Effective Analytics – Zillow Reports

Have to compliment Zillow (http://www.zillow.com/) on a terrific job and example we can all learn from with their Zillow Real Estate Market Reports for US Home – Values Fourth Quarter: October-December 2008. Visually appealing, intuitive, and just the right amount of graphical interest I believe this represents a truly useful example of an effective analytic application. Combining the geography and value trends in an interactive “heat map” like this is, well brilliant. Data values can accessed for the nation and 161 MSAs by clicking on the Excel icon, or clicking a graph for a collection of maps suitable for printing. Even the Excel download includes more than just data – a glossary of metadata defining the columns with active links to each tab.  Well done, exceptional value, this is a terrific example of effectively conveying a wealth of information (not just data) in a way that is immediately useful.