Over the past several week I have explored some of the issues involved with categorization of businesses in Google Maps on my blog Understanding Google Maps. In Part 1, I detailed the more than year long history of small business frustration. In Part