Thursday, January 04, 2007

Drivers Get Yahoo Local Search

People who purchase the Dash Navigation system for their cars will get access to Yahoo's Local Search as a bonus. According to MediaPost, the Dash Express service will allow drivers to enter a keyword and receive the closest matching businesses.

Maps will be automatically generated to guide drivers to their destination, a feature that could help small businesses more than the often centrally-located chains. Surprisingly the service won't feature any ads, so I'm not sure how Yahoo monetizes this relationship, unless they will start charging local companies to be included in the listings.

Car-based navigation systems have better displays than handsets, and Dash says it will use both WiFi and cellular connections, so this could be a more user-friendly service than the geo-location services for mobiles. Perhaps GM's OnStar will add this feature, with the difference being that live operators would perform the searches for you.

I'm expecting big improvements from local search in 2007, and this is a promising start.

Posted By Jason Dowdell at 11:30 AM
Permanent Link: Drivers Get Yahoo Local Search | Comments (0)

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