Archive for July, 2008
Immowelt.de: Maps with local information from suchen.de
7 Jul. 2008 | Author: 
The result of a cooperation between the Real Estate portal with the local search engine suchen.de, Immowelt.de announced the launch in a press release.
For many properties, it is possible to see their location on a map, and also their surroundings (by clicking on the “Umgebungsinfos” (en=Surroundings info), and discover where to find nearby bakeries, kindergartens, doctors or restaurants. In addition the searcher can select various categories (such as Health, Shopping, Training or Recreation) from a pop-up menu, or enter a special key word in the search field. The results of the research are generated a results list, and can also be viewed on a map in map-mode or aerial view. One can also sort the generated results by distance or relevance, a feature already enjoyed by suchen.de users.
Posted in Local Search per PC, Local Search, News, Local Search Engines | 
Tags: DeTeMedien, Immowelt, Immowelt.de, lokale Informationen, suchen.de, Suchmaschine, t-info, Umgebungsinfos, Local Search | 
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Media Directory Association awards “Branch Oscars”
The Association of German Information and Directory Media (VDAV) recently presented the German Directory Media Prize 2008.
As reported by the VDAV, the winner was announced during the VDAV-BranchMeet, a congress of the German directory media industry, which took place from 18 -20 June 2008 in Bremen. The ‘Branch Oscars’ were assigned in three categories for especially innovative products and applications.
In the ‘Electronic Directory Media’, the victor was the free mobile phone navigation Ö-Navi, a product of DasÖrtliche. This free software has been on offer by the telecommunications directory portal since mid-2007, with which one can effectively convert a mobile phone into a navigation device. Financed entirely through adverts, the user receives not only a route description, but also has access to the entire online-database of DasÖrtliche, therewith all private and business addresses and is able to connect this data to the navigation interface.
The decision of the award for second place was deemed problematic by the 6-person jury, resulting in a tie for 2nd place. The first of the ’silver’ prizes went to the mobile version of meinestadt.de. The mobile version of the town-portal was praised by VDAV, according to its operators Allesklar.com AG, especially for its wide-spectrum offering of local information, including their mobile ’situations vacant’ section and the ability to receive job training classifieds, via free SMS.
The 2nd ‘Silver’ trophy went to the online-cooperation between the association “gesundheitstadt berlin” (en=’health city berlin’) and the branch portal “gewusst wo” (en=’knowing where’). The operators of gewusst-wo.de, the publications group Beleke, announced this in a press release.
Alongside the digital sphere, prizes were also awarded to print media and marketing-events. All prize winners can be found on the VDAV website.
Posted in Local Search on the go, Local Search per Mobile phone, Local Search, News, Practical features |
Tags: dasoertliche, DeTeMedien, Handy, Handynavigation, lokale Informationen, meinestadt, meinestadt.de, mobile lokale Suche, Navigation, Navigationsgerät, Ö-Navi, Städteportal, VDAV, VDAV-Branchentreff, Verzeichnisdienst, VerzeichnismedienPreis |
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Live Search Maps: new bird’s eye view photos
Microsoft has further expanded the German-version of its local search presence Live Search Maps, by adding many new “Bird’s Eye” views.
As referred to by Tony Pelg, Business Manager at Microsoft, in a posting in the Windows Live Blog, for the first time there are high resolution oblique views available for the Ruhr-area, including for Bottrop, Dinslaken, Dorsten, Duisburg, Essen, Gladbeck, Marl, Moers and Wesel. Newly included is also Duusseldorf, and also new pix of Berlin. The capital city was already viewable from above in this web-presence, as of the launch of the service in August 2007 (see our post).
Well-timed for the coming vacation period, Pelg also mentioned Microsoft’s numerous aerial views of best-loved vacation destinations and cities outside of Germany – such as Sydney (Australia), Calgary, Montreal and Toronto (Canada) or Las Palmas, Telde and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Spain). Areas and cities in the USA, Greece, Great Britain and the netherlands have also been added, and can all be viewed in the new high-res versions online.
GoLocal.de now available out and about
At the beginning of March 2008, the local ratings platform GoLocal.de was launched (see our report). And as then announced, its operators GoLocal GmbH&Co. KG (a daughter of GoYellow Media AG) implemented a mobile version of this Web2.0 portal in June 2008.
As detailed by the operators in a press release, the whole ‘desktop’ offering is now available in a mobile equivalent (accessed at m.golocal.de) and useable on any internet-ready mobile device.
GoLocal mobile phone or PDA users can now search for providers in a chosen town, such as businesses, restaurants or doctors, call up event listings and also view the location of the generated results on a map. To do this, one enters the desired ‘location’ (town/postal code and a key word, and a list of results is presented. An aside– in our test, the entry of a street name as a search word did not work for us. Pity too, that there is no Route Planner.
As to be expected for a ratings portal, the user can call up location rankings assigned by fellow users, as well as creating further ratings themselves. Anyone is able to score short ratings, without being registered. Whoever so wishes, can choose from preselected key words and assigned up to 5 stars. In order to rate in more detail, registration is required. Using the mobile version of GoLocal.de, the same username and password as the desktop-version are valid. Members can also save their most-liked locations under ‘Favorites’, save interesting events (under ‘My Events’) or flag specific locations under the ‘Notes’ (de=’Merkzettel’) section.
