Google Place Search introduces quick and easy, clustered local search
Filed under: Google, Search, Web
Today, Google has introduced even more fusion between its maps and search products by bringing in Place Search. It's a new kind of local search that brings up information about businesses, restaurants, and services that are centralized around a set location. OK, you've been able to do this for a while with Google Maps search, but Place Search automatically gives you this new results display when it thinks you're looking for something that's located around a particular area. If Google fails to predict your desire for a local search, you can also invoke the new feature by using the Places link in the left-hand column of the search results page.
With 50 million real-world locations already implemented, Place Search is an attempt to speed up the discovery, comparison, and selection of amenities around a given locale. This kind of clustered search relies on Google's ability to dynamically link hundreds of millions of websites with pre-programmed locations; that's no mean feat in and of itself. But the clever bit is that Google can apparently discern information on amenities that differ on spelling but actually represent the same place. The example that Jackie Barvaro from Google gave was “Stubb's BBQ,” which could be represented by “Stubbs Bar-b-que,” for instance. To a machine, the two entries are very different, but of course, to a human they mean the same thing.
Place Search apparently saves the average person two seconds per search for local information, and it's currently rolling out globally. It'll be localized into 40 different languages, but if you just can't wait for it to go live where you are, click here to get a taster.Google Place Search introduces quick and easy, clustered local search
Fuente: Download Squad
