We’re thrilled to announce that CoSstar Group, the leading provider of commercial real estate research and information services, has implemented Urban Mapping’s hosted mapping services. In record time, CoStar leveraged Mapfluence to incorporate public transportation data into their web-based platform. The rapid development time and ease of implementation are further evidence that hosted mapping services are here to stay.

In the screen shot below, CoStar used Bing Maps for a base map API and Mapfluence elegantly renders cartographically-pleasing transit lines, stations and detailed attributes on a map for the Washington DC area. Urban Mapping’s mass transit data is available for fixed rail (subway, commuter, light, long haul) across North America and several European countries. The difficulty in creating a visually satisfying solution that can be created algorithmically cannot be overstated–rail systems are unique and each one has its own quirks. We’ve done a great deal of tweaking to best represent rail maps in the way that locals expect them to look–an even more refined version is in the works and will be available very soon.

In addition to visually delineating transit lines/stations on a map, CoStar incorporates UMI’s mass transit data into the property search function. As the screen shot below indicates, a subscriber can create a transit-based time or distance constraint. This allows for would-be tenants to search for available property that is (say) only within a five minute walk of a commuter rail station.

In this property profile view, the individual listing is annotated with proximity to nearby public transportation and airport info. Our Mass Transit Proximity API easily allows customers to code property listings (or any location) with proximity to train stations.