Friday Fun - Neighboroo

October 20th, 2006

Here’s a way to spend an afternoon if you’re looking to relocate, or are just curious about demographic profiles. Pat over at Transparent Real Estate highlights Neighboroo, another web 2.0 map project.

Like Zillow, it’s a map+database combination called a ‘mashup’. In this case, census data (and other sources) is combined with Google Maps to create a ‘heatmap’ showing factors like crime stats, median home price, air quality, and much more. Like a thermal image, higher air pollution or home prices, for example, show as red hotspots. Lower values are typically shown in cooler colors.

You can just explore using the Google map controls to zoom in or out, or you can just type in an area. The maps don’t provide street-by-street detail, but it is interesting to view the state or metropolitan area values. Below is a peek at Oregon median home prices (zoomed out).

You can toggle through school rankings, ethnicity, air quality, apartment rents, cost of living, commutes, crime, household income, and more.

Early users of the site are inquiring about the source of data for the maps, so details are likely to come soon. Nevertheless, it’s a fun way to spend a fall afternoon. Check it out at Neighboroo.com.

Technorati Tags: maps, census, demographics, real, estate, web 2.0, heatmap

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Entry Filed under: Lifestyle, National News, Relocation