Think Property adds local data to its innovative mapping functionality

thinkproperty.com, the fastest growing property portal in the UK (Source: Hitwise, April 2007), has just improved its innovative Google mapping functionality which lies at the heart of its property search serviceFor the first time, home movers can access valuable local information relating to all advertised UK properties, at the click of a button and all in one place. The new Google map overlays include mainline railway stations, hospitals, state and independent primary and secondary schools. When searching for a home, house hunters simply select which data they would like to plot on the Google map by clicking on a check box in the corner of the map. Users can plot all the data sets on the Google map or just the data set they are interested in. The property search data sets are then represented by small icons plotted on the map.

thinkproperty.com plans to introduce further enhancements, including school exam results and NHS data. Mark Goddard, Managing Director of thinkproperty.com comments: “We are the first major property portal to introduce this new enhanced Google mapping functionality to our site, which will greatly improve the home movers’ experience when searching and selecting property online."

He continued, “We have totally embraced Google mapping and web 2.0 technology in thinkproperty.com and our research and feedback shows that visitors find our mapping technology a powerful tool to help them locate potential homes to buy or rent. This is phase one of our mapping development and we will be overlaying more relevant data for home movers in the future.”

thinkproperty.com has enjoyed phenomenal growth over the last six months, having moved from position 104 in December 2006 to position 7 in the Comscore Real Estate sector, with 866,000 unique users a month (Source: Comscore, June 2007).

thinkproperty.com now holds over 480,000 properties from the UK and overseas and holds five times more overseas properties than Rightmove. thinkproperty.com is currently working with over 4,400 agents who are uploading their stock to the site and enjoying an increasing number of potential buyers/tenants and leads originating from the property portal.

Thinkproperty.com is the only major portal placing Web2.0 methodology at the heart of its consumer experience, with Google mapping and property ranking and RSS being core features.

thinkproperty.com PR contact:
Karen Hughes
The Drum Consultancy
18 Soho Square
London
W1D 3QL
karenh@drumbeat.co.uk
0207 025 8044
http://www.thinkproperty.com/

Note to Editors:

About thinkproprty.com
thinkproperty.com is wholly owned by GMG Property Services Group, a new division within Guardian Media Group.

GMG Property Services Group also owns Vebra, the UK’s no1 provider of estate agency software and UK’s no2 Business and Finance - Property website (Source: Hitwise, March 2007).

GMG is wholly owned by the Scott Trust, which was created in 1936 to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity.