StreetAdvisor launches new services, drops common sense
[TC] StreetAdvisor Launches New Services:
StreetAdvisor will today launch a range of new upgrades that will give homeowners, renters, and buyers a more complete picture of where they could live. The new StreetAdvisor provides a real-life “insider” view that provides users the ability to learn and share vital details about where they live, including noise levels, traffic, neighbors, entertainment, and public services in a similar way to travel review sites. Recommendations and negative experiences about local businesses, entertainment and services will also be supported.
Call me crazy, but the first thing I do when I get to this site is type “NYC” in the search box. The top result is “Nyac, Alaska, United States”. Is it just me or should it be easier to find America’s biggest city?
Speaking of New York, the top street in the United States at the time of writing is New York’s own E 19th St. Clearly the website is very new as there is only one review there. And I thought being featured on TechCrunch meant instant popularity and multi-million dollar valuation. Maybe it just needs some time.
Let’s backtrack a little at this point. The point of StreetAdvisor is to provide information on your neighborhood. Then why is Broadway, the longest street in the world that spans the length of Manhattan, all one neighborhood? Apparently SoHo and Harlem are the same thing.
Update (based on comments):
MSN Maps (or Live Search) does not find “NYC” either, but this is not a review of web-based map services. This review pertains only to one web service. I expect it to work reasonably well. If this is the fault of the API they chose, then perhaps they made the wrong choice, so it is still their fault. Also, I doubt they are using Microsoft’s API for search considering the maps on the site are from Google.
Also, it turns out I was wrong about Broadway. The streets are broken up by zip code, so Broadway 10001 and Broadway 10031 are in fact different neighborhoods. However, both share the same header – “Broadway, New York, New York, United States”. Unless you compare the URLs or maps on the two pages, there is no indicator they are actually not the same. And neither tells me whether it is 10001 or 10031.
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@ReCrunch re: NYC.
1) google maps: finds NYC.
2) msn maps (local.live): doesn’t find NYC.
3) yahoo! maps: finds NYC
So. Lets take a step back and think about this. Maybe they’re using local.live for their searching? Not sure if what their api is or if microsoft have an api for map searching.
@ReCrunch re: Broadway:
type this into their search box thingy: ‘broadway, ny, usa’ and you’ll see plenty of results. for Brooklyn, there’s 4 streets .. one per postcode. Looks like they handle long streets then.
Now if you want to go down to the city block level, then u might want to ask them to do that.
So … apparently SoHo and Harlem AREN’T the same thing then.
Q.E.D.
Hi guys,
Thanks for the mention! In regards to your comments about the StreetAdvisor service, if you do type in NYC into the StreetAdvisor search box, New York City appears third on the list. This is simply because NYACK, ALASKA, and NYACK, NEW YORK is first in the alphabet! So, yes our search engine does in fact work with NYC.
Second of all, our streets are broken up by postcode, as you mentioned. Going up the geographic chain, we did make the decision to aggregate certain zipcodes, as the data can sometimes be spread too thin. Ultimately we do have a very large number of cities, and of course, our major focus will always be the street.
Adam.