Revolutionising the Property Market with Online Mapping Technology
The advanced aerial imagery provided by Microsoft Virtual Earth is bringing greater realism and efficiency to online property searches.
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READING, UK — 10 May 2007 — The UK property market has gone through dramatic change in recent years, to become one of the most dynamic and competitive in the world. In 2005, there were approximately 1.5 million residential property transactions in England, Wales and Scotland with a total value of £255 billion(1). But contextualise this with recent findings(2) that an average of eight buyers competed for every property available on the market, and one can see the true personal stakes involved. A strong economy has buoyed the industry and fuelled property acquisitions and the same is true for the commercial market, which has seen increased demand for corporate property holdings.
The Search is on
The difficulty of finding the perfect property and navigating the requisite legal and financial obstacles has given the UK property market a reputation of being among the most expensive and complex. For several years, customers have been able to use online search to narrow down their list of top properties, which helped accelerate the process of buying or renting. However, the first iteration of online property sites was text-heavy and offered little in the way of visuals, apart from static maps to pinpoint a property’s location.
Enter Web 2.0.
Today, the industry has evolved to offer the kind of online property search and mapping experience that yields more engaged, interested customers. Location-based search, including detailed, visual elements such as ‘bird’s eye’ imagery, has made the online property search experience that much more immersive, and has set a new standard for customer service. This includes the ability to choose street, aerial or composite map views, zoom in and out for different perspectives, and visualise a property in relation to surrounding buildings, schools, parks, transport links and other important local features.
Companies Benefit from Microsoft’s Mapping Expertise
Among the mapping technologies and services that have proven most useful to the UK property market is Microsoft Virtual Earth — a set of powerful, integrated online mapping and search services that use unique bird’s eye and satellite imagery that businesses can integrate with a Web site to offer a superior property-search tool.
With ten years’ experience in the mapping industry, including support of the TerraServer project, aimed at making satellite imagery available for commercial interests, Microsoft took a pioneering role in online mapping and eventually extended the availability of such imagery to the masses. Not only does Virtual Earth offer simple application programming interfaces (APIs) for integrating mapping information on to websites, but it also provides developers and businesses with a robust platform for creating custom, location-based search solutions.
“We are seeing only the tip of the iceberg where potential applications for mapping data is concerned,” says Rob Blackwell of Active Web Solutions (AWS), a Microsoft-certified partner that develops advanced web solutions for a variety of customers, including Peterborough-based Stamford Homes, part of the Galliford Try group. “Increased demand for visual data, such as geo-information, has resulted in AWS creating a dedicated team to work with the Virtual Earth platform in developing solutions for industries as diverse as construction and travel and tourism.”
OfficeBroker.com First in Commercial Property to Implement Virtual Earth
OfficeBroker.com uses Virtual Earth to build custom applications for sales managers.
OfficeBroker.com, the UK’s largest online provider of commercial office space, recently deployed Virtual Earth to replace another online mapping technology. According to Neil Cadman, the company’s IT director, OfficeBroker was looking for a mapping solution that provided customers with a rich, dynamic user experience, that served as a flexible platform upon which they could build custom applications. “We’ve developed a tool that allows the sales manager and the sales director to zoom in to a specific area, select a radius from within the area they’ve zoomed in to, and then provide information such as the number of offices, the number of sales in the area and the level of profit. The visual aid that Virtual Earth provides is very beneficial in helping us develop additional business,” says Cadman.
Virtual Earth helps LMS deliver innovative Home Information Pack (HIP) solution
Two of the biggest obstacles in the UK residential property market are the cost and complexity associated with gathering information about a specific property, in order to help home buyers make informed decisions.
The government has enacted a new programme to help address this problem: as of 1 June 2007, every property seller will need to compile a Home Information Pack (HIP) before advertising the property to would-be buyers. Enacting the HIP is one of the most significant changes to the UK property market in several decades, and it’s estimated that up to 2 million HIPs will be required each year in England and Wales in order to meet the demand.
In response to the new requirement, Legal Marketing Services (LMS) — one of the UK’s largest providers of conveyancing services — is delivering Home Navigator, a solution based on the Virtual Earth platform.
