Microsoft is announcing two new features to Bing Maps today – an integration with Oodle to show rental property listings and another integration with Foursquare to visualize check-ins, tips and a variety of other data.
Although the two seem only related by the map visualization aspect, they might be useful hand in hand to find that new apartment that’s close to where everything (or nothing) is going on.
First, the Oodle map application, called Oodle Rentals, is similar to other mashups we’ve seen using Google Maps and Craigslist, such as HousingMaps. Hopefully Oodle Rentals doesn’t have the same downfall, however, wherein rental agencies simply post listings with a zip code and no actual address, meaning you have 300 pins smack dab in the center of down and not where they really are.
The application shows a listing of appropriate properties in a sidebar, allowing you to filter by criteria like pets, bedrooms, bathroom, rent and so on. As you move the map around, the available and appropriate properties appear on the map.
As for “foursquare Everywhere”, Foursquare data is pulled in, allowing visualization of check-ins, tips, badges and mayor “coronations” worldwide. So after you’ve found the perfect place to rent using Oodle Rentals, you can switch over to “foursquare Everywhere” and see where the happening night clubs, coffee shops, restaurants and various other venues are in the area.
We have to say, we’re fans of anything that suddenly offers a better visualization of what would otherwise be data we’d have to correlate on our own. Who wants to look through rental listings and then switch over and look it all up in a map? That’s so 2000, not 2010. Now, if they would just get to offering a SimCity style view of map filtering, so we could see crime rates, traffic, pollution, noise, all aggregated together with rental listings and check-in data, then we’d be talking.
