Introducing the Map-based Archives

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than smart. Early on in the life of Brownstoner.com, at a reader’s suggestion if we recall correctly, we started adding a Google map icon to every post in which we discussed a specific property. At the time, it was just a way to make the posts more useful and readers’ lives easier. As a result, we have over three thousand posts in our archives with a GMAP tag. It wasn’t until a few months ago that we realized how powerfully this could be harnessed. As of today, you can see what we’ve done with that information: If you go to any of the neighborhood archives in the dropdown menu at the top of the page, you will be greeted by a map-based archive that will let you drill down to see all the posts that have been written in or around a certain area over the last three years. (The archive and comment views of individual posts also show the map as well.) Why is this cool? For one, it’s just a more fun way to explore the archives. More importantly, though, it becomes a very powerful tool for people in the market for a property. Quickly and easily, you can see discussions of all the properties within a few blocks of the place you’re considering making an offer on. Anyway, check it out and let us know your feedback. Our only gripe at this point is that the maps don’t load a little faster, but hopefully we can get that to improve over time. In the near future, we’ll be telling you about how this new capability will tie in to a mobile application. Update: As one of our programmers has noted in the comments, we’re using large pushpins to represent clusters of posts, so just zoom in closer to get a more granular view.