Quick Pitch: PadMapper is an apartment rental search engine that combines Google Maps with slider and keyword filters to help you find what you want quickly.
Genius Idea: Apartment search on the web stinks. Even with the endless variety of tools available to help the process, we're still left scouring a bunch of different sites and wasting away huge chunks of the day. PadMapper could potentially help remove some of the pain with their Google Maps mashup for a smarter apartment search that includes an array of filtering options.
PadMapper is certainly not the first tool to put the power of Google Maps to use for apartment search, but we quite like their simplistic and straightforward approach. You'll start off with a standard map view, and you can then use the PadMapper filters to narrow results to an area or address, and use sliders to specify rent price conditions, bed and bath preferences, pet needs, and add in your own keywords.
PadMapper has a few extra goodies worth exploring. New Yorkers can filter listings by commute time on the subway, and anyone can save and share favorites, as well as use the complimentary iPhone app [iTunes link] while on the go. Plus, if you create an account, you can post your own links to listings on the map.
Here's a quick demo of PadMapper:
Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.