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Map of the Week: Epungo
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Map of the Week:
Epungo
[Editors Note: Last month we launched
morethanamap.com
to showcase the unique features of the Google Maps API. As part of this project, each week we’ll be featuring one story from our global community of developers who are using the Google Maps API to start businesses, help improve their communities or save the environment.]
This week we cross the equator again, moving from Hamburg to São Paulo, where we meet with the founders of the Brazilian real estate start-up
Epungo
. Founded by Rodrigo Hanashiro and André Tannús, Epungo is a Google Maps API powered real estate search site that is attempting to make real estate search easy in one of the largest and most complicated cities in the world.
We met up with the founders at their office, which in true start-up fashion, is also André’s living room. In addition to being one of the most innovative Google Maps API sites based in Brazil, what’s really exciting is visiting with two entrepreneurs whose entire focus is on making the best Google Maps based experience for their users.
Epungo was founded when André realized most real estate search sites in Brazil focused on traditional text-based listing. Issues like variable neighborhood definitions, public transit complexities, and high urban density make it nearly impossible to search for real estate using addresses and descriptions alone. The Epungo solution to this problem is to concentrate all the search efforts on a map with a clean, well designed, and easy to use interface. To make search easier users have a several map tools to choose from, such as
Drawing Tools
functionality, custom colored coded icons, and embedded
Street View
.
According to the founders, one of the main reasons they chose to develop on the Google Maps API was that the coverage and comprehensiveness of Google’s road data, as well as satellite and Street View imagery in Brazil makes it possible for Epungo to reach markets that would otherwise be impossible.
In the video below, Epungo co-founders Rodrigo Hanashiro and André Tannús give us a live demonstration of their site.
Many thanks to the
Epungo
team for inviting us into their office (and home) and sharing with us their latest projects. To learn more about Epungo and the things that you can do with the Google Maps API, visit
morethanamap.com
. Tune in next week to read about our visit with
Kekanto
.
Posted by
Carlos Cuesta
, Google Maps API Product Marketing Manager
Map of the Week: Bostonography Neighborhoods
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Map of the Week:
Bostonography Neighborhoods
Why we like it:
This is a unique solution to an old problem. We really like the use of
drawing tools
to collect information and
Styled Maps
to help the data stand out better.
In almost every city, there is some disagreement as to where one neighborhood ends and another begins. Furthermore, as is often the case, reputable sources have differing neighborhood lines. In reality there are no physical lines on the ground clearly defining neighborhoods, however these hypothetical boundaries do have a real impact on local economies, politics, and identity.
Bostonography
has set out to solve this problem by creating a tool to collect as many neighborhood definitions as possible.
From the Bostonography website, “We want to map the collective definitions of Boston's neighborhoods by its residents and those who know the city well. This map is a tool for drawing top-level neighborhood boundaries … as you see them, and submitting them to a database that will be used to map the areas of agreement and disagreement among participants.”
Bostonography has begun to parse the data and has calculated which neighborhoods have the most agreement and which have the most disagreement.
The results
of the first few data sets are stunning. To further illustrate how complex neighborhood definitions can be, this separate example by
The Boston Globe
shows just how “tangled” neighborhood boundaries are, even amongst city agencies!
If you have knowledge of Boston yourself, Bostonography encourages you to contribute to the map. “Submit a map of as many or as few neighborhoods as you wish, but we of course encourage you to draw all of them. Detail as intricate as you have patience for is appreciated, too, for the sake of the eventual maps of the results.”
So whether you’re from Southie or from Allston, we all can agree that this map is wicked awesome.
Posted by
Carlos Cuesta
, Google Maps API Product Marketing Manager
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