Trulia & Google Take it To The Streets

Trulia announces a partnership that allows viewers of listings in 30 or so cities to “Walk The Neighborhood” using Google’s Street View technology. Street view is a service introduced by Google last year that allows viewers to navigate mapped 360 panoramic images from street level in around 30 regions in the U.S.Google’s Street View uses technology from a company called Immersive Media that uses an 11 CCD (lens) camera called the Dodeca 2360. The patented design is based on the dodecahedron. According to IMC there are no blind spots in the video capture which is done via a roof mounted tripod on an automobile. The concept of capturing and stitching panoramic video in real time is cool, but what I find really interesting is the ability of the system to capture directional audio. I’ve built panoramic Quicktime Images with directional sound clips before and it’s really interesting when you can combine the elements of sound with sight in 360 images.Things like the mashup of Street View and Trulia are the kind of milestones that deliver on Web 2.0. Here is how Trulia envisions “Walking The Neighborhood” with Street View.

• Check out the yard and other attributes of the lot
• See how far children have to walk to the bus stop
• Find nearby amenities (parks, cafes, schools)
• See what type of parking might be available (garage, driveway, street)
• Find out how much street traffic there is and how big the road is (stop signs or stop lights?)
• Look for greenery (trees lining the street, flower beds, or gardens
• Avoid noise and add privacy (Foliage, hills, other natural barriers)
• Check out if homes have large front yards

Web prospects look for three things when they visit a real estate web site, listings, the value to their current property and community information. I can see forward thinking real estate professionals adding some great commentary to the street views that give a unique perspective on the content being viewed by the prospect. It’s one thing to point out the barber shop and another entirely to talk about the atmosphere and the people that inhabit it. Virtual tours so far have been more virtual than they have tours and of course every good tour needs a good guide. This technology and others like it allow real estate pros to complete the equation.Hats off to Trulia for being the first to deliver on what will no doubt be a very popular feature.

FYI, Visit my blog in a day or so to see a more in-depth look at community and neighborhood content.