For brokers and investors, the days of endless travel to scout for properties, pen and pad in hand, are gone. Now it's all about virtual reality and powerful searches through comprehensive property databases. Industry players say it's all about increased transparency--the attempt to illuminate a once fragmented and localized market sector. And while commercial real estate still lags the residential sector, the commitment to publicly accessible listings and resources is picking up steam.

Just recently, New York City-based Real Capital Analytics created a global real estate transaction database. San Francisco-based LoopNet Inc., meanwhile, released the next generation of LoopLink, a technology that powers commercial property listings on more than 1,000 real estate websites. Both tools are designed to make it easier, faster and more convenient for prospective buyers to access commercial real estate data, company officials say.

LoopLink 7.0 , for instance, features mapping tools that show street, aerial and bird's-eye views of properties, and has the ability to search sale and lease listings at thesame time. The LoopLink 7.0 platform allows real estate firms to significantly enhance their online marketing capabilities," says Mike Manning, LoopNet's vice president of marketing.

The RCA database focuses on income-producing commercial properties--office, industrial, retail, apartment and hotel, plus the sales of commercially developable land sites. The company captures sales of properties and portfolios of $2.5 million or more in the United States and $10 million or more internationally.

Peter Culliney, director, global real estate for RCA, describes it as an industry first. "One of the key benefits of the database," he says, "is that it factors in elements such as the exact exchange rate at the time of the transaction and differing measurement protocols, so that subscribers can examine deals from a level vantage point in the same currency and spatial measurements. This makes it an unparalleled resource for professionals operating globally."

RCA is an independent research firm focused exclusively on the capital investment markets for commercial real estate. It began tracking commercial property transactions in the United States eight years ago. Last year, as part of a significant geographic expansion, it built on its work with data in the US to create the global database.

Culliney says the objective of the database is "to promote greater levels of transparency globally," RCA executives say the database is unique because it contains records for trillions of dollars of properties from all over the world--75 countries on five continents. Updated daily, it's available by subscription on the RCA website.

The records contain information on prices, deal terms and property characteristics. When possible, RCA also identifies and links the buyer, seller, joint venture partner, broker and lender involved in each deal.

To create the database, RCA sought the assistance of RICS Americas, the New York City-based division of the London-headquartered Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a trade organization for property, land, construction and related environmental professionals worldwide.

"The world's capital markets will benefit considerably from this new level of global transparency," notes RICS past president Steve Williams, who advises RCA on its a global report.