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Sensis And Google Join Forces To Create Mega-Google Maps
Posted by Nick Broughall at 9:44 AM on November 4, 2008
Google's announcement of their partnership with Sensis' Yellow business listings reminds me of Dawn and Tim in the original UK version of The Office. Google Maps is like Tim - sometimes funny, sometimes entertaining, while the Yellow business listings are like Dawn - pretty in their own way, has an obvious attraction to Google Maps, but is stuck with some lout of a bloke (the rest of the Sensis stable) and so pretty much misses the opportunity to go off and get together with Tim... er, Google Maps.
Fortunately, yesterday was like the second Christmas Special, and the two announced that they were finally hooking up, with Yellow's business listings to be available on Google Maps in Australia from 2009.
Also announced was that Google's Adsense ads for search will be available on Sensis sites. The announcement means the end for Sensis' search function, and potentially for their WhereIs online search as well. But considering that WhereIs powers most of Australia's satnav devices, it's highly doubtful they'd be pulling out of mapping altogether.
Comments
mikey
Posted November 4, 2008 11:35 AM
Can someone confirm, are they using TrueLocal currently, and will that continue?
chris
Posted November 4, 2008 3:33 PM
Yep Mikey, currently using True Local info, but was crappy and was dated. This will probably kill True Local. yellow has 3 to 1 listings over true local, so like or hate em, Google true to form wanted access to the best business data and yellow has got it.
Maxwell's Nylon Hammer
Posted November 4, 2008 10:56 PM
Now all they need to do is fix the search so it works and people may start using it again.
dave
Posted November 5, 2008 9:48 AM
having worked for sensis, i have to say this comes as no suprise. everything they ever tried to do in their dev labs was always a google idea, but attempted to be improved on. for example, when google maps introduced satillite view - sensis went and did the same thing, but with a better camera.
so they've been playing "follow the leader" for a long time, and surely just partnering with these guys will save them some cash.
Steve@Sensis
Posted November 5, 2008 4:58 PM
Nick - it's a good deal for Yellow advertisers. Makes their listing available to more people in more places. As for Whereis, you make a good point most miss. Along with whereis.com and Whereis Mobile, its the major supplier of digital maps to the sat nav industry.