New photo-mapping service from Amazon
16 August 2005
Web giant Amazon is reportedly testing a new mapping service that will display street-level photographs of requested areas.
The new service on Amazon search engine A9.com is available as a beta-testing version at maps.a9.com. Other internet companies, including AOL, Yahoo!, Google and MSN, have unveiled mapping services.
The Palo Alto-based search engine uses an index of 35 million photographs spanning the neighbourhoods of 22 US cities. The street-level photographs are a contrast to Google's satellite views of US neighbourhoods.
"We're making maps slightly less abstract and closer to the real world," said Udi Manber, A9's chief executive.
A9 first posted street-level photos of specific addresses earlier this year in its Yellow Pages listings, but the new service now posts photographs of entire city blocks alongside a traditional map from Mapquest showing a grid of streets.
The index has added about 15 million more Block View pictures since debuting the Yellow Pages service in January.
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