Terabitz, the controversial real estate startup that was accused of data scraping shortly after its launch (see Terabitz addresses data-scraping concerns), has just launched a Make-Your-Own-Mashup side to their site.

Previously, the company let users pull together a number of different data sources in to create a personalized real estate dashboard (see Terabitz Gives You Loads of Data), making it the NetVibes or PageFlakes of real estate.

Now with its new map tab, Terabitz wants you to leverage its data aggregation tools and create your own Google Maps mashup. You can layer as many types of data as you want on top of it; Craiglist listings, MLS listings, FSBOs and Foreclosures, for example. It’s as simple as dragging and dropping icons on to the map.

Here’s a link to a map that I made for Portland Real Estate.

Right now you can share your creation via hyperlink or email, Techcrunch is reporting that later today you will be able to embed the map into your web site. Unfortunately that function was not available when I tested it.

On paper, this new feature is a natural extension of Terabitz’s platform and follows the growing trend for web sites to widgetize their offerings. The question is, who exactly is the audience for this type of tool? Presumably real estate agents looking to add another interactive element to their web sites. But something tells me they’re not looking to layer in FSBOs on top of their listings.

And, if they already have a web site with listings, I suspect they’re pulling a full inventory from an established IDX vendor anyway.

More than lack of audience, the real problem with most real estate widgets these days is that most are crying out for context and color. Listing data alone is dry and boring. Successful widgets should offer real value to the end user, and are more than just branding opportunities for the originating source.

Widgets like those from Altos Research, which can give real time market context in the form of visual graphs.

Or Google’s My Maps, which allows you to exercise your creativity and add the necessary color commentary that your visitors are looking for. Kris and Steve Berg from San Diego Castles have done just this with their Neighborhoods profiles, a brilliant execution that showcases their neighborhood expertise.

Terabitz would do well to articulate the real value proposition behind this widget. It’s a neat demonstration of their technology, but right now, to no real end.

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Transparent Real Estate shows us Neighboroo, a Google maps mashup that overlays all kinds of data onto a heat map. Great looking site and lots of fun to explore. Pat asks what Neighboroo’s business model should be; I think they should license this to brokers for display on their web site – I’d love to have them on ours.

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Zillow’s got ‘em. So does Trulia. Crazy Egg will even map your web site activity with them. Basically, any data set can be made visually sexier with a heatmap.

That said, the GeoIQ API renders some of the best looking heat maps that I’ve seen so far. Check out their API Example.

I suspect we’ll be seeing more and more heat map implementations come to market very soon; housing prices, rental prices, cost of living, census data, weather trends, financial data – all can be displayed via a heat map. Consolidating this complex information into a visual representation highlights subtle patterns and illustrates trends very effectively.

Plus it just looks cool (or hot).

[via digg]

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Poynter Online reports from New Jersey on Montclair-based site Baristanet’s attempts to track the changes in their neighborhood through a Google Maps mashup. [via Lost Remote]

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