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?

It took a while to get here and many news sites and hackers have put together lesser implementations along the way, but Geosearch News is finally here.

MetaCarta's "demo" provides what may be the best geographic search tool for the largest changing digital data database of unstructured content on the planet. The site offers search by content and geography. And while at the smallest scales just AP and Reuters stories are offered, as you "zoom in" (either via map or keying in geography) more and more sources' stories appear on the map (some 1400 at last count). And, remember this is MetaCarta's "smart" geospatial searching, so it relies on extracting location information outside the first sentence and distinguishing Paris, France from Paris, Texas. It also know about "points of interest." That means each story can be "located" in more than one place. It also means that stories seemingly in unrelated geographies may pop up in a search.

I searched on my city, outside Boston and "run" hoping to find stories on running races in the last 24 hours. (You can set time parameters for up to month into the past.) I found a story from the Asbury Park Press (AP) about "State Police chief goes to Harvard." Why? The keyword "place" is noted as Kennedy School of Government as noted in this sentence: "The head of the New Jersey State Police, Col. Rick Fuentes, was among a select group of law enforcement professionals chosen for the Kennedy School of Government's Executive Session on Policing and Public Safety, a three-year working group that started this year." And, this sentence has the word "run": "Any time you run a major institution like the State Police, there is no question you have problems and concerns," Milgram said. "I hope Col. Fuentes and I will be measured against how we respond to those problems and concerns." In short, you need to be a good searcher to get what you want. But, that's true of any sort of search.

The source of each story is noted in the list of articles returned from a search. But sometimes those sources are quite cryptic such as "feeds.feedburner.com." I had to click through to the story to learn the source. Another challenge, be careful about searching too far back in time; some articles are "no longer available."One more challenge: there's limited help available - just an FAQ.

Still, there are some goodies hidden within! If you stay at the small scale and click on AP and Reuters articles, the full text appears in a new tab, in the app. And, there's a bonus with the AP/Reuters stories: every location in the article is put on a summary map called "Places in this Article" below which other stories from those wire services for those geographies appear. MetaCarta has a formal relationship with these wire services. Article from other sources, with which MetaCarta does not have such relationships, such as the New Jersey paper above, open in a new browser window without those goodies.

The app uses Google Maps as a front end, but any renderer could be used. Last time I saw it, it used Virtual Earth.

MetaCarta offers GeoSearch News to show off its technology and perhaps, to become the center of news searches. This is a quite powerful app, with lots of sources. Still, it takes some time to master.

Why would a press release about an updated real estate site for Chicago note its "extraordinary, proprietary interactive map and address search that lets users see everything there is to do and see around a specified location?" I understand "extraordinary" and "lets user see everything"; I guess proprietary still means not only "we are the only ones who have it" but also, "it's way better than everyone else's."

It did work on me; I checked out the site which offers a Google Maps-based search tool and that includes overlays of locations of restaurants, gyms, grocery stores, etc. It's sort of a combination local search/real estate search tool. Also of note, you can fill out a form to receive a free printed Chicago neighborhoods map. (pdf) I guess I'd have put that in the press release!

By the way, I found no sources for the data on the mapping app, but was disappointed that mousing over say a museum didn't reveal its name, but rather its address.

The Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania are apparently the first to offer an online tool to find the nearest "cookie sales booth." The app, accessible by clicking on the giant thin mint on their site, is put together by an official GS contractor and ultimately taps into Google Maps for directions. It's sort of too bad senior Scouts didn't get a chance to build the app themselves...

- The Morning Call

Chris Silver Smith in the Locals Only column at Search Engine Land takes on the question: How do you get your business in Google Maps if you don't have a physical address? Who has that sort of problem? Contractors who work out of their trucks - painters, roofers, etc. - who live somewhere but cover a territory elsewhere and who many not want their home addresses listed. The short answer from Michael Jones: get a PO box.

Perhaps the next iteration of local search will be geared more to business territories. Pizza places can geographically draw where they deliver or painters can determine their range, etc.?

While Yahoo and Google's local search have been tapped for satnav tools to date, this is the first I've heard of a company tapping into Microsoft's offering. The company's offering is called CoPilot.

Future versions of the system promise the ability to tap into live online reservation systems, thereby helping users make an informed selection.

ALK said that, unlike many mobile-based GPS systems, CoPilot maps are stored on the device so data transfer is limited and access is faster and more reliable.

The new system will be provided as a free download to all existing CoPilot users in the coming months.

- IT Week