As a Google employee recently said, "Google Maps is evolving from a driving directions and business search tool, to a comprehensive representation of all the world's information, on a map." That's why Google Maps started to integrate
different layers of information when you search for an address and it added a new "More" button to enable layers for photos and Wikipedia articles. Google Maps
now includes in search results personalized maps, geolocated content from the web and
mapped web pages.
There's a new option to search for real estate: click on "show search options" and select "real estate" from the drop-down. The search results
don't seem to be powered by come from
Google Base. Google shows structured information about houses and lets you refine the results by price, number of bedrooms and bathrooms. Even if there aren't too many advanced features, it's interesting to see that Google Maps wants to index all the information that could be displayed on a map.
Many real estate sites use Google Maps API and the first Google Maps mashup was
HousingMaps, a site that displays Craigslist housing listings on a map. Last month,
Trulia was one of the first sites that
integrated Google Street View "to add efficiency to the real estate search experience and help home buyers discover more information about particular neighborhoods".
(The post was updated to reflect that the data is obtained from Google Base.)
Labels: Google Maps
macbeach said on May 13, 2008 3:43 PM PDT:
I think the Real Estate search has been there for quite a while, but under "My Maps" where it shows up twice, once as Created by others, and once as Created by Google. Looks to me like these are all essentially providing the same information, but it is not clear what the source is.
I'm sure the people at MLS who sell this data as a subscription service are having nightmares over it.
Anybody tell me what sort of feed the realtor's site provides for Google to read/index?
Rob said on May 14, 2008 12:51 AM PDT:
About time - and to think of all the Real Estate sites that have been using Google Maps and gifted them with a few years of insights!
@macbeach:
You're right, but now it's easier to access. The same goes with the new "More" button that lets you enable additional layers (photos, Wikipedia articles), which were previously available in the mapplets directory.
Data Feeds can be created and uploaded directly to Google Base (which this feature gets results from)
More info can be found here : http://base.google.com/support/
But theres a section aimed solely at real estate here :
http://base.google.com/base/help/realestate.html
Any problems try the Google Base Help Group : http://groups.google.com/group/base-help-discussion
I don't think this feature uses Google Base. The results aren't the same and Google Maps links to sites that have RSS feeds. As you might know, Google Maps indexes KML files and feeds that include locations.
It might use other data sources but does use Google Base data.
For the search in the image on the post 'duplex near ny' listing J is directly from a Google Base hosted item.
http://maps.google.com/local_url?q=http://www.google.com/base/a/3387656/D5078484056144631669&dq=duplex+near+ny&f=q&hl=en&geocode=&mrt=realestate&output=js&jsv=111&sll=40.717574,-74.003427&sspn=0.040529,0.080338&abauth=9e48a552:0Tut_-26DH1nJRbtZjJl3JQ88-U&absince=213&s=ANYYN7mAwQfGm7b1lbQ2FxWCJkS-Ap_kcA
Just a simple comparison between Maps and Base for the query [fsbo energy efficient] restricted to the US.
Maps: 1000 results
Base: 2 results
http://base.google.com/base/s2?q=fsbo+energy+efficient&a_n0=housing&a_y0=9&view=map&hl=en&gl=US
Shows about 3000
So i don't know where your getting 2 from.
About 1,000 for Maps is about right if its using the Google Base Data API : http://code.google.com/apis/base/reference.html
'For the snippets feed, start-index must be greater than or equal to 1 and less than 1000. The sum of start-index + max-results cannot be greater than 1000.'
The API is restricted to 1,000 .
There are also factors surrounding differing relevance results between the API and the Google Base search tool.
Ian said on May 14, 2008 7:03 AM PDT:
Hey, how about throwing up a "Beta" if it's going to be buggy. Nice proof of concept though...
@Tom:
Google says you are right and the data comes from Google Base. I updated the post.
Wael said on May 14, 2008 5:33 PM PDT:
This feature does not provide a serious buyer specific information about homes in the area, It's meant to be used by speculators. Where exactly is this data. How can I know how long this home is being listed for or look at 5+ photos of the property, or better yet how can I find room sizes or if it has a pool or 2 acre lot.
It's main purpose I would think is for the consumer to do a search of homes for sale in an area and examine what's near by. I love the idea, I think it's great. From a map's perspective it's better than what Realtors have, but as far as data, pictures, reliability, and conveniance, it's uncomparable....
Try performing a real search on my webiste or by contacting a local realtor for a detailed MLS Listing..
-Wael Georgey
www.PropertiesInTown.com
If Google were to get more listings (which I am sure they will), I think a lot of the third party sites would be in trouble.
Duke said on May 19, 2008 1:01 PM PDT:
RE: If Google were to get more listings (which I am sure they will), I think a lot of the third party sites would be in trouble.Google Base listings are coming from Realtors, the "first parties," so no quite sure what "third party" sites may be: Realtor.com?
Until narrower searches are consistently possible, and users are able to refine their searchs to meet more criteria, Google Base will remain a cool place with little actual utility in the real estate world.
Duke said on May 19, 2008 1:11 PM PDT:
(Oops ... didn't finish above.)
Also, despite the fact that placing listings on Google Base is free, very few brokerages are taking advantage of it ... this even despite the fact that Google Base (currently) redirects the user to the brokers' own websites!
Of all of the listings showing in, say, the Dallas area, most appear to be those of individual agents whose listings have been fed to Base by their virtual tour companies. NONE of the "top ten" brokers in the area are represented in any number.
Thanks for the tip Duke, I'm in Australia and will check out the efficacy of using Google Base over here.
A revolution in the world of real estate I would say. Google Maps is the greatest thing online real estate has ever experienced.
Richard said on March 16, 2009 1:57 AM PDT:
great post, i always use google maps, on my relocating websites
so google base is free ? how does a wandered like myself find it and install it on my blog
