Bing’s announcement last week of their latest and most sophisticated augmented reality integration into Bing Maps was very exciting in both the mapping and augmented reality circles. Yet, real estate professionals, especially those with local blogs and or websites will find as much to drool over as the biggest geo-geek. For those of us who have been screaming to have Flickr geo-tagged photos integrated into Google Maps, Bing just beat them to the punch! Not only photos, but video, Live Streaming Video and Local Blog content as well! Think about the Open Houses you could have!
Here are just a few ways Bing’s new Augmented Reality integration can be incorporated into your business:
- Makes sure to create a professional Flickr account and geo-tag all of your community photos. If you don’t have a camera that automatically geo-tags, you can do it right on Flickr. Your photos will appear on Bing Maps.
- Their different map apps capture geo-tagged video, but more exciting LIVE STREAMING VIDEO! How cool would it be to have an open house and while you wouldn’t be able to have the interior included, you could have a walk through the gardens or yard with live streaming video!
- If you have a community blog The Local Lens app pics up hyper local blog content and places it on the map.
- You can create photosynth “experiences” of your community (which are truly amazing) – FOLLOW THIS LINK TO SEE WHAT Photosynth is
It’s just so exciting it could make a geo-girl scream. If you are not sure what the heck I am talking about here, watch the TED presentation below and let me know if it makes you say “WOW” to! If this sparks your imagination, please share in the comments below, I am all ears for new ideas for using geo-tagged data and tools for real estate blogging.
Janie has been in the development, construction and real estate industries for over 20 years. She began her career in commerical construction and has slowly worked into all of the related industries and added residential properties to her resume 7 years ago. She is currently the co-owner of sister companies, Papillon Real Estate and Papillon ReDevelopment (a construction and project management firm). Janie blogs for The Coral Gables Story. In her "free" time, she is a graduate student of Atlantic History with a focus on the history of business and technology. She is a lover of geo-anything. She loves the story.

Michael Price
February 17, 2010 at 12:12 pm
This is the kind of applied technology that actually makes sense for real estate professionals. What a huge opportunity for exceptional local content. If you’ve got the chops to create an arsenal of great IP, (blog content,great marketing copy,listing presentations,video,photos) – implementing an augmented reality strategy could be exactly what it takes to succeed with a web strategy. It will be interesting to see this evolve.
Janie Coffey
February 17, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Bing’s Photosynch, augmented reality and integration of Flickr geo-tagged photos are all very exciting to the Real Estate professional. This is very exciting stuff and you are right, it will be interesting to watch it evolve! I, for one, can’t wait.
Al Lorenz
February 17, 2010 at 2:11 pm
Microsoft showing some life! What exciting times we live in with hardly a week going by without something spectacular from the likes of Apple, Google and also Microsoft!
Janie Coffey
February 17, 2010 at 3:52 pm
I normally avoid Microsoft ANYTHING like the plague, this made me actually reconsider. Maybe they are now getting in the game seriously. We’ll see.
Nashville Grant
February 26, 2010 at 1:33 pm
I’m a PC and never avoid Microsoft. Apple is the one shooting blanks at the moment with an iPad that can’t read Flash and doesn’t have a USB input or a camera.
Bing is really where the “Soft” is making massive strides, in addition to their new mapping integration, have you ever used their flight comparison? Beats Google with a stick.
Artur | Central Phoenix
February 17, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Now it’s starting to get interesting.
Competition is great.
Janie Coffey
February 18, 2010 at 10:54 am
Very interesting again. I am very impressed with all of Bing’s mapping tools and apps and I never thought I’d say that about MS 😉
Gregg Collum
February 18, 2010 at 9:56 am
I am new to agentgenius and so far very impressed with content. Thanks for this AR post very informative!!!
Janie Coffey
February 18, 2010 at 10:56 am
Agent Genuis is my daily “go to” for a wide variety of what is new, exciting and thought provoking for the Real Estate industry. I am glad you liked the article 😉
Greg Cook
February 18, 2010 at 5:48 pm
I’m one of the least “techie” guys I know and I was amazed. The potential applications for the Real Estate industry are astounding.
Janie Coffey
February 18, 2010 at 8:03 pm
very exciting stuff isn’t it Greg? You don’t have to be techie to find it amazing. Did you check out the castles on Photosynth?
Ralph Bell
February 18, 2010 at 5:52 pm
ZipRealty just released an amazing new feature (plus improved old features) on our Real Estate iPhone app called HomeScan. Basically, you can look through your phone and instantly see which homes are for sale (and recently sold) in your immediate vicinity, and get home detail info including price, photos and more.
There’s nothing else like it on the market, and best of all, you can download it for free!
ziprealty.com/iphone/
Patrick
February 18, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Well, that’s pretty cool! I will have to do some diggin’ to see how this will work for me and my business. Thanks Janie.
Janie Coffey
February 18, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Patrick I am especially interested to figure out how we can get our local blogs on Local Lens.
Jim Olenbush
February 18, 2010 at 7:43 pm
It just proves that with hard work, a little luck, and billions of dollars in cash, you can start to compete with Google. haha Very cool stuff from Microsoft!
Janie Coffey
February 18, 2010 at 8:05 pm
Can’t wait till I get my billions to take on Google 😉
Brad Rachielles
February 19, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Wow! what a tool for the Realtor(R) that grabs onto technology. Haven’t played with this yet, but will …. in fact, suggest that I can’t afford not to if I am to offer clients the best available.
Thanks for the post and would love to see others latch on to other new technology and present as well.
Misty Lackie
March 24, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Very cool! I can see this being used for virtual open houses or live blogging about local events. The news sites could benefit from this a great deal too. Imagine reporting about breaking news and being able to have this type of map with video displayed directly on your news site.