Building an Internet-Based Real Estate Multiple Listing System (MLS) with SDE and ArcIMS

Author: Dave Bouwman
Organization: Pacific Meridian Resources

2000 S. College Ave.
Fort Collins, CO 80525
USA

Phone: 970-490-5900
Fax: 970-490-2300
dbouwman@pacificmeridian.com

Recent developments in Web-based technology using the Internet are permeating all businesses. The migration of real estate multiple listing systems (MLSs) to Internet-based platforms from more traditional mainframe environments is a trend. Many of these new systems also now provide basic mapping capabilities for identifying listing locations. However, very few have really taken advantage of the rich capabilities found in Esri's spatial database management and Internet GIS technologies.

Working with Pacific Meridian Resources and RealGo (Fort Collins, Colorado), Information and Real Estate Services LLC (Loveland, Colorado) has embarked on a project to develop a full-featured MLS that affords integrated spatial query and mapping capabilities with state-of-the-art database management. The system is based on formal business process modeling techniques that reflect the requirements of real estate professionals of five northern Colorado real estate boards. This includes traditional MLS requirements for active and historical listings, as well as requirements to accommodate multiple county assessor data and comparable market analysis (CMA).

This paper will review the requirements and opportunities for developing an Internet-based MLS that provides full-featured GIS query, analysis, and mapping capabilities. In particular, this paper will review the issues involved in integrating ArcIMS and ColdFusion as application development platforms, with SQL Server and ArcSDE for database development. A demonstration will be provided.