Mapping Hacks

Search Local, Find Global #35

Chapter 4, Mapping (on) the Web

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HACK

display this information, though Google’s category system is probably based

on Yahoo!’s directory in the first place! Perhaps the existence of long-estab-

lished categories of similarity underlies Yahoo!’s superficially better presen-

tation of relevant results.

Hacking Local Search URLs

The simplest Google local search URL is as follows:

http://local.google.com/local?q=maps&near=94110&dm=full

The near value is a U.S. ZIP Code. You can also append the start parame-

ter to page through the search results 10 at a time. For example, this URL

does the same search but starts at the 20

th

listing:

http://local.google.com/local?q=maps&near=94110&dm=full&start=20

The simplest equivalent Yahoo! URL is not quite as human-readable:

http://local.yahoo.com/mapview?csz=94110&ip=94110&stx=maps

As always with commercial map sites, remember to check your Terms of

Service before trying interesting hacks!

Looking for More

The current mainstream local search interfaces are promising but under-

whelming. What stops the big searches from joining the mapping revolu-

tion and experimenting with more dynamic, rich GIS-style interfaces to their

local search applications? Perhaps it’s a fear that, at the lowest common

denominator, people won’t use them.

Simple extra features like a set of “my saved places,” the ability to select

individual points (or shapes) ...