Google Maps Takes Steps To Improve Marker Accuracy

By and large, Google Maps is great, providing well-plotted directions and up-to-date contact information on demand and free of charge.  But slight inaccuracies persist, and to fix this problem, Google will now allow people to reposition markers using Street View instead of just maps and satellite images.

Perhaps this sounds familiar: you type an address into Google Maps, switch to Street View, and find yourself staring at a Wal-Mart instead of an Italian restaurant.  Then you spend five minutes clicking up and down a street to locate the correct spot.  Frustrating, right?

Now there's an easy fix.  A post on the LatLong Blog suggested, "When you find a place that is in a wrong location, click on the marker and get an infowindow open as what you did before. . . .  Click on the 'edit' link, and then click the 'Move marker' link in the updated infowindow."

After that, "You'll see two jumping markers in the map and the Street View image appear, which means both of them can be dragged.  When you drag the marker on the map to a new position, the marker inside the panorama will be updated correspondingly, and vice versa."

This should greatly increase the accuracy of Street View as people tie markers to establishments' entrances.  And that'll benefit users in addition to any businesses that might otherwise lose potential customers due to poor directions.

Big Changes on the Horizon for Digg

Digg Founder Kevin Rose did an interview with The UK's Telegraph, and revealed that Digg has some big and "drastic" plans for redesigning the Digg experience. A couple of quotes from the piece:

"We're making some drastic changes, but they're much-needed drastic changes," he told The Telegraph. "People are going to be shocked at some of the directions we're taking. You have to be comfortable with completely tearing down and throwing away a bunch of ideas."

...

"In the next version of Digg you'll see stories being presented to you in a more real-time nature, especially stories that your friends have touched. It will not be just about Digg.com, but also embracing all the content that your friends touch on other websites. It's about being that place where people say, 'I'm going to take a look at Digg because it provides me insight into what's trending, what's popular, what's hot from all over these different places where people exchange information'."

While that certainly doesn't reveal too much about what Digg is going to look like (or when it is going to look like tha for that matter), it does look like Digg is going to change quite a bit, and that can be dangerous for a site that is largely focused on users, as Digg is.

This isn't the first time Digg has made changes by any means. In fact, they seem to make them fairly often, but it sounds like they may be changing how Digg operates completely, and the experience that users have grown accustomed to. It will be very interesting to see just how drastic the changes are.

Digg recently launched new extensions for Firefox and Chrome, and over the past year it has rolled out a new API, launched Digg Trends, made some interesting use of advertising, and improved its search, to name just a few things.

Have You Read This?

> Important Product Director Moving From Google To Digg

> More Stories Get a Shot at the Digg Home Page

> Digg to Get All Twitter This Year?

 

Big Changes on the Horizon for Digg

Digg Founder Kevin Rose did an interview with The UK's Telegraph, and revealed that Digg has some big and "drastic" plans for redesigning the Digg experience. A couple of quotes from the piece:

"We're making some drastic changes, but they're much-needed drastic changes," he told The Telegraph. "People are going to be shocked at some of the directions we're taking. You have to be comfortable with completely tearing down and throwing away a bunch of ideas."

...

"In the next version of Digg you'll see stories being presented to you in a more real-time nature, especially stories that your friends have touched. It will not be just about Digg.com, but also embracing all the content that your friends touch on other websites. It's about being that place where people say, 'I'm going to take a look at Digg because it provides me insight into what's trending, what's popular, what's hot from all over these different places where people exchange information'."

While that certainly doesn't reveal too much about what Digg is going to look like (or when it is going to look like tha for that matter), it does look like Digg is going to change quite a bit, and that can be dangerous for a site that is largely focused on users, as Digg is.

This isn't the first time Digg has made changes by any means. In fact, they seem to make them fairly often, but it sounds like they may be changing how Digg operates completely, and the experience that users have grown accustomed to. It will be very interesting to see just how drastic the changes are.

Digg recently launched new extensions for Firefox and Chrome, and over the past year it has rolled out a new API, launched Digg Trends, made some interesting use of advertising, and improved its search, to name just a few things.

Have You Read This?

> Important Product Director Moving From Google To Digg

> More Stories Get a Shot at the Digg Home Page

> Digg to Get All Twitter This Year?

 

Yahoo Upgrades Local Search Performance

The next time you want to look up or research a local business, Yahoo intends to be there for you.  Yahoo Shortcuts now display a lot more information right on the regular results pages, which should make the search process less click-intensive and time-consuming.

If you supply a business's name and city (or even a business type and zip code), the Yahoo Shortcut is supposed to return one or more mapped-out results.  Basic (but helpful) info including telephone numbers and hours of operation is often supplied.  Then, things get a little more interesting with dropdown menus offering directions and Yahoo Local reviews.

Sometimes photos, Web reviews, and overviews (not shown above) will even be tossed into the mix.

A post on the Yahoo Search Blog explains, "The local enhanced Shortcut brings the most relevant information from across the Web so you can find what you need in one place.  It is also a part of our continuing effort to better understand query intent - what users mean in their queries - and to match it with the right content."

The upgrade seemed both accurate and helpful throughout a little bout of testing.

Next Page »