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Who Are My Neighbors, Mr.Search Engine?
Phoe6 writes "'Google's goal is to connect searchers with the information they need whether it's halfway around the world or in their neighborhood,' said company co-founder Sergey Brin, as Google is unveiling its location-based search tool local.google.com.
This is going heads on with Yahoo, as it put its SmartView content on its maps." Phoe6 also points to this AP story carried by the Houston Chronicle about "Verizon Communications' SuperPages.com, overhauled to deliver more useful local results." Google's service seems to work pretty well -- I've just located a few coffee shops with free wireless within easy walking distance. Update: 03/17 18:33 GMT by T : Here's a no-reg link to the same AP story.
Did you mean: Chinese Restaurant With MSG in Food and Without Real Vegetarian Option
Your search - Chinese Restaurant Without MSG in Food and Real Vegetarian Option, no lying about it - did not match any documents.
No pages were found containing "Chinese Restaurant Without MSG in Food and Real Vegetarian Option, no lying about it".
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I think that the title is a little bit misleading. If you go to the site, the text directly above "Google Home" and "Local Search Help" says: "Find local businesses and services on the web." This isn't to find your neighbors: it's to find your nearest McDonalds, etc.
Also, the local search help page talks about finding businesses, and mentions nothing of finding specific people.
"Server Error
The server encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request.
Please try again in a minute or so."
Quick! Someone get a Google cache!
Kids these days. They don't know the difference between classic, and just plain old.
You slashdotted Gooogle!!
Server Error
The server encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request.
Please try again in a minute or so.
Truly this is a great day for the Web and the Internet as a whole
If thou see a fair woman pay court to her, for thus thou wilt obtain love
Coudln't this just be added to the existing google interface with place: or location:?
I'd have to say that most of these services are already way behind. Check out Verizon's map based search (as mentioned). They have a Java and HTML version.
:)
The Java version I've linked rocks. I've used it to find all of the sushi places within driving distances of my place
Verizon Map Based Search
I searched for a hardware store close to my Manhattan zip code. The first entry is sending me about 4 miles south ... the second entry has me going to Jersey ... and the third puts me in Brooklyn. I'm all for sight-seeing, but not when I just want to buy a wrench.
The form says: US address, city & state, or zip
Indefinitely Detained US Citizen
So are there any plans for Google to use a similar service in Canada? I'd love to try a search linked to my postal code, but it looks like it's only accepting Zip numbers...
Luke 10:25-37 (NRSV)
For more, go here
"Love is a familiar; Love is a devil: there is no evil angel but Love." --William Shakespeare ('Love's Labors Lost')
I suppose someone with a small business could check out what sort of nearby competition they have using this.
Also, when researching for possible locations for a business, maybe someone could type in their zip code to see whether or not the neighborhood already has people providing the planned service/goods?
I decided to look for all the weirdos that are near my home. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the local Holiday Inn was the first return (or that there seems to be an ample supply of others)...
I think I need to move.
Long, cute, or funny Sigs are just another form of over compensation, used by geeks, nerdz, etc.
Wow. There were quite a few search engines before Google, too. There's obviously no way they could do searching any better, so why try?
Do you want to assume that Google can't compete or improve on an existing service or product?
I just looked up escorts and found a ton of matches! Thanks Google!
I don't think Dominos pizza deliver across the atlantic...
:)
I suspect I *won't* be using this service to find a local business...
Searching the three line greenbar yellow page listings is ok, but Google's keyword coverage seems a bit spotty. "94303 chinese food" doesn't turn up local results, but "94303 chinese" does.
The free text geo-categorization seems to depend on finding full addresses in the web pages, not as sophisticated as Metacarta or Topix.net
I say it's about time! Superpages.com and their likes have so far been nothing short of big disappointments. On superpages the results returned from simple searches are completely disappointing.
Yellow page companies are basically putting their stuff online, thinking, as long as it's got similar features as their offline book versions, it's good enough. Well it's not. And it's about damn time a competitor like Google shows up to ruin their show.
eTrade SUCKS
Let's see...
