Monday, April 18, 2011

Milk Prices on Google Maps

The Brian Lehrer Show: Are You Being Gouged?

The Brian Lehrer Show has created three Google Maps to help you check the price of the three essential grocery items of beer, lettuce and milk (OK I added the 'essential' but beer, lettuce and milk just happen to be the only things that ever make it to my grocery list).

Looking at the comments on the show's website it looks like the prices are probably a couple of years out-of-date. However in these hard up days of record deficits it strikes me as a brilliant idea for an enterprising map developer to exploit.

The maps crowd-source the cost of the three items as priced in local grocery stores in and around NYC. Each of the maps use color-coded map markers so that you can tell at a glance where the cheapest and least expensive stores are located. The names of the most expensive and cheapest stores for the items are also listed above the map. If you click on any of the map markers you can find out the exact price for the grocery item at that store.

It could be time to start working on that grocery store price comparison smartphone app.

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