The audience will consist of both students and landlords, but will mainly be used for student purposes. Students will be searching for future places to call home, whereas landlords will be searching for prospective tenants. Students need places to live while they are attending college, so they will be actively searching each year. West Chester is the largest of the state schools but do not have enough space for our growing campus. Space Invaders would give students the opportunity to control the housing market, instead of being at the will of guessing if a place is decent. They want a safe, high quality area to spend their time studying, eating, and sleeping. This project will give them a resource to use geographic information to pinpoint areas that they are comfortable to live in, while reading reviews and details of the building. There currently isn’t website that features these key search points.
Landlords will be pricing their living quarters by the surrounding areas. This project will help maintain competitive prices and better living situations because students will be creating reputations for the landlords that they review. The landlord will see their ratings and make changes according to their peer’s comments. They can get upfront feedback from tenants and improve their dwelling based on what students are saying.
Space Invaders is benefiting both parties that are involved with renting spaces, but students will no longer have to search in the dark for a residence. They will have better chances of finding a dwelling that fits their needs.
Geography and Mapping
The location aspect of Space Invaders appeals to geography and mapping specialists. Using GIS, students can see the proximity of the building to the campus. GIS specialists will appreciate the attributes that are connected with the pin of the location on the map. Location is extremely important when choosing a place to live for a college town. The amount of time it takes to walk to campus is crucial for students and reduces the amount of feasible buildings to live in.
Real Estate and Marketing
The rating of a residence can greatly affect the landlord. If they have bad reviews, it will lessen their chances of finding students to rent out to or reduce the chances of getting a better tenant. If their location is not the most desirable, but their ratings and reviews are great, that could bring more people to the listing. The marketing of their apartment or house will include Space Invaders in the process because reviewers are so important.
