Real Estate Virtualization Technologies: Part 1

Data is king in the realm of real estate. This has been true since the  early days when an agent would manually update his or her listing information in large, cumbersome binders. Moving along with the times, the MLS’s were leaders in taking advantage of the digital revolution, having members access and update listings from remote terminals.

The internet, as with most things, changed everything. It forced the industry to put the data on show and let it help sell itself.

At the same time, technology has also given us the ability to provide more immersive experiences to our clients. Beyond simple listing data - more tangible features like property images, then virtual tours, QTVR, and YouTube videos.

The next step is to bind the data even closer and immerse the customer further. Integration with technologies like Microsoft’s Photosynth or Google Earth, shows a lot of promise.

Photosynth

Photosynth, in particular, is creating a lot of buzz. Initially developed by researchers at Microsoft and at the University of Washington, it analyzes a series of images and maps them 3-dimensionally and creates a “point cloud”. Below is an example that I created during our recent snow storms. While the technology is basically just cool, the real future of the platform will be to integrate location and MLS listing information. This, apparently, is already being done.

Next, I’ll take a look at the possible competitor to Photosynth, brought to you by a little company named Google.