Google’s “Near Me Now”
| by Anthony Perez on January 8th, 2010 |
Google has announced a new feature entitled “Near me now”. This new feature allows Android (2.0.1 and later) and iPhone users to search for results based on their GPS location. Google Mobile’s blog says the “Near me now” feature was designed to address two problems:
First, we wanted to make it fast and easy to find out more about a place in your immediate vicinity, whether you’re standing right in front of a business or if it’s just a short walk away.
Second, we wanted to make searching for popular categories of nearby places really simple.
Check out Google Mobile’s blog for more info!
[via Google Mobile Blog]
1. G8D wrote on January 8, 2010
What a terrible advert.
2. Matt wrote on January 8, 2010
Agreed!! I hope they didn’t actually pay anyone to make that!!
This looks to be awesome especially if you’re traveling etc. I could definitely use this when I visit Chicago!
3. Minja wrote on January 8, 2010
Might be kind of useful if there are enough reviews on places.
4. Anand wrote on January 8, 2010
So, basically this is just like the Google Places Directory or any number of 3rd party apps?
5. paladaxar wrote on January 8, 2010
I don’t think Google pays anyone to do anything…from what I can tell, they make all of their own ads. And honestly, it doesn’t matter to me how crappy the ads are, Google’s so amazing that all they have to do is mention a product and I’m all over it :).
6. paladaxar wrote on January 8, 2010
Oh and my favorite part of that little ad…is when the guy whips out his Droid and makes it do a little flip in his hand like he just pulled a gun out of a holster…haha. I wish I had the balls to try that with my Droid! :)
7. Ceger wrote on January 8, 2010
Why does this require 2.0.1?
8. Double_K wrote on January 8, 2010
Anand – That’s what it sounds like and looks like; it’s just the Places Directory. Good idea I guess. I think it would be better if they could have just purchased Yelp and integrated that instead.
9. Maj wrote on January 8, 2010
thats just stupid, why it requires 2.0.1 !!!
10. evrider wrote on January 8, 2010
I just tried it and it works fairly well except for a flaw in their search algorithm. I live in a city with the with “Bar” in the name (it is mostly on an old ranch). If you search for local Bars, it returns a number of businesses that do not serve alcohol but have the word “bar” in their name returned including city hall. I hope the folks at Google work on cleaning up their relevance scores in this nice new service.
11. Dilbert wrote on January 8, 2010
How is this different from opening the browser and clicking “Local” at the top of Google’s home page? I can already see what’s near me now via GPS or cell tower triangulation, without typing anything. There are categories, “Restaurants, Shopping, ATMs”, etc.
12. Kwaping wrote on January 8, 2010
I have this awesome near-me-now function already, it’s called “eyeballs”. :)
Just kidding, that feature sounds cool.
13. Tony Rivera wrote on January 8, 2010
Crappy ad but got it tell you that I just use this and works pretty cool.
14. JD wrote on January 8, 2010
I can’t find the app in the “Market”… Does anybody know what it is called? Very common problem I’ve found with apps that I read about online. Pretty much my only complaint so far with Android.
15. JD wrote on January 8, 2010
Nevermind… I’m an idiot! :)
16. HeroWill wrote on January 8, 2010
How fantastic, when in the big apple, att users will theoretically be able to find places near them! But they won’t have any signal on their iPhones….
17. Hercules wrote on January 8, 2010
yup, not the best advert at all.
18. LaptuaZ wrote on January 8, 2010
I’m only getting it if it comes with that cool music…and it must play when I try to voice dial.
19. polarbear42 wrote on January 9, 2010
Isn’t this much the same as the google earth program. On my mobile, using google earth, I can search for nearby farmacies or groceries stores or other things and they pop up on the map, even with directions on how to get there.
20. Droidz wrote on January 9, 2010
I don’t think this is really an advertisement. It’s more of an info video of 2 Google employees quickly showing this new feature. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them somewhere.
21. Jo wrote on January 9, 2010
I think the ad is great, almost definitely Google employees. The guy with the phone is nearly dying with the effort to control his smile. Nice feature, hope it works in the UK, am already disappointed that turn-by-turn and google voice services won’t work here.
22. Mensahwatts wrote on January 10, 2010
to all the complainers…this is something that makes finding things easier… it is already on the google search screen as the guy on the video says…..Yo
23. Dean Cory wrote on January 14, 2010
Why was he on a Moto Droid and not on a Nexus One?
24. Popular Images For Android Now On Google Mobile | Android Phone Fans wrote on January 29, 2010
[...] just added the Near Me Now feature to their mobile searches – but only for Android and iPhone users. Now Google Mobile [...]