The case for mappable classifieds
For some time now, quite some buzz in the classifieds market has been around mappable classifieds. I believe it started at the time with the now infamous Housing Maps. It earned its inventor Paul Rademacher a job with Google.
Since then quite some things happened. Some suggest there is even money in the game. Well, we believe in that, too. That's why at local.ch we (re-)launched the Fundgrueb and a cars section will follow shortly.
All our classifieds are listed in the context of a map. Colleagues in the Romandie now do the same. Our friend from Petites-Annonces.ch actually provides us with all his listings. Our colleague Laurant Boatto now does the same with Google Maps.
The story was covered in the local press (24 Heures - no online access to article, click here for pdf copy (440kb). Just one add-on: The service from Google just seems to be for free, as a matter of fact it is provided by courtesy. The explanation can be found a previous posting of mine.