When CrunchBase, our free database of startup and people information, released an API we started to observe some really interesting applications being built on it. But one of the most interesting could just be Crunchvision which puts on a map the startups indexed in CrunchBase. This service was created in a couple of days by Mapeed, a French startup which provides tools for creating and serving Google maps that include a high volume of data.
If Crunchvision was built on Google maps “manually” it would show an endless number of markers that would make the map unreadable. Mapeed is able to address this issue by grouping the markers and providing a clean result that remains accessible at decent speed. In CrunchVision for example you can zoom in and still have a clear impression on the startup density by region or city. This is not a surprise, but this is a great service to realize that Silicon Valley is no longer the only hot spot for startups, although it still remains No. 1 by far.
CrunchVision is still missing a few key features including a search engine or filters enabling the creation of ad-hoc maps (maps of startup that raised money, that provide financial services…). But this is a good starting point. Especially if you are an entrepreneur and want to know who operates in your neighborhood.
CrunchVision link needs fixed
Outstanding idea.
Will be checking out Mapeed also.
http://Crunchvision.com link has a space between protocol and crunchvision.com piece.
fixed. thanks
Wow , seems great . I wonder if a company automatically gets on the maps once its been added to crunchbase ? Or you do it manually ?? And yes please Add a search button to it
Yes. since it is using the Crunchbase API it is showing up automatically
http://www.Crunchvision.com/ doesn’t work @ my end. http://www.crunchvision.com/ does…
Doesn’t work for me. Error says Mapeed is undefined (line 46 char 5) in IE 6. Cool idea though.
here works great. try again
wow, it’s a really cool app.
Great site, will prove very useful in what I do which is represent tech companies in their commercial real estate needs here in San Francisco. I found one error though, Elastra moved a few blocks away a few months ago. Here is the story from when they signed the deal, I track these types fo changes for my clients and I have been working on a similar map but for space updates a s opposed to static locations. Not up yet but they Elastra coverage is http://sanfranc...at-75-broadway/ .
No not yet.
Arrington, buy this!
Could be worthwhile with a few more features, like search, a legend, something to indicate or filter out the deadpool companies, and scrollwheel support to zoom the Google map.
My thoughts exactly. Search is key, otherwise its a great visual display without any depth. By name, keyword or industry.
Legend would also be a good idea.
I’m sure this is a work in progress, so good first start.
All the compagnies listed on Crunchbase are not on the map (and my compagny is not either) how to add it ?
Good idea to give broad sphere to the Silicon Valley, are you going to show the companies which are listed in Crunchbase?
Hi
I am Sébastien from Mapeed and I have built crunchvision.com.
Here are some explanation about crunchvision.
Crunchvision displays all geo-localized companies from crunchbase. I guess it’s all companies with at least one office address. If your company have more than one office, all of them are displayed on crunchvision.
Crunchvision is updated once a day. So when you add/edit a company on crunchbase, you have to wait for crunchbase validation before being visible on their site and one more day to be visible on crunchvision.
And thanks a lot for the article and all comments and for appreciating our work.
doesn’t work in ie7.
this is really cool.
Very cool tool!
I assume that all the companies at the Kansas Oklahoma border are ones generically located in the US?
Hi,
The companies are located on the map depending on the geo data extracted from the CrunchBase API. You can simply update your data (address) on CrunchBase if you want to get a right location (latitude/longitude) on CrunchVision.
The next update will start soon, don’t wait
!
Yann
Mapeed
Great job, could be fine for my site CafésFrance.com and it’s ‘000s of places on maps.
Thanks @seb for the explanation ! I’ll edit my compagny profile to see if it finally appear !
Doesn’t work.
Um: http://www.startupwarrior.com/
Andrew this is precisely what Mapeed helps avoiding: an unreadable map because of the numbers of markers populated…
Ok so they are in downtown San Francisco then? I guess I should move to San Francisco.
To get ie7 to work change the privacy setting for http://www.map.google.com to allow cookies.
Interesting to see that 16 Israeli startups are located in the middle of the desert (possibly in the Dimona nuclear facility?). I hope they have enough water down there to make it thru the current crisis
The problem comes the fact that Google maps is not accurate in Israel. Actually google map israel is available but for some reason not available in production for mashups
Crunchvision cool site
crunchvision has been fixed for IE7
Thats fun to see.
On another note:
Damn IE7 people. Get firefox already!
This is a nice, elegant way to deal with the scaling problem.
While its not plugged directly into the crunchbase API, here’s another way of looking at that data with funding included:
on Maker!
sign in and copy the map to your own map section to edit it and look at the data in other ways.