At Trulia, we use interactive map visualizations to present large amounts of information in an easy-to-understand format. Today, Trulia released interactive map visualizations that bring two distinct new categories of information that help to better inform house hunters.

The first new map is dedicated to rentals. Now, consumers can browse through color-coded neighborhoods and quickly focus their search on neighborhoods that meet their budget.

The second set of maps visualizes historical earthquake and flood data to depict environmental risk at a block-by-block level. Up until now, the risk of these events has traditionally been hard for home buyers, sellers, and renters to find. Now house hunters can use our maps to see flood zones and understand where earthquakes, for example are more common, in order to make informed decisions about where to move.

With today’s launch across Android mobile and web platforms, rental prices and environmental risks join Trulia’s robust suite of interactive visualizations, which already feature home values, crime, school rankings, commute times and local amenities such as banks, gas stations, restaurants and grocery stores.

Details of the New Trulia Map Visualizations

• Rental Prices: The rental rate visualizations incorporate a year’s worth of data to show the average cost-per-bedroom at the neighborhood level. Deep reds indicate high-cost areas, and yellow and green designate more affordable neighborhoods.
• Earthquakes: The earthquake map layer incorporates USGS and the California Geologic Survey data to show seismic hazard, also known as ground shaking potential. Blues and greens show low shaking potential and reds show high-potential areas.
• Floods: Using FEMA data, Trulia’s flood hazard maps outline a community’s different flood risk areas, determined by topographic surveys and statistical data for river flow, storm tides, and rainfall. High risk areas are identified by dark blue shading and show the areas where there is at least a 1 in 4 chance of flooding during a 30-year mortgage. Light blue designates the lower-risk flood areas.

Trulia’s visualizations are accessible on the web by visiting http://www.trulia.com/local. Select a city and then utilize the menu on the left-hand side to see properties, home values, crimes, schools, commute times, amenities, rental rates and environmental risks of floods and earthquakes. On Android mobile, click on the layer icon in the upper right corner and select heat maps from the menu.

-Lee