs, including the Houston Association of REALTORS®. We also provide online products and data for Redfin, Trulia and Zillow, as well as a number of actual brokerages. Basically, if there’s something a company needs with their map, we can help them.

How has the real estate industry as a whole embraced new data technologies?

The property portals (Redfin, Trulia, Zillow) are still leading the way, with MLSs and brokerages following.

There is a new expectation for mapping and integrated data on the part of the consumer – consumers love to self-educate about real estate. The real estate industry is just realizing that mapping is another way for a consumer to use data more efficiently. Maps are one of the most natural ways to understand location and help tie together related data sets, particularly with real estate. We have seen maps used on real estate sites for the past couple of years to answer questions such as, how far is the nearest school, what is the walkability of this neighborhood or is this house close to a freeway or major road? A map is a great way to communicate a lot of information that people will not likely pick up in a traditional report format.

With mapping we’re actually going back to what is most natural for us as humans – looking for visual cues by using interactive maps and videos. Web 2.0 is a more intuitive form of communication.

What is your role as Director of Marketing at Digital Map to deliver mapping solutions to the real estate industry?

I’ve been with the company almost five years, coming from a really diverse background as a consultant for the aerospace and defense industries. So while I had no prior background in the real estate industry, my unique experience enabled me to come up to speed very quickly on new technologies and on what you need to do to keep moving forward.

My role at Digital Map is to head up marketing and strategy as one of the visionaries in the company. Our goal is to provide thought leadership and innovative technologies to real estate professionals. This offers the opportunity to deliver a message of change without it being harsh. We are having fun with this role – for instance, I made a presentation at Inman Real Estate Connect about top mapping faux pas and how to avoid making them. It was a light-hearted yet informative way to show top real estate executives what they could do with their Websites.

Most women credit their families for their ability to achieve success in the workplace.

My family shaped who I am, setting me up to make my own decisions and to own the decisions I made. They encouraged me to try things; for instance I went to Europe on my own at age 16. It was an amazing experience. And now that I’m pregnant with my first child, I’m just realizing how difficult it was for my parents to let me do that.

My dad has a mantra, “If you’re going to do something, you might as well do it right.” I’ve applied that mantra in both my personal and professional life, and I also try to instill it in the culture of Digital Map Products where we strive for excellence in all we do.

Other than your dad, have you had any other mentors?

Yes, Pierre Thuot was my mentor when I was at Andersen Consulting and helped shape my professional values. He has a “no excuses” style of life. He was a shuttle astronaut and a very down-to-earth guy. I always respected him for his career, he was always reinventing himself. We still keep in touch.