Software designer offers 3D tour of rental housing
Jeremy Shepherd
Van. Courier
It worked for filmmaker James Cameron, and now one Vancouver software designer is hoping to turn 3D technology into big money with a little help from Vancouver’s realtors.
See: http://laidlersoftwaregroup.com/
“I wanted to build software you could build once and sell over and over again,” James Laidler said.
Laidler, 42, has spent two years creating software that gives homebuyers an interactive view of Vancouver’s real estate market. For a fee of $50 a month, realtors can take their clients on a comprehensive search of buildings available for rent in Vancouver including a 3D view of the building’s floor plans, courtesy of Laidler.
“It could generate millions of dollars, ultimately,” Laidler said.
The idea is to give prospective buyers the most comprehensive search available, letting them see everything from the common areas in the building to the view from their prospective apartment.
Laidler said he taught himself to program computers at 13, and by 16 he was studying computer science at the University of B.C.
But in the mid-1980s, Laidler said computer science primarily consisted of spreadsheets. Bored, he dropped out at 18 and went to work in mud. For 10 years, before the arrival of the Internet, Laidler refined and sterilized mud used for high-end cosmetics in a factory. “The Internet democratized software,” Laidler said.
Laidler said he’s been a software developer for the last 12 years, and employs five full-time software developers at his own company, Laidler Software Group.
Laidler said building developers regularly put floor plans online when selling a property. From those two-dimensional plans, Laidler created the 3D floor plans he believes are more interactive than interactive photo tours.
Laidler said a key difference is the user can move around in his virtual environment, while most virtual tours consist of a series of photos taken from the same spot.
Hootie Johnston, a realtor who has worked in Vancouver for 17 years, was one of the first to sign up for Laidler’s service.
“It’s much easier to see and relate to the product,” Johnston said.
Except for a few adjustments, such as including townhouses in the search, Johnston said Laidler had his website up and running within a few days.
Johnston said Laidler’s system is perfect for an area like Coal Harbour due to the multiple high-rise towers. However, he said the 3-D technology wouldn’t work in an area without vertical density like Kitsilano.
Fred Leitz, an employee of Laidler’s, met him when the two worked together at a Vancouver software company.
Leitz has been working for Laidler for the past month to develop an iPhone application to augment the 3D search.
Leitz said the application uses geo-location, meaning users can access real estate listings in the region they’re located in. Leitz said the application could be useful for buyers looking for a condo near work or skiers searching for a place near a favourite mountain. He also discussed an “augment reality” feature in the works that would allow a user to point their phone at a building and bring up the building’s floor plans as well as relevant information about the building and the listing.
With two million realtors in North America, Leitz said he is optimistic about the potential of the project. “I think it’s more like a billion dollar idea,” he said.