The portal ImmobilienScout24 [loosely translated as ‘RealEstateScout24'] recently started up a ‘Local Community’ online.

The new Web-Community is called „meine Nachbarschaft” ["My Neighborhood"]. According to the organizers, this site is intended to provide information to its users and offer discussion facilities on a regional level.

This concept is centered on the Germany-wide, 16000 so-called neighborhoods divided among town areas and communities. The each “neighborhood” can be seen in map form (the visual material is provided by Microsoft Virtual Earth), where “interesting locations” [„Interessante Orte"] are marked. Virtually anything that a resident could need in daily life can be found: from pharmacies to public telephones, bars and churches, through to convenience stores and glass recycling bins. Suppliers and locations are not only found on the map, but also specifically through search or tag-clouds you will.

Registered users are able to add locations. Much data is provided through the online directory “DasÖrtliche” [‘TheLocal'] – such as businesses, local authorities and institutions. According to ImmobilienScout24, as of the launch in mid-October, there were more than three million “interesting locations” awaiting discovery. However, there are numerous communities and city areas, displaying very meager information.

This forum offers an alternative form of interaction – members can make direct contact with each other through their posted “interesting locations”.

By the way, the „meine Nachbarschaft” [‘My Neighborhood'] of ImmobilienScout24 should not be confused with the similarly-named „meineNachbarschaft” [‘myNeighborhood'] of the Hamburg-based market research organization, the Brandon Science Institute, that was launched in June 2007.