Dominic Toller, director of marketing and new business for LMS, notes that along with the standard information contained within these packs, the advantage of Home Navigator is its ability provide detailed, “bird’s eye” views of the property and surroundings, coupled with information about the local area that is equally valuable to potential buyers.
Stamford Homes Sees Increased Sales Leads Using Virtual Earth Tools
Galliford Try, one of the UK's leading specialists in the construction and house-building industries, recently deployed a location finder based on Virtual Earth across four of its regional websites, including Peterborough-based Stamford Homes.
With many of the company's new homes located on new roads, a chief concern from the company’s sales staff was whether Virtual Earth's online mapping technology would be sufficiently up to date to accommodate new roads.
According to Stamford Homes' regional sales and marketing director, Peter Bond, once the sales staff started using the new online mapping tools their fears were soon dispelled. “They were particularly impressed by the flexibility and speed of navigation,” says Bond. “What’s more, all recently constructed roads were there.”
Though too early to give quantifiable statistics, according to Bond the site is currently bringing in nearly 200 quality sales leads per month across the region. In some cases property hunters are using the website to actually reserve properties.
(1) HM Revenues and Customs Survey of Property Transactions in England, Wales and Scotland — Tables T16.2 Available on-line at: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/survey_of_prop/table16-2.pdf
(2)Hamptons International
Bird’s Eye View: The Next Best Thing to Being There
Part of what makes Virtual Earth so valuable as a navigation and property-viewing tool is the quality and consistency of its imagery. In cooperation with UK partners (such as Earthstar Geographics, which provides the satellite imagery and Get Mapping, which provides aerial photography) Microsoft continues to invest heavily in sourcing the best quality imagery on which customers have come to rely.
Vikas Arora, a Virtual Earth Solutions Specialist for the UK, suggests that Virtual Earth’s bird’s eye imagery is a key feature that sets it apart from competing mapping platforms.
“Being able to visualise a property using bird’s eye is powerful,” says Arora. “Rather than travelling to see a house — only to find that it’s under the flight path for Heathrow, next to a motorway, or near some other undesirable establishment — you can do your initial homework online.”
“By using Virtual Earth as their online mapping and location based search platform, property firms have removed a lot of guesswork from the property hunt. Now, property hunters can begin with an online search — starting for example, with a desired location — and end with a photo-realistic, aerial map that includes their collection of favourite properties, including locally-relevant information that plays a huge role in the final decision-making process.”
Real estate companies in the UK, Europe and across North America are seeing significant benefits associated with a Virtual Earth-powered solution. John L Scott, a residential real estate firm based in the US saw an increase of 15 per cent in new visitors to their site following their launch of Virtual Earth. Additionally, returning visitors increased by 46 per cent over the previous month.
What on Earth is Virtual Earth?
Q. What is the Virtual Earth platform?
A. The Virtual Earth platform is an integrated set of powerful online mapping and search services that utilise unique bird’s eye, aerial, and satellite imagery. With the Virtual Earth platform, developers and businesses can create an immersive online mapping and search experience that enables consumers to easily discover, search, explore, share and visualise business location data and locally relevant information.
Q. What benefits does the Virtual Earth platform provide customers?
A. The Virtual Earth platform provides customers with unique imagery, powerful mapping and search capabilities, a cost-effective investment, flexible programming, and is supported by a Service Level Agreement.
Q: What is new and available on version 5 of the platform?
A: The new Virtual Earth platform offers a host of advancements, including improved customisation, richer features for end users, and a new level of control and flexibility in the platform. The enhancements are a direct response to customer feedback, and offer even more opportunities for developers and businesses to create breakthrough online mapping and location based search experiences for customers.
Q. Is there a Virtual Earth partner programme?
A. The Virtual Earth and MapPoint partner programme is designed to put businesses in touch with solution providers, independent software vendors, consultants, training providers, and developers that work with Microsoft MapPoint and Virtual Earth technologies. Potential partners can find more information at http://www.microsoft.com/virtualearth/faq.mspx.
