Journalism.co.uk interviews the CEO of startup Instivate, which offers a platform for "online news communities" called Instant Journalist. The service allows publishers to set up sites where users upload news and event content of all types (text, video, images, etc.) complete with geotags. Says the CEO, "... any story can be placed on a map and assigned to a specific geographical neighbourhood, town, or city...Users can also subscribe to RSS feeds for specific geographic locations and track the news around them at a very local level." One site already using the service is Central District News in Seattle. News and reviews can be accessed via blog type postings or a Google Map. Is this the future of hyperlocal media?

Per Online Media Daily:

Trulia claims to be the first national real estate site to offer the feature that allows prospective home buyers to take a virtual walk down the street and tour the surrounding neighborhood.

I noted a potential first user last week.

We talked about a Pittsburg area couple's lawsuit against Google on our podcast earlier this week. Slashdot notes that the folks at The Smoking Gun dug around to find a neighbor with even more intrusive and it states "captured on public property" photos. No plans for those homeowners to sue. And, the original couple's StreetView imagery has been removed from Google's servers, per TSG.

via Slashdot