Friday, April 25. 2008

Despite Slowing Economy Trimble Hits Home Run in Q1

When word first started trickling in that the U.S. and global economies were slowing, Trimble (TRMB) saw its stock begin to slide and shed almost 46% of its value since its high of $43/share in the fall of 2007. But on news of its Q1 numbers, the company hit a home run showing a 24% gain over Q1 last year. Diving into the press release shows that indeed its engineering and construction business has shown some weakness but still grew 11%. Its mobile and field divisions saw the most impressive gains with 47% and 73%, respectively, two of the sweet spots for geospatial technology. The best news was that it is not forecasting any change to its original 2008 outlook.

Two new location-enabled mobile/social apps get funding/buzz

Buzzd just got funding from Greycroft Partners and Monitor Ventures. It's a location-based city guide and social network service for mobile devices. The investment amount was not disclosed.

- RCRNews

BrightKite, though not being shown at Web 2.0 Expo, is getting lots of buzz. From WebWare: "It's a microblogging tool the likes of Twitter, Pownce, et al with some handy location-based features. What's the point you ask? It's got a whole lot more social networking built-in from the start. It also shares one of the things that made Meetro and Twinkle so cool, by letting you see what people around you are doing."

Another Look at Fed Use of Google/Microsoft Tools for Mapping

Federal Times takes a look at agencies tapping into Google and Microsoft tools for mapping applications. Both companies, it reports, are tightlipped about who is using their tools. Also noteworthy: the article chides all the agencies as being behind Alabama, which uses Google Earth as the backbone of Virtual Alabama.

Off Topic: Dangermonds Honored for Contributions to Flower Show

The couple is the first recipient of the National Garden Clubs Inc. Special Flower Show Award recognizing "significant contributions to the Redlands Horticultural and Improvement Society's flower shows." This year's event was held at ESRI headquarters in the cafeteria.

- Redlands Daily Facts

What gets a local box in Google and what does not?

I don't spend too much time playing with local search on any site, but Scott Buresh, an SEO person does. He offered this observation in an article at Promotion World.

It should be noted that you will not see local search results for all queries that contain a local modifier. If you type in "Atlanta search engine optimization," for example, you will not see the geographic box. Google somehow "knows" when a geographic modifier really means that you only offer services in a particular area. In effect, it has figured out an algorithm that separates the businesses that are dealing with a local clientele versus those that are located in a particular geographic region but service a national, or multinational, clientele. Yeah, those guys are pretty good.

Only one problem: if you do that query, you DO get local results. So, Google isn't all that smart after all. Frankly, I didn't believe his contention, which is why I tried it out. But, I'll give the author benefit of the doubt: perhaps when he last did the query, it didn't spawn a local results map. I really wonder how Google decides what returns a local search and what does not?