Amazon.com's
Mapping is just one of the areas that the search giants wish to capitalize on. Google's
A9.com is taking the whole thing a step further, enhancing regional searches with street-level photographs. As cool as Google Earth may be, at first blush Amazon's offering sounds a lot more useful in a real-world way.
The feature, currently in beta, includes 35 million images from major U.S. cities such as New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. Searchers can virtually "walk" up and down the street to check out the retail view, jump to the opposite side of the street (for those of you who prefer the sunny side), create driving directions with real-life pictures of intersections, and more.
The feature launched yesterday, and my attempt to go and check it out was initially fruitless, resulting in the message: "Block View Images are currently unavailable. Please try again later." However, I was recently able to virtually stroll up and down several streets in nearby Washington, D.C., and I have to say the service is pretty darn cool.
Internet mapping isn't a new idea. Mapquest, which is owned by Time Warner's
Indeed, bringing street-level images to mapping has always been the next step for the search giants (not to mention those of us who hate maps, or would like to know what to expect en route to a new destination).
Given the many things Amazon has up its sleeve lately, including the endless speculation that it may take on Netflix
More on A9.com:
- When it launched, some wondered whether A9 was benign.
- Then, it showed its synchronicity with Amazon with a holiday pi offer.
- Recently, A9 went to The O.C.
Amazon.com, Netflix, and Time Warner are all Motley Fool Stock Advisor stocks. For more market-beating stocks recommended by David and Tom Gardner, please click here.
Alyce Lomax does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned.