Dean Leischer and Dan Eisenhauer posted a couple of links on REINspace that I thought I should share.
The City of Red Deer posted an interactive map that’s worth checking out. It’s an interesting way to see zoning information and several other layers of relevant data.
Dan Eisenhauer pointed out the City of Edmonton’s Maps section which offers quite a bit of information. Some of it I don’t care about. Like this
I’ve gotta put my internet guy hat on for one minute though. Neither work on Firefox without the use of a plugin, which most people can’t figure out. That’s a big problem, because I’ll bet they won’t work with Chrome, Safari, or older versions of Internet Explorer. Further, City of Edmonton, why are you so stupid? Having an entry/landing page that has essentially no text on it, and then opens up a giant window of legal crap is only one step better than causing a pornado. I’ll also bet they’re not paying enough attention to their website to see that link, or to Google their own name and see my post. If they do, I’ll send someone a cookie.
Those are both great applications, and as a real estate investor, I love seeing more information like this shared. However, if you’re going to play in the internet, do it intelligently. In this case, Red Deer wins.
Now I’ll go play with some more maps.
Chris: I saw your post and your comments. The City of Edmonton is redesigning its site and it launches very soon. Check it out after October 2 and let us know what you think. I can’t promise this specific issue will be fixed right away, but we’ll look into it.
P.S. I like chocolate cookies, not the electronic kind.
Robert Moyles
Director, Communications
City of Edmonton
Hey Chris,
Thanks for the post. I actually told Dan about the Edmonton site, which I use very frequently. I tried Red Deer’s site, but the link didn’t work, so I tried to search it. I found this link, which also didn’t work. Maybe the City of Red Deer is too caught up in their Talk Like a Pirate Day celebrations to worry about site maintenance.
https://www.city.red-deer.ab.ca/Connecting+with+Your+City/City+Services+and+Departments/Information+Technology+Services/Web+Map/default.htm
Update: it’s now working!
Investor tip: I use the city maps to find legal descriptions of the property, and then I input that in https://alta.registries.gov.ab.ca where I can do a $5 title search to see exactly who the owner is and what is registered against the property (caveats, restrictive covenants, liens, mortgages, utility rights of way, etc). And for those of you who are penny counters (all of you, I’m sure), $5 is cheaper than you can get it anywhere, because that’s the base fee the government charges.
-Jerry
@Jerry,
They’re both great sites. I think that more sites need to be conscious about giving people the ability to navigate directly to a static URL, and be sure their pages look alright on multiple platforms.
$5 title searches are a good deal. I’ve almost always just done mine through TransWest, and I think I was paying $7.50. Great tip!
@Robert,
Thanks for the reply, and you’re just raised my opinion of the City about three points. (In my defense, I once worked as a summer laborer, and wasn’t so impressed by my co-worker)
Static URLs are your best friend, and there’s lots of tools to make dynamic URLs appear static. That’s a great resource for real estate investors though.
Drop me an email and I’ll send cookies, or I’ll drop by next time I’m in Edmonton.
Cheers!