Somewhere in the last few days, Google rolled out a new feature on Google Maps that creates a graceful fade effect between zoom levels on Google Maps. The alteration, though small, creates a dramatic improvement in the usability of Google Maps. If you want to check it out, hop over to FlatSearch and try zooming in and out once the images are loaded. Amazing!

This improvement is a boon for Google Maps and all the world-wide real estate and property search websites employing it - and for FlatSearch, of course. We still have some issues we're working on to solve - South African computer users aren't all that web-savvy yet, and the controls for Google Maps don't always come naturally to such users. That's why we're working on more understandable controls and tooltips that will help users learn the process step-by-step. We'll keep you posted.