MontroseNeighborhoodCafe Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 Online mapping engine w/ street level photos Hoping to become a more popular Internet destination, a small search engine owned by Web retailer Amazon.com Inc. is testing a mapping service that will display street-level photos of the city blocks surrounding a requested address. The A9.com service, which became available Monday, joins the increasingly crowded field of online mapping. Other major players include America Online's Mapquest.com, Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news), Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN.com. A9 is counting on an index of 35 million photographs spanning the neighborhoods of 22 U.S. cities to distinguish its mapping service from the rest of the pack. The Palo Alto-based search engine first began to post street-level photographs of specific addresses earlier this year as part of its Yellow Pages listings. The new service extends that feature by posting photographs of entire city blocks alongside a traditional map showing a grid of streets. A9 believes the street-level photos will provide a more helpful view than a recent Google mapping upgrade that provides a satellite eye's view of neighborhoods. "We're making maps slightly less abstract and closer to the real world," said Udi Manber, A9's chief executive. When a user asks for driving directions on A9, the service also will provide photos of all the businesses along the recommended route, provided the images are stored in the search engine's index. The index already has added about 15 million more pictures since the January debut of the Yellow Pages service. Amazon has been building the index by dispatching trucks equipped with digital cameras and global positioning system, or GPS, receivers. Even though it's backed by an Internet heavyweight, the nearly 2-year-old A9 remains a relative lightweight in the lucrative search engine industry. In June, A9 processed just 4.9 million search requests, ranking it 27th among Internet search engines with a U.S. market share of 0.1 percent, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. A9's maps will display photos from 22 cities: Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Boston; Chicago; Dallas; Denver, Detroit; Fargo, N.D.; Houston; Los Angeles, Miami; New York; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Portland, Ore.; Sacramento, Calif.; Salt Lake City; San Diego; San Francisco; San Jose, Calif.; Seattle; and Washington D.C. A9's Maps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 This is pretty neat, though it is slow at times. Now, when we talk about a neighborhood, you can see it at street level. Badass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YakuzaIce Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 That is pretty neat. It didn't seem slow for me though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 That is pretty neat. It didn't seem slow for me though. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> OK, fine. My computer sucks, then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YakuzaIce Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 OK, fine. My computer sucks, then. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> LOL, do you have dial up or broadband? Or is it just an old pc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 DSL. It comes and goes at times. The pc is about 800meg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssullivan Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 Hey they have a picture of where I live on there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groovehouse Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 OMG! Coolest map evar! I didn't register with this map site, but it knows my name!? In the corner it says "Hello groovehouse" -- how does it know me? It's part of AMAZON!! The smile under the A9 is an Amazon.com smile.... WEIRD! oh... and it says An Amazon.com Company at the bottom.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbaNerd Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 Wow..sweet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N8TIV Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 Google Earth is pretty sweet as well. I tried it out (you can download this program for free) and spent about 4 hours "exploring". This program enables you to go to any location, GPS tracking, see street names, restaurants, lodging, and generates 3D terrain and buildings in most of the major cities. The maps are high resolution satellite images...very updated, and very dynamic interface. Here are some images I captured: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
citykid09 Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 This is the neatest thing! I can click on a street now when you guys talk about it and insantly see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowbrow Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 I was playing with that last week and noticed they had lots of the commercial roads in Houston but still lack alot of the residential.Do you think they have a truck driving around taking the pics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trophy Property Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 I am totally geeked out by this site. I had just fallen in love the google satellite photos until I saw this. Once they get residential hooked up it will rule. Of course it makes it easier to stalk, but I am chubby so I do not have to worry about being stalked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowbrow Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 I find it mildly amusing that I can get hassled downtown for taking a picture of a building or bridge... yet I can now pull it up off of the web. Perhaps after an act of terrorism the government will request all the IPs of the people that pulled up that set of shots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
citykid09 Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 Through this program, I learned that Houston isn't totally flat. There are lots of places that I found around town with little hills. And I found some really cool spots around town that I did not know existed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbigtex56 Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 Do you think they have a truck driving around taking the pics?<{POST_SNAPBACK}>That's exactly right.According to a televised news report, they have trucks equipped with digital cameras and GPS locaters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banking214 Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 That's exactly right.According to a televised news report, they have trucks equipped with digital cameras and GPS locaters.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>I am never leaving home again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groovehouse Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 I am never leaving home again. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> tell me about, I just booked a trip to NYC, with A9 maps, I can go without having to go! I have already seen the place were we are staying as well as the sites I wanted to go see... I feel like I've already been! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pineda Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 This is a fantastic teaching resource as well. Talk about making geography come alive for students... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowbrow Posted November 8, 2006 Share Posted November 8, 2006 This A9 map site is no more. Anyone know why? Bought? Homeland Security? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted November 8, 2006 Share Posted November 8, 2006 This A9 map site is no more. Anyone know why? Bought? Homeland Security?they're keeping pretty quiet about it...this is all that has come out:http://a9.com/-/company/whatsNew.jsp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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