Impact of Yahoo/Microsoft Deal on Local Search?

This is not an area I follow, but Matt McGee at Search Engine Land dug into the possibilities. Among the questions: will/should Yahoo drop its own maps for Bing Maps?

Google Korea and Yahoo Korea Partner on Mapping Against Common “Enemies”

Korea’s Daum (http://www.daum.net) is number 2 in search (left overs from Naver), but #1 in maps while Naver (http://www.naver.com) is #1 in search (75%). That does not sit well with Google and Yahoo. 

So, the two have partnered to face the common enemies:

Under an agreement announced Tuesday, Google adds “video clips from YouTube (kr.youtube.com) on Yahoo’s map (map.yahoo.co.kr), while Yahoo interconnects its local search service, Gugi (kr.gugi.yahoo.com), with Google’s map (http://www.maps.google.co.kr).”

The sharing should begin later this month, with plans to extend it to the international version of Yahoo’s Gugi services (global.gugi.yahoo.co.kr).

Korea has been one of the few rare markets where Google and Yahoo have struggled to stay relevant, with Naver controlling around 75 percent of the search market and Daum gobbling up the biggest of table scraps.

- Korea Times

When Networking Fails, Company Goes to Local Search…

Zoodango.com launched in 2006 to help business professionals network online. It didn’t work out so it’s refocussing as a local search site that will provide a hyperlocal, map-based online service to help consumers find local venues, businesses, and discounts. The site will launch in Seattle, Spokane, Portland, San Francisco, and Oakland. Funding comes from the Seattle Alliance of Angels as well as other angel investors.

I guess location is the new “fallback.” The twist to this offering which sounds like so many others? “Zoodango’s new angle to finding restaurants, shops, and other businesses is the way you search—by location instead of search term, so those with subpar Google-fu still have a chance….Later this year, Zoodango will launch a premium coupon service, whereby users can pay to view good deals posted by other users, and an ad service through which local businesses can post their own coupons that will pop up if a user is searching in the businesses’ neighborhood.”

- NorthWest Innovation

- xconomy

Consumer Electronics Show 2009: A Geo-Highlights Wrap Up

This long-ish post pull together the announcements from the consumer sphere that may relate to geotechnology, or that you shouldn’t miss.

Bottom line themes: more connectedness, convergence and location data. Big geo news? None really. Big device news? Palm’s Pre.

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Podcast: PNDs vs. Smartphones

deCarta announced its connected navigation platform last week. At the same time the expectations for portable navigation devices is looking dim as for-fee smartphone solutions for navigation appear to grow. What is the future for these devices and what about the connected car of the future? Our editors look at what the experts say and share their own predictions.

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