[oleg_kikin]

Each dot on the chart is a car.

Horizontal scale = mileage.

Vertical scale = price.

The size of a dot = year (newer = larger), plus I colored 2007 .. 2011 in different colors to find "fresh" cars quicker.

This is just some sample data from the last 24 hours, relatively cheap cars under $32,000 within 500 mile radius of NYC.

[ajkessler]

Very cool, with lots of potential, but definitely not done. The biggest annoyance is not being able to pick (or even differentiate) between different models of a particular brand. For instance, there are 117 BMWs, but no way to view just the 335i models, either with an actual filter, or even visually. Mousing over 117 dots = not fun.

Also, a legend that explains dot size and color would be super easy to implement and tremendously helpful.

[JohnLBevan]

Nice demo - I like it.

I had the same comment - adding a key with this info would be really useful (especially if you could also use it as a filter). It would also be great if you could draw a line across the graph (optionally applying a curve) to allow the results to be filtered and the section beneath the curve zoomed in on (potentially two curves if you want to cut out anything suspiciously low priced also). You could also allow this selected section to then be displayed on different axes; i.e. these are the cars with a mileage and price I'm happy with, now plot my selection as price against age. Further user customisation would also be good - e.g. allowing users to change the meaning of the colours (colors) / dot size.

Nice work though - much better way to represent & search this data than the standard fixed range filters. I'd love to see something like this done for computers; when custom building & selecting processors for example, rather than getting a load of codes, plot serial task performance against price, filter it down, plot parallel task against price & further reduce the data set until you find the ones which meet your requirement.

[b2spirit]

Where did you find the used car data?

[oleg_kikin]

Downloaded 20 search results pages from cars.com. I wish I had direct access to their DB.

Craigslist has a ton of car postings, but it's not structured in any way, will be very hard to parse.

[msluyter]

Heh. My company provides cars.com with most of its data, so I have direct access to their db. ;) However, because our business model is predicated on aggregating and then reselling automotive data, it's unlikely you could get access for free. Still, if you think you'll ever want to go commercial, you might contact us: (DMI) Digital Motorworks Inc.

[msellout]

Listings are valuable. I know AutoTrader.com works hard to protect its listings from mass downloading.

[johnbatch]

Have you looked at the Vast API. http://www.vast.com/info/customapi

[oleg_kikin]

I will take a look at it, thanks!

[Triumvark]

I wonder if Carmax has an API...

[timroman]

Oleg, I've been kicking around some similar ideas and would like to talk to you about this project sometime. My email is in my profile.

[spydum]

Most excellent! I had dreamed up a similar idea years ago, but would compare listed price against KBB or edmunds valuations.