Streetwise
The local search space is starting to generate some real innovation. Amazon just launched a prety stirring new product that connects yellow page data to geocoded street level photographs of businesses to the Google API. Web 2.0 starting to swing at a whole new level. Here’s how John Batelle describes it:
In short, Manber & Co. (urged on by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who Manber says was “very involved”) strapped GPS-enabled digital videocamera-cum-terabyte server rigs to the top of a bunch of SUVs, and drove them around the commercial districts of major U.S. metropolitan areas, recording what became composite still pictures of entire cities, one address at a time. Tens of thousands of miles later, they had more than 20 million images of over 14 million businesses in 10 cities, and they aren’t done yet. A9 then created a local search application it calls Block View. It’s pretty darn cool, incorporating a lot of Javascript and other tricks to let you “walk” up and down the block. (You can’t turn a corner yet, but you can look at the other side of the street.) A9 then integrated Block View with Yellow Pages listings (from Axiom) and voil� — local search with a visual cue. You have a picture of any business you’re looking for. “It lets you see the Yellow Pages, as opposed to just reading them,” Manber told me.
Business 2.0 :: Online Article :: Features :: A9 Lets Photos Do the Walking