Real Estate agents benefit from real estate technology aimed at increasing transparency. Well today is a big day for that as Google Maps has released their new 360-degree ground level view in major metropolitan areas. Now potential buyers can see real estate before you take the photo.
To access these new street-level maps simply search Google local in select major areas and look for the new “Street-Level Views” icon in the top right corner. Once clicked you will notice the streets turn purple. Then simply move the “stick figure” to a purple area and watch street-level views appear. Real Estate agents and others will notice arrows on the street-level graphics for navigating you through local streets. You can also make these new street-level view full screen, and you can spin the angle of the photo 360 degrees. Have fun with this new piece of technology and enjoy this breif video on the new features.
I guess Portland isn't good enough for this feature just yet…But, I guess it probably takes a while for someone to drive around and take all those pictures!
It seems since Tuesday street-level mapping has been all the talk with Real Estate agents. However this technology is nothing new. AOL and Microsoft have been working on similar technologies over the last year. Unfortunately Amazon’s A9 Mapping is no longer available. If you would like to preview Microsoft’s Street-Level photos click here. Microsoft has focused on Seattle and San Francisco to this point. What is it that makes Google’s search different? Well at Google’s street-level launch they have already covered more geography and in my opinion Google is paying more attention to detail and usability. The Google product looks and feels like the winner. What do you think?