To add to this, finding properties that meet the budgets, commuting preferences and work locations of everyone in a group is a Sisyphean task - it often ends in failure, with somebody exceeding their original budget or somebody dropping out.
To solve this I built a tool (https://closemove.com/) that:
- lets you enter between 1-6 people’s workplaces, budgets, and maximum commute times
- filters public rental listings and only shows the ones that satisfy everyone’s constraints
- shows results in either a list or map view
No sign-up/validation required at present. Currently UK only, but please let me know if you'd want me to expand this to your city/country.
This currently works best in London (with walking, cycling, driving and public transport links connected), and works decently in the rest of the UK (walking, cycling, driving only).
This started as a side project and it still needs improvement. I’d appreciate any feedback!
TrufiAssoc•5mo ago
fryingdan•5mo ago
As this is more of an MVP for now, I mainly rely on APIs such as Google Geocoding API, Mapbox, etc in the backend, but this is certainly limited. If there was a dedicated user base who found value in this, I'd look to increase granularity/accuracy and reduce costs by working with raw spatial data and doing GIS/network analysis type stuff in-house instead.
Although, I do use OSM on the site as a map view source!