Inman News
By Janice Mara
Point2 Realty Solutions,
a Canadian company whose software enables agents to create their own
Web sites, has joined the Google Earth "mod squad," modifying Google's
mapping feature to add maps to its offerings.
Mapping
is one of the hottest developments in real estate marketing technology,
with companies rushing to incorporate the feature. A number of
companies have modified the free Google Earth three-dimensional mapping
imagery for use with their offerings.
For example, Prudential Chicago adopted a modification just days after Google released the feature in late June. CondoBuzz.com, a national network of 1,500 condo-focused Web sites, has incorporated Google Earth into some of its local condo Web sites.
Now, Saskatoon, Canada-based Point2 has added Google Earth
to its do-it-yourself Web offerings. The feature has been added to the
61,000 existing sites agents have created using Point2 software and
will appear on new sites as well.
When a home buyer goes to the agent's site, a link, "View these listings in Google Earth," is visible next to the listings.
If
the consumer has already downloaded Google Earth, when he or she clicks
the link, the Google Earth map interface automatically pops up. It
displays an aerial photographic view of the area, presented in an
almost three-dimensional manner, with icons indicating houses for sale.
It's
necessary to have downloaded Google Earth to use this feature. Each of
the sites provides a link to Google Earth for downloading.
When
the home buyer clicks on the icons, a photo of the house appears, with
a short description of the property and a link. If the buyer clicks on
the link, further information and 25 photos appear. The buyer can zoom
in closer to view the block the house is on, the street and the house
itself.
A screenshot can be seen on the Point2 site.
If
a consumer's computer is more than four years old, it's probably not
possible to download Google Earth, according to Brendan King, COO of
Point2.
"It's not really
for everybody," King said. "But we're finding that a lot of the typical
new Internet consumers want to get on and do a lot of exploring.
They're more technically advanced."
When
these consumers first start looking for a home, King said, "They don't
need broad data. They need deep data. They don't need to know about a
whole lot of houses. They just need to know about the houses that are
within their price range and neighborhood."
With
the Google Maps feature, King said, "They can see not only the listing
but where the house is situated with respect to schools and churches.
They can see if they're near a freeway, is there a big hill, are we
going to slide off it?"
If
the buyers have that deep data, King said, they end up contacting the
agent who supplies it, "and 70 percent of consumers go with the first
agent they contact, according to a National Association of Realtors
2003 home buyers and sellers study."
Mapping
technology today is a hot commodity in online home shopping, enabling
people to search for homes in the same way they think about where they
live instead of relying on ZIP codes or city or county names. A recent
Inman News report focused on mapping technology and how brokers and
agents are using it.
"Real
estate seems to be the category in which a lot of the most interesting
mapping is being done," Greg Sterling of the Kelsey Group told Inman
News. "There is an obvious benefit to consumers to be able to do a
map-based search with various elements such as price, location and so
forth, which is why developers are seizing on the opportunity to
integrate their data."