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March 03, 2006
EarthPoint - Real Estate Listings with some GIS
During the last week I've been reviewing an excellent real estate listing application developed by a realtor in the fast growing market of Boise, Idaho. Bill Clark has worked long and hard and has developed a Google Earth interface which shows more information, and with more accuracy, than any other real estate listing service I've seen to date. Once you visit his Earthpoint listings page for finding listings, you select "Listing Category" ('residential' is default), and then select characteristics you are looking for (e.g. 500,000 to 2,000,000 price range). You then select "Count" to see how many listings you will get. Or, just go ahead and select "Download to Google Earth".
Each listing is identified to roof-top accuracy (if the house is built). And, as with other listings, clicking on a placemark shows more information about the listing, usually a photo, and a link to more info at the web site. But, Earthpoint goes further, the property lines are also drawn (in yellow). Some of the developments have scanned maps overlayed as well. This is more like Geographic Information System (GIS) data than the typical placemark for a listing you see in most listing services. Earthpoint does point out on the page that this information is not guaranteed for accuracy, that the buyer is responsible for checking with legal resources for accurate property layout. But, this definitely helps when trying to understand extent of property and its relation to the nearby environment. So, if you're looking for property in Boise, this is the best way to do it. Excellent work Bill!
By the way, Bill had an interesting problem caused by an error in the imagery surrounding Boise put in place by Google. Some of the imagery was placed incorrectly. Since he was unable to get Google to correct the mistake (after numerous attempts) he acquired his own images and overlayed them to cover the mistake. Unfortunately, this means his customers have to load an 8MByte image overlay for outlying areas of Boise. Google really needs to address this problem, because numerous people have complained at the GEC and to me directly about data errors not being fixed.
Posted by FrankTaylor at March 3, 2006 08:16 AM
Comments
Posted by: c foote at April 2, 2006 01:41 PM
'c foote': Yes Google is aware that the address database does not always produce rooftop accuracy. Here is Google's standard data error response to that type of query:
"We're aware that some addresses are not roof-top accurate. This is the result of how addresses are matched up to an exact position on the Earth. We rely on a technique called "address interpolation," which is a fancy way of saying that we take our best guess. More specifically, we take the total number of addresses in a given block and assume an even distribution of the addresses along that block. For example, if there are ten addresses for the 800 block of Main Street, we assume that the fifth address is located at the halfway point. "
Posted by: Frank Taylor at April 2, 2006 05:18 PM
My address is also wrong on Google Earth. It a couple of houses over and across the street! M realtives in England where surprised that I had moved from my home with a swimming pool to an acre lot across the street. Can this be corrected please?
Thanks,
Christine
Posted by: Christine at August 13, 2007 10:17 PM
Dear Sir,
YOU have St'Lukes Road Sunderland on Google earth down as Castletown but Castletown is on the north side of the river Wear St'Luke's Road
is in Pallion and Ford Estate on the South side of the river Wear.
Regards J. Ferguson
Posted by: Joseph Ferguson at September 5, 2007 11:25 AM
The name of Paracas town in Ica Peru is wrongly spelled, Google earth have wrote Parakas which is wrong (I guess is spelled as in German) as the name is Paracas, therefore is very difficult to find and Paracas is one of the most important turistic places in Peru and its a pitty we can not be located, is there a way to change that? Thanks!
Posted by: Jose Rosas at February 2, 2008 04:08 AM
Nevermind…I was looking at it from the back end, not the public view. Sorry.
Posted by: John beck at March 26, 2008 01:52 AM
I think that this program is going to far. Anyone with your address can now see your home and use it to gather information about you. Does anyone else see this as a problem? So much for privacy.
Posted by: JO at June 17, 2008 10:30 AM
What is the point of using Google Earth if they cannot come up with the correct locations?
At least one should be able to easily report this error so that it can be corrected (pronto?)
Then again we may be asking too much. After all we ourselves know where we live and our friends and relatives can play the guessing game.
A little disappointed.
Posted by: Gisela at August 8, 2008 12:07 PM
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Yep, Google Earth has my house number wrong too, so when you enter my address it points to a house down the street from me. It must be the same database used by a GPS unit my friend has, which wants to send her to the wrong house too. I see people have had a hard time getting Google to correct this - any thoughts on how to attempt a correction? Thanks.