http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Amazoncom_Search.html
[[ SEATTLE -- Amazon.com Inc.'s A9 search engine has dropped some of its most widely touted features, including the ability to remember everything a user has ever searched for and a service that showed detailed, street-level images of major cities. ... Prior to dropping the effort, A9 had put considerable effort into taking detailed, street-level photos of 20 U.S. cities, which people could use to map directions and find businesses. Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. also have invested heavily in such photographic search technologies. Herdener said it was too early to say what Seattle-based Amazon will do with the technology and images now. ]] http://maps.a9.com/ [[ Home > Maps A9 Maps are no longer available. You can continue to search from a9.com. ]] Compare, from a year ago, http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2005/08/a9com_maps_pict.html http://www.toomre.com/GoogleRecruitsManber seems to offer some explanation (in terms of Udi Manber moving to Google). Does anyone here have access to ears within the Amazon camp? Could they be nudged towards making the dataset available under some Creative Commons open data license? Or is that total fantasy? cheers, Dan _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking
