On Friday 17th of December, from The Google Merchant Blog, Google announced New Shopping APIs and Deprecation of the Base API…
The new Shopping Application Programming Interfaces ( API’s) have two main components : Content and Search. As part of this launch, we’re are (sic) also sunsetting the Base API and replacing it with these new shopping API’s.
Sunsetting the Base API ! Not only sunsetting but…
We are deprecating the Base API and will fully decommission it on June 1, 2011.
And they go on to say…
There are a few non-shopping data types that won’t be supported with new Shopping APIs, such as jobs, real estate, events, and activities. We hope this won’t cause too much disruption, …
So, is this it Google and Real Estate ( other than being a search engine) ?
Will they still be accepting Real Estate feeds in to Base but not allowing them out?
Have they decided Real Estate is a white elephant from within, or has there been some outside pressure applied?
There are so many questions to ask…
I guess it’s up to Google, they way they want to run their business, and we just accept their conclusions, but I do find it interesting they have chosen to not pursue two highly active markets such as Jobs and Real Estate.
The strange thing is though, recently out of the blue was a new look Google Real Estate look which like the Loch Ness Monster appeared in my browser and within hours was gone again. It distinctively showed a a cleaner look and gave me the impression that they were about to get more serious with Real Estate.
and then it was gone…but i did get a photo !
Was is it a bluff?
Are they serious?
What do you think?
10 Comments
James
We always thought and planned for Google to restrict the ability to query real estate listings in Google Base but never thought they’d shut down the ‘Real Estate’ layer of Google Maps – if thats what this is.
In the UK we’ve recently seen a new interface for google base branded as ‘Google for property professionals’.
For those outside the UK here’s a screengrab: http://blog.thebigpropertylist.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Google_For_Property_Professionals.jpg
As you can see it pitches google products (Base, apps, maps, analytics, Adwords etc…) as a loose set of tools for Realtors – and when you click sign-in it takes you to….. Google Base!!!
This is a recent change and shows either a recent change of heart at Google or that Google’s move into the real estate vertical will continue – albeit without the Google Base API.
James
(The Big Property List UK)
Vic
On the face of it, there seems to be significant negative implications for those that, were planning to, or currently are relying on google’s “free information” to maintain their web business models.
It also demonstrates the speed at which all powerful google can change the fortunes of those that wish to exploit it’s good intentions.
I still believe that google will remain as lister of real estate, but I also believe that it will NOT now take the next step to full blown “real estate portal”.
Clearly in this country the dominant portal, REA (News Corp owned), has not been happy with Google’s intention and refused to share its own info with them. Whilst many thought that that REA were being obstinate in not taking the extra SEO value, from sharing, REA was and still is front of mind when most Australians search for real estate. So why should they add to the prospect of Google Maps converting to a portal in direct competition them? The two (Google and News Corp) have stared each other down and Google may have blinked. Time will tell, but one thing is for sure, Portal building means hard work and Google has no intention of making it easy for Portals relying on scraping, to succeed.
Nick
This has been a long time coming. They’ve been phasing out Google Base for ages now.
This is just spring cleaning – getting rid of their old code and moving it all to a new platform. I would be extremely surprised if they didnt provide a API.
Vic
Nick,
I take your point about the spring cleaning, but the real issue here is Google’s announcement that the new shopping API is going to exclude real estate, jobs etc.
Do you see any negative implications for agent sites and portals, if we were to take Google’s announcement literally? ie new APIs without real estate and sunsetting google base which has real estate.
andy
Hi James,
I saw that…
http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/help/maps/realestate/agents/
and your right, straight to Base. Has it been around for a while ?
And Nick you reckon that Google might roll out something completely different for Real Estate ? That would be exciting !
What does Base Estate think of this?
Bill
Google Base Real Estate has one major flaw that has always restricted it’s ability to become a real contender and that’s it’s open nature. It isn’t moderated, which means if anyone so wished, they could upload a property listing that had Buckingham Palace for sale or The Lodge in Canberra for rent.
Also I don’t think Google Real Estate ever came out of beta, or did it? From a developers point of view Google API’s are real time thieves, hundreds of hours can be spent developing mashups only to see them thrown in the trash by Google. Buzz, Wave, Base quickly come to mind. I wonder how many millions of wasted hours have been spent by developers creating apps using those platforms.
But I can’t see Google walking away from real estate permanently because ultimately the prize is too big.
Glenn Batten
James,
The Australian version is called Google For Real Estate Professional http://maps.google.com.au/help/maps/realestate/agents/index.html
the US is also for “Real Estate Professionals”
http://maps.google.com/help/maps/realestate/agents/index.html
but the UK is as you noted for “Property Professionals”
http://maps.google.co.uk/help/maps/realestate/agents/index.html
They are all the same and I believe they got launched at the same time quite a while ago. Maybe you have just come across it ?
Vic
I wonder has anybody seen any further news from google since this post? Is google intending not to provide an outward feed from its googlemaps realestate?
vitas
Bill, I disagree with your point that Base isn
Jenem
Vitas – where do you get the listing data from that appears on your site?
And do you have a contact number?
I’ve had complaints from clients who have seen their properties appear on rbasket.com.au and the prices are incorrect or the addresses appear when it should only be suburbs etc. Not one complaint – several.
I would like to know how to get in touch with you.