Introducing PadMapper.com, a Map-Based House and Apartment Rental Search Engine

PadMapper.com, the mapping search engine for apartment rentals, marked its official launch today, after expanding its services to include Apartments.com's premium listings and a variety of new tools. It works by placing Craigslist and Apartments.com listings into a Google Map, helping users visualize the exact location of apartments. Slider controls allow the user to filter results in an intuitive manner. PadMapper currently indexes over 100,000 new house and apartment rental listings every week in over 80 major cities in the US and Canada. Every aspect of PadMapper was designed to help users quickly narrow down the overwhelming number of available listings to the few that are good matches for them.

-   Completely Map-Based Browsing: PadMapper's entire interface is taken up by a single large map with the locations of listings marked on it. All interaction takes place on top of the map. Pan to change the area of the search, zoom to see more listings in a particular area. PadMapper only shows listings that have well-specified addresses.

-   Fast Filters: Filter listings by the common (price, number of bedrooms/bathrooms, pets allowed) and the uncommon (max morning commute time via subway, words present in the listing, listing age, source, fee/no fee/by owner). The filters react quickly, so one can get a sense of how area availabilities differ by price, etc by changing the filters and watching.

-   PadMapper iPhone App: When walking or driving around a potential neighborhood, one can use the PadMapper iPhone app to see nearby available listings. The app also gives the ability to immediately call and set up showings with listers.

-   Quick Preview Bubbles: Click on a marker on the map to bring up a condensed, standardized summary of the listing, including price, a brief description, number of bedrooms, Google StreetView, area, address, pictures, and a link to the original listing. These are designed to facilitate quick judgments by highlighting the most common factors that disqualify a listing when searching for a perfect place.

-   Auto-Generated Inquiries with QuickMail: Automatically generate customized inquiry emails based on the details of a listing, and send directly from PadMapper.

-   Everything on One Screen: A user's browsing session is never disrupted when viewing listings, adding favorites, etc - it all happens within a single desktop-software-like interface.

-   Shareable Favorites Lists: Favorites lists which can be saved, shared, or printed, and serve as a checklist of listings to contact or see.

-   No Login: Except to submit a listing, no login is ever required on PadMapper. Users are able to begin searching immediately.

-   Direct Submission and Lister Tools: Listers who have listings that have not been indexed by PadMapper can submit them manually. Listers who directly submit a large number of listings to PadMapper can allow their customers to see just these listings on PadMapper.

"PadMapper's aim is to help people complete their apartment hunt as quickly and painlessly as possible," said Eric DeMenthon, founder of TopHat Monkey Software. "Besides price, location is probably the most important factor for most people when choosing a place to live, but it's also one of the hardest things to figure out on most online apartment rental listing sites. With PadMapper, you view rental listings by clicking on their location on the map."

He continued, "As rental prices in big cities have fallen, people have been using PadMapper to research pricing in neighborhoods to see if they're paying too much."

Even before its official release, word of PadMapper leaked out and spread by word of mouth, and it was featured on Lifehacker.com and Thrillist. The response from users has been overwhelmingly positive:

"This is easily the best way to look for a new apartment if you know the area you are moving to. Just thought I would let you know." - Rob G.

"Let me start off by saying that I love PadMapper. It has been such a useful tool while looking for a new apartment." - Alex B.

And many more like that.

PadMapper features rentals in New York, Boston, Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and many other major cities in the US and Canada, as well as thousands of smaller towns. PadMapper is free for apartment hunters.

Find Homes and Apartments for Rent at PadMapper.com.

About TopHat Monkey Software LLC:
TopHat Monkey Software develops web applications with a focus on innovative user interface design to make complex tasks more manageable. TopHat Monkey Software was founded in 2008 by Eric DeMenthon. The company is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York.