Map overlays that make
your market make sense.
GenieLayers™ renders neighborhood borders, pollen levels, air quality, flood zones, and parcel boundaries directly on your listing maps — automatically, the moment a buyer searches any area.
Everything buyers want to know about a location — on the map
Draw your own neighbourhoods, four overlay types, and a layer panel that buyers control themselves.
Area Builder
Buyers ask for neighborhoods your MLS does not have. Draw them yourself over parcel lines — click each corner or trace freehand — and every listing inside is filed there automatically, on import and on every refresh. A boundary you draw also overrules the MLS when a listing agent picked the wrong neighborhood.
Neighborhood Boundaries
Precise neighbourhood polygon overlays rendered from the boundaries you draw. Buyers see exactly which neighborhood a listing falls in — no ambiguity.
Flood Zone Overlays
FEMA flood zone designations rendered as distinct polygon layers. Buyers can instantly see whether a property sits in a high-risk zone before asking their agent.
Pollen & Air Quality
Real-time pollen count and air quality index overlaid on listing maps. Especially valuable for buyers with allergies or respiratory conditions evaluating a neighbourhood.
Parcel Data
Individual parcel boundaries and APN data overlaid on the map. Useful for buyers evaluating lot size, neighboring parcels, or development potential.
Draw Your Own Areas
Trace a neighbourhood on the map and every listing inside it is assigned to it — the places your buyers name but the MLS does not. Nothing to buy, nothing to upload.
Buyer-Controlled Layer Panel
A sleek layer panel on every map lets buyers toggle individual overlays on and off themselves — no agent involvement needed to explore the data.
Draw it once. Every listing inside it knows where it is.
Some neighbourhoods your buyers name are not in the MLS feed at all — the feed reports the wider area and stops. Trace the boundary on a map, give it a name, and every listing that falls inside it is assigned to it from then on. That local knowledge cannot be bought from a data provider; this is how it gets into the system.
The neighbourhoods your buyers name
are not in your MLS
A listing in Cedar Ridge arrives labelled “287 – Mountain Area” — the whole region. Nothing in the several hundred fields that come with it gets any closer. No data provider sells that boundary either, because neighbourhood boundaries are local knowledge nobody publishes. So you draw it.
Turn on parcel lines
Every lot in the county, drawn on the map. You are tracing against real boundaries, not guessing at a shape.
Draw the neighbourhood
Click each corner, or hold the mouse down and trace freehand. A traced outline is tidied to the corners that matter, so you get a few dozen adjustable points instead of several hundred.
Name it and save
Every listing inside is filed under that neighbourhood from then on — on import, and on every refresh after.
It overrules your MLS — on purpose
Listing agents pick the wrong neighbourhood more often than anyone admits — a home filed under a neighbourhood it sits well outside of, sometimes in an entirely different parcel book. Nothing else on the market corrects that, because everyone treats the feed as the last word.
A boundary you draw wins. A listing outside it has that neighbourhood taken off, whatever the feed says. Only the neighbourhoods you have drawn are ever touched — everything else arrives exactly as your MLS sent it.
- Applies on import and on every refresh, not just once
- One click brings listings already on the site into line, reported by status
- Drag a corner to move it, click one to remove it, drag a midpoint to add
- Saved as a file you own and can install on another site
Buyers explore. Agents get fewer questions.
When a buyer selects a neighborhood or draws a search area, the relevant boundary overlay renders automatically. They can toggle layers on and off to check flood zones, air quality and pollen levels, or see parcel lines — all without calling their agent.
GenieLayers™ is a standalone add-on
Available on any MLS Genie™ subscription tier. One subscription unlocks every live layer, and the boundaries for your own market areas are yours to draw — nothing extra to buy.
All live overlay layers included. New layer types added regularly — your subscription always includes everything we build.
- Neighborhood boundaries
- Flood zone overlays — FEMA data
- Pollen count — live data
- Air quality index — live data
- Parcel boundary layer
- Buyer-controlled layer panel
- Street & satellite toggle
- More layers added regularly
We used to sell pre-built boundary files by market. We stopped, because you know your market better than we do. Every boundary you draw is saved as a .mlsgpack file that belongs to you — download it, keep a copy, install it on another site you run, or hand it to an agent you work with.
Draw it
Trace the neighbourhood over parcel lines. No file to request, no wait, no fee.
Own it
Download it as a file. It is your data, in an open format, not something we hold for you.
Share it
Install it on another site, or pass it to an agent who works the same market.
“MLS Genie is so much easier to use and less confusing!”
How GenieLayers works, step by step
Setup, day-to-day use and the settings worth knowing about — written for the person actually using it.
GenieLayers™ questions answered
Can I create neighbourhood boundaries my MLS does not have?
Yes. Area Builder lets you draw a neighbourhood on a map over parcel lines, either by clicking each corner or tracing freehand. Every listing whose position falls inside it is filed under that neighbourhood automatically, on import and on every refresh. A drawn boundary also overrules the MLS: when a listing agent selects the wrong neighbourhood, a listing sitting outside your boundary has that neighbourhood removed. Only neighbourhoods you have drawn are ever changed.
What boundary data does GenieLayers™ use?
GenieLayers™ uses US Census TIGER/Line data as the primary source for neighbourhood and county boundaries. Neighbourhood boundaries are also sourced from Overpass API and Nominatim as fallbacks. Neighbourhoods the feed does not name are drawn by the agent in Area Builder, over parcel lines, and take precedence over the MLS for those areas.
Do boundary overlays appear automatically on listing pages?
Yes. Once GenieLayers™ is activated, overlays render automatically on every listing detail page without any per-page configuration. The layers relevant to that listing's location are detected and displayed.
Can I get boundaries for my specific market area?
You make them. We used to sell pre-built boundary packs by region and stopped, because the agent working a market knows its boundaries better than we ever could. Area Builder lets you draw any neighbourhood you need, and there is no fee and nothing to request. Packs already installed on a site keep working.
Who owns the boundaries I draw?
You do. Each drawn area is saved as a .mlsgpack file you can download at any time — an open format holding plain coordinates. Install it on another site you run, keep it as a backup, or share it with an agent who works the same market. Nothing about it is locked to us.
Does GenieLayers™ work with Houzez and other themes?
Yes. Overlays render on the property detail page of any WordPress theme using standard listing post types. Boundaries also appear automatically when a visitor filters by neighbourhood, which needs GenieLayers to read that theme’s search — MLS Genie’s own search and Houzez are supported today, and a theme bridge can be written for any other. Everything else works regardless of theme.
