California-based Zip Realty Inc., a national full-service residential real estate brokerage, yesterday (Aug. 16, 2006) announced a deal with Microsoft Corp., saying it would use Microsoft's Virtual Earth mapping technology on the broker's website, www.ziprealty.com.

The Zip Realty-Microsoft alignment is just the latest in a series of fast-moving developments in web-based real estate mapping. A recent series of stories published by Inman News Service characterize mapping technology as online "applications (that) have exploded in the past year ... Real estate professionals are using maps in their property search offerings," Inman reported, to create "a more user-friendly experience for consumers looking for homes."

More than client comfort is at stake in online mapping. Brokers and agents sell more properties with interactive maps on their websites.

Virtual Earth offers graphical and aerial maps, along with bird's-eye imagery that lets users "zoom in" to see properties at a 45-degree angle. (A picture of the author's home, displayed in Virtual Earth's birds-eye mode, is at right above. The push-pin art represents the selected location). The new features will allow Zip Realty clients and visitors to view homes listed on local Multiple Listing Service systems.

Zip Realty's press release did not say how much it is paying Microsoft to mesh Virtual Earth with its website and the MLS information. Only a couple of weeks earlier, though, another player in the mapping business said real estate brokers and agents could use its services for free.

Trulia.com, a residential real estate search engine company, said Aug. 2, 2006, that it had launched TruliaMap. The new Internet tool enables brokers and agents to display their listings -- at no charge -- on webmaps that let visitors compare up to 50 properties in a geographic area. Colors, animation and map features are customizable for specific websites.

Trulia's press release claimed its move reflected "a new trend among online providers to deliver functional, interactive web content to their customers for free in the form of open services and Application Program Interfaces (APIs), which are some of the basic tools for building modern interactive applications." Maybe so, but industry analysts assume that Trulia's freebie actually serves as an enticement to buy related or expanded services in the future.

Not satisfied with online maps you can buy or get for free? You can always create your own.

An Inman story published Aug. 1, 2006, described an online venture called Platial (www.platial.com), where users can quickly create maps of places important to them. They also can add commentary or stories to these home-made maps, much like a blog, to be shared with others. Among Platial's real estate users, the story said, was "a Boston-area home buyer ... to map out houses he'd seen in his home search and to leave comments about the properties."