If I'm in the center of Europe, the nearest attractions are Io, Ganymede, Callisto, Metis, Thebe, Lida, Himalia...
I wonder if this is part of a trend away from the common associations of the web being a giant globalized impersonal place full of strangers, and making it also have a more small and personal aspect- a good place to get information on (and maybe even interact or get involved with) your own neighborhood?
I wonder what's next? Ebay neighborhood garage sales? Bid online, walk next door to pick it up? Web-conferencing the community association meeting? Using an online dating service to meet people instead of going out to a ba... wait a minute.
Can anyone tell me how to set my sig on Slashdot?
Even people that believe in pre-destiny look both ways before crossing the street.
too big a search default range. I did a simple search on "italian" as the keyword with an urban address and got hits more than 50 miles away by default. Much simpler, IMO, to do 1, 5, or 10 miles at first, then perhaps automatically ranging outward if there are a very small number of hits.
In my search original result set (with the 50 miles range), I had the first few hits being a short distance away, then a chunk (ie, results 3-6) a great distance away, then another chunk (ie, results 7-10) back closer to home, with a lengthy divide between each set (ie, 1-3 and 7-10 were under 3 miles, while 3-6 were greater than 20 miles away. no italian in between seems quite odd for such an urban region). IMO, everything needs to be better sorted by distance from the input address.
And lastly, number the entries when the map is displayed: When I initially searched, I did not get a map showing what hit was where. After clicking a link to obtain that map containing little numbers showing where each hit was located, and a short list to the right of the map showed which marker matched which result. It would be useful if this numeric list were also done down below where the results have more detail (like phone and address).
Even despite the above, this is a pretty neat tool and could be rather useful for it's current state.
The One Rule Of Chess You'll Ever Need: Don't play someone who carries a kit in their bookbag.
Kids these days!
Then I saw that one was a bar that offered FREE BEER WITH EVERY PACKERS TOUCHDOWN and I was like... blisssssss... I'm there. It really *did* put the best results first.
Some might remember this from a while back. This feature's origins come from the Google Programming Contest. They said that the good entries might actually become google features if they had sufficient merit. The winner from 2002 whipped up a prototype geographic search. I guess that this is the full-scale realization of that work.
Please stop misusing Catch-22 to describe chicken-egg problems or other paradoxes that are not Catch-22.
something that is like this is GeoURL. maps coordinates to websites.
Google is rapidly evolving into one of, if not, the most advanced search engine in the world.
Along with its regular search and local search, you can make an extremely customizable search with the following features:
site:, link:, inurl:, allinurl:, intitle:, allintitle:, intext:, allintext:, filetype:, ext:, inanchor:, allinanchor:, phonebook:, rphonebook:, bphonebook:, daterange:
As the words suggest, site: will search for the search terms in a specific site, or domain level (e.g. site:www.slashdot.org, site:.org), inurl: will search for the search terms in the URL as well as the content. allinurl: will search for the search terms only inside the url. filetype: will search for the search terms with results for only the specified filetype (e.g. filetype:.doc), etc.
It also has a very complex calculator function, which comes into effect automatically when you enter a mathematical query (e.g. tablespoon / pi ^ e).
It also (imo) has the best ranking system, which isnt bias by money (excluding the sponsored links).
With google soon to bring out their own email, I can see google becoming an extremely wide used site (even more so than now) in the near future.
*Hopes for his first +5, Intresting*...
Meta tags for longitude and latitude.
Searched for goats in my zip code, first site returned was McDonald's Restaurants. I dont think im gonna eat at Mc'Ds any more.
Out of curiousity, I searched for "porn" near Southborough, MA. I got a listing of lawyers. Google must know that I'm browsing for porn at work.
.. but it's a start. And Google is still #1 for me. No fancy banners or junk about Hollywood's latest production, just the facts. Beautiful. Less is more.
As the Google logo on the page states, this appears to be a public BETA.
I don't say this so that people don't critique the site yet.
Rather, after you discuss here, send your critique to Google! I'm excited about this, but the sort order of the results shows me things in New Jersey before it shows me things in Pennsylvania (and I know there are three Chinese Restaurants right around the corner, closer than Jersey). I would hope that either they already know about some of these issues or would like to make the search engine more useful.
The best place I could come up with was Google's Contact page, which has links to forums and the like, but no reference to local.google at all. If someone has a better place, please post it here. The local.google site has no contact link I can see.
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
There is something those outside the USA can do about this:
Mobilemaps is the open source alternative. You will need a little geo experience at this stage to make it work outside of USA/UK, and the map and geocoding data must be available in your country.
This solution was around well before google's - or even their programming competition which introduced this to them. We're looking for active help from developers, and it's a shame slashdot don't consider mentioning us. We'll be launching a collaborative geo-crawler shortly, so there should be plenty to do.
Philip Abrahamson
Mobilemaps Development Team
Yeah, the joke just reached out and slapped me. But I figured some would see it as preaching rather than a gag that cuts both ways. Religion brings out zealots and as Washington Post humor writer Gene Weingarten notes, "Humor is largely cynicism and zealots are too earnest to be cynical."
"Love is a familiar; Love is a devil: there is no evil angel but Love." --William Shakespeare ('Love's Labors Lost')
mobilemaps.com the open source alternative.
Philip
Curious to figure out how it might work, I looked up my domain name. It gave me an address in Redwood City, CA. WTF?
(I once hosted with an ISP who had a POP there, but not at that location. My domain record has my correct address, as well as the correct contact addresses - which are in a different city in the same metro area.)
Digging around with google for that street address came up with Greatcircle - the maintainers of the majordomo mailing list. Nice guys, but I've never been associated with them. (Ought to install it some day. Back when I hosted mailing lists I administered them manually.)
Turns out that they've been using my domain name in their documentation as a generic domain name. And the doc is all over the web - including several mailing list archives in which Brent Chapman's signature appears, giving the company address. B-) Of course the doc is also on their website, as is there address.
Given the broad use and extensive documentation of majordomo, and the relatively low profile of my own little consulting firm, I suspect that my domain name appears on the net more often associated with the former than the latter.
I suspect the service is using webcrawler information to create a database of search terms vs things-that-look-like-addresses (either on the same page or the same site) then scoring matchups by frequency, and the search engine returns the highest score.
(Meanwhile I've found out where the spambots are harvesting one of the bogus usernames that keep showing up in spam to my site. B-) )
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
It looks like a great service, except for one thing:
Just like yahoo (aka Yahoo Maps) and many other online services, google uses MapQuest to provide directions.
I wish more sites would instead start using the company formerly known as MapBlast/Vicinity. Their Line Drive maps are much easier to use, and their directions are much better, at least based on extensive personal experience.
Granted, they got bought by the Beast, but the technology still works...
I wonder what Mapblast is doing wrong that the consistently inferior service gets consistently greater exposure and linkage?
Maybe one of these days I can figure out a way to turn a link like this into a link like this
Maybe a combination of a hosts file entry and a quickie PHP script on my personal Web server to parse and redirect... Or would that be considered a violation of the DMCA? *grin*
The facts have a liberal bias. --The Daily Show
My web pages don't have any zip code or latitude / longitude information on them... and sure enough they don't show up in any local.google.com search.
What exactly does it look for on a page to know where the business is?
Should I put my entire address on every page? on just the home page? Or is a zip code in a meta tag good enough for google to know where I'm talking about.
I really like it! Searching for pizza in my zip code shows just what I would hope.
Celebrate Excellence!
Google is rapidly evolving into one of, if not, the most advanced search engine in the world.
If Google's actually evolving, it would be reproducing itself, with random mutations that through selection over time will enhance its abilities.
Not that I'm putting that past Google's coders at all...