Radio 2 feature transcript
OnOneMap was the website of the day on BBC Radio 2 on Wednesday 20th September 2005. We weren't listening at the time, but became aware of the broadcast fairly quickly because we were suddenly beseiged by hordes of rampaging Radio 2 listeners!
The BBC provide a 'listen again' facility, where you can hear any broadcast that has taken place in the last week on demand. However, since it's now more than a week since the broadcast, we've transcribed it for you!
Steve Wright: Allright, website guru Miles Mendoza is here now.
[whooping, clapping]
SW: Anything you want to know about computers, websites, the Internet, there's nothing he doesn't know, errrr, he just knows the whole lot. What is it today, Miles?
Miles Mendoza: I'm feeling quite smug today, because I've found a new property site which Mrs Website of the Day hadn't seen before. As a rule, in our house, if it's anything to do with property, then she's usually the expert.SW: Yeah...
MM: So, one up here, I've won, in webby top trumps, that's what I've done. So it's called OnOneMap.com, and they bill themselves as the UK's first property search engine, the idea being that rather than being tied to one or two chains of estate agents when you search on this site, they search loads of different sites for you to ensure you get the widest possible range of houses all on one site, currently listing more than half or all the homes available for sale in England, Scotland and Wales.
SW: All right, so let's...
MM: Um, pretty comprehensive, but the innovation which I really like about this, sorry no, I'm not going to let you get a word in, not yet anyway!
Tim Smith: I just want to ask a question!
SW: Yes, it's all right, all right
MM: NO, it's too soon. Questions can come later. So, anybody who's ever been househunting, you'll have seen those phrases like 'just a short walk to the shops', then when you try and do that short walk to the shops, it's only a short walk if you're a giraffe or Godzilla.
SW: [laughs politely] That's good.
MM: So what this does, you immediately see at a glance - you get a little icon for every house that's for sale in the area, on the map, and you can zoom in and out, so you can look at almost the whole of the UK, although obviously the icons will be too small to see all the houses for the whole of the UK..
SW: [incredulously] Yeah!
MM: Or you can zoom in right down to street level.
SW: So, it tells you the truth
MM: It tells you the truth - you can see exactly how far it is from the railway station, how far it is from the main street, whatever.
SW: So I suppose, let's say you live in Harrogate, and you want to move to Edinburgh
MM: Yup
SW: Then you just punch up this site, go to Edinburgh
MM: Yes, and then you can filter it, so if you're looking for a three bedroom house and you don't want to pay more than however many thousands, then you can enter in those details when it starts the search and it will only show you icons for those houses, and then you just zoom in to the level of detail that you want. The other thing that's really nice is, if for example you wanted to move somewhere near a school because you know their results are quite good...
SW: Look, Tim's putting his hand up.
MM: [laughs] Yes, he's being very disciplined
TS: I'm just going to sit here with my hand up, just so you know I'm waiting to ask a question, Miles.
MM: All right, we'll be back with you in just a moment.
SW: He threw chalk at me just now
[all laugh]
MM: [as schoolteacher] Now, put that down Jones.
MM: So, if you've got a particular school that you're interested in, then you can go to the directory part of the site, you can click on the town, you'll find a list of schools, what their performance is, click on the name of the school, and it'll immediately show you on the map, all the houses available for sale within a one-mile radius of that school.
SW: [impressed] Gotcha. That is fantastic.
TS: But the houses for sale, are they for sale privately or does it take you though to an estate agent?
MM: It'll take you through to another property website, whichever site it's listed with, so it could be any one of any of the different estate agents operating in a particular area.
SW: Well, I'm wondering if estate agents are in league with this site, or subscribe to it, or really, are upset by it because they, the site, are obviously pulling out some of the negatives about...
MM: I think the estate agents are quite happy, actually. It's all quite open - there's a page on the site which explains for estate agents how they can get their properties listed there as well, and it all links through to the estate agent's own site. I mean, as you say it will make it abundantly clear if an estate agent is saying that it's right next to the train station and it's actually two miles away, you'd be able to see that at a glance, but it's just another way that the estate agents can get their site seen, and you might find their own site without knowing which site it was listed on specifically.
SW: Ideally, would you like to live near a train station, or would you like to be, like, three-quarters of a mile away?
TS: I'd say about a mile and a half
SW: Mile and a half...
TS: 'cus then I could jog there every morning
SW: [disbelievingly!] Umm. Yeeaaahhhh...
MM: [equally disbelieveingly!] Yeah, that's going to happen.
[all laugh]
SW: That's a good site, though
Tim: It is a good site
SW: How do we get there?
MM: It's OnOneMap.com or you can follow the link from the website of the day page which is bbc.co.uk/radio2.
SW: And, in a sentence, Miles, what is it?
MM: It is a search engine, for houses for sale, which shows you those houses on a zoomable map.
SW: OK. Any area in the UK?
MM: Exactly.
SW: OK, thank you very much.