StreetAdvisor launched today and provides a detail view of your street and neighbordhood through the power of Google Maps. When you search for a street you are presented with a map of the area as well as a StreetScore based off of user’s opinions in various categories: vibe (the feeling), wired (technology), health (cleanliness), values (bang for your buck), essentials (public services and utitlities).

There are some basic social networking features tied in as well, allowing you to keep in touch with, or meet new, people on your street. Members of a given street can also collaborate on a Guidebook highlighting key points within the area and make use of a StreetBoard - a simple forum system for the members of the street.

I think the focus on the street level is a great idea, although much of the content (the Guidebook, for example) ends up focusing on the neighborhood and city level. One feature I really wish was included would be the ability to search for a city and see a list of the highest rated streets in the area.

Overall, StreetAdvisor could become a great asset for people considering moving into an area, as long as more content is added. Of the three addresses I searched for not a single street had been covered yet, and that is an inherent problem with this idea. StreetAdvisor must increase the awareness of their product and get as many street reviews as possible. When the average street has only 10-20 households on it your chances of one of them reviewing the street are minimal at best. A possible way to mitigate this lack of content would be to relate a street to a neighborhood and then let neighborhood reviews impact the StreetScore of any given street within the area. This way, a street with no reviews would still have some level of information based on the reviews of it’s neighboring streets.