I like this idea. As someone who has built a number of small business websites in the past, I could see using a lg.cx link.
Some comments:
Permanence is always a concern with url shorteners. Especially for small business websites where I'll implement the site (and the associated admin allowing them to customize much of it on their own) and sometimes not touch the code again for years. I don't know what the solution is for this concern but it's worth noting and it's something that business owners ask about when you are using "new" technology.
Don't add comments by default. Yelp already exists and in general comments allow for trolls more often than useful, meaningful information. Meaningful comments generally come from a community. Maybe have a checkbox to allow for disqus comments.
An alternate take on comments... Moderate and scope them. Allow for comments that are actually ABOUT the directions and location. This is probably the ideal solution. But it may also be a lot of (needless) work.
An embeddable widget would be great. Ala google maps. Something that could be embedded with the ability to customize the design minimally. Just enough customization so that it matches the site it's embedded on. When I'm working on a small business website I'm always looking for drop-in reliable widgets that customers are happy with. Ideally the widget would be a drop-in replacement for google maps. But still with all the useful additional links and description found on a lg.cx page. It's an easy sell since it offers more options for the users.
As for customizing the name in the link - that doesn't really matter to me. I can see why it would be cool. But you've already solved the problem - shrinking insanely long google map links and providing a single location with links to multiple map services. I'll likely wrap an lg.cx link with a meaningful description in an <a> tag if it's on a website or in an email. I can see customizing names as useful for "true" bit.ly uses lg.cx though.
Some comments:
Permanence is always a concern with url shorteners. Especially for small business websites where I'll implement the site (and the associated admin allowing them to customize much of it on their own) and sometimes not touch the code again for years. I don't know what the solution is for this concern but it's worth noting and it's something that business owners ask about when you are using "new" technology.
Don't add comments by default. Yelp already exists and in general comments allow for trolls more often than useful, meaningful information. Meaningful comments generally come from a community. Maybe have a checkbox to allow for disqus comments.
An alternate take on comments... Moderate and scope them. Allow for comments that are actually ABOUT the directions and location. This is probably the ideal solution. But it may also be a lot of (needless) work.
An embeddable widget would be great. Ala google maps. Something that could be embedded with the ability to customize the design minimally. Just enough customization so that it matches the site it's embedded on. When I'm working on a small business website I'm always looking for drop-in reliable widgets that customers are happy with. Ideally the widget would be a drop-in replacement for google maps. But still with all the useful additional links and description found on a lg.cx page. It's an easy sell since it offers more options for the users.
As for customizing the name in the link - that doesn't really matter to me. I can see why it would be cool. But you've already solved the problem - shrinking insanely long google map links and providing a single location with links to multiple map services. I'll likely wrap an lg.cx link with a meaningful description in an <a> tag if it's on a website or in an email. I can see customizing names as useful for "true" bit.ly uses lg.cx though.