Neighborhoods Illuminated by PolicyMap

28 Apr Neighborhoods Illuminated by PolicyMap

In the search for a new place to call home, many home buyers run across the same old adage: location, location, location! Recently, those at the forefront of reporting technology have begun to a push to expose the in’s and out’s of neighborhoods through various applications.

Sites like NeighborhoodScout, Google Maps Gallery and RealtyTrac have amped up their data on neighborhoods in order to give users a better idea of what it might be like to actually live there. Some sites even go the extra mile to deliver unsavory facts to make sure you know everything about the community.

One such site that is at the forefront of neighborhood data and expanding further into uncharted territory is PolicyMap. This data-mapping tool is now introducing the latest effort to lay bare all of the gradations of neighborhoods and communities. Its revamped mapping application tool will give a much-needed facelift to its user interface and will add new data and easier functionality.

Executives at PolicyMap have recognized a need for an innovation in this technology and are confident that new changes will meet that need.

“As interest in data and data visualization has exploded, we’ve rebuilt PolicyMap into a more powerful but easier-to-use tool that appeals to our traditional customers, as well as newcomers,” Maggie McCullough, president at PolicyMap, said in a statement.

PolicyMap: An Invaluable Resource

PolicyMap is now making it easier for users, who include investors, brokers. agents, policymakers and researchers, to interact with the features of the mapping tool. Full-sized maps and a more intuitive menu bar are being integrated into the system and should make it easier for users to view communities in various contexts. These contexts include demographics, housing, lending, consumer spending, crime, education, jobs, health care as well as other topics.

PolicyMap also strives to provide a more comprehensive picture by including data on commercial and residential vacancies, monthly and seasonal flu activity, infectious disease rates, economic mobility and location affordability. These are mostly fresh data sets, which are not yet factored into competitor’s data. Even more hyperlocal data regarding consumers is expected to be added in the coming months.

Users can compile and compound these various points of data using the “3-Layer Maps” feature on PolicyMap. This feature creates a composite map of up to three specified categories and allows users to get as specific as needed to meet individual housing inquiries.

New PolicyMap features will also allow users to upload their own information and fuse it to existing data in map format. This is an exceptionally innovative tool that will allow for information to be updated at an almost constant rate.

The most basic version of PolicyMap is available for free and allows users to view all public data collected by the firm. For those who desire a more in depth view of community growth and change, a monthly or yearly fee is assessed.