Maps #33: Relocating with Online Maps

ACTIVITY 1:
I performed a search using all three apartment locators and all three house finders listed in the blog. It seems to me the biggest problem with all these sites are they only list apartments or homes that pay to have a listing on said site. The place you hang your hat has a major impact on your life and frankly its far to important a decision to make based on a virtual tour in my opinion. I suppose its a good place to start but I imagine most people looking to relocate already have a pretty good idea for what they want so I would say the best thing to do is to visit in person. Some really questionable places can be made to look beautiful on the internet, at the same time some really great places may not look as good because of amatuer photography, bad angles, and poor lighting. I did lots of searches: apartments, senior housing, homes that have mother-in-law suites, etc. Of all the sites I liked google the best for its ease of use. The different map views are helpful depending on what you are looking for. For instance, I was looking for the DHL office near our library the other day as I needed to pick up a package there. It was easy to locate using Google Maps with the address but even more reassuring to look at using Google Satelitte Maps because I could see which end of the strip mall they were located in based on all the DHL trucks parked in the parking lot.

ACTIVITY 2:
So for purposes of this exercises and because I've always wanted to know more about these lofts, I chose Sawyer Heights Lofts as a potential new home. I tried finding it using the apartment locators but because I already knew the name of the complex the easiest thing to do was google the name of the complex and visit the complex website directly. I used Walk Score to check out what was within walking distance, all the important things, a supermarket, a theater, a pub, a library and a park! Schools would be irrelevant because I wouldn't relocate till my kids were in college. I didn't like Discover Our Town at all because my second choice of towns for relocation wasn't even listed on the site? Yes the big ones of there but since they are big you probably don't need much help in finding information on them. I guess I've always gone to the chamber of commerce to check out the places we considered moving to when we relocated to new homes.