Yahoo Maps Route Out Of Beta

November 17, 2006

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After plenty of development, testing, and feedback, Yahoo has declared its Maps service ready to shed the Beta moniker and stand on its own.

Part of Yahoo’s strategy aimed at snaring more of the local search advertising pie, predicted to be rising to $7.7 billion by research firm Borrell Associates, involves a combination of its Maps and Local services. Together they can get a person to a business by its online ads, and then to the physical storefront.

The service those consumers encounter online needs to meet their expectations. Yahoo has several features in play that they hope can separate them from the efforts of Google and Microsoft among others in the field.

Some of the features on the new Yahoo! Maps include multi-point routing, satellite and aerial imagery for the US and over 100 international cities, and options for working with saved locations for those who frequent a number of places repeatedly.

“In addition to releasing the new Yahoo! Maps, we’re also rolling out street-level maps for Europe,” Mike Lawless, product manager on the Yahoo! Maps team, wrote. “These are available almost anywhere Yahoo! Maps can be found, whether on Flickr in their photo mapping feature, Yahoo! Travel’s Trip Planner product, and of course to our external developer community using Yahoo! Maps APIs.”

Lawless also noted how user requests drove the addition of new functionality. Users of the new service will need Flash Player 7 and a broadband connection to connect to it.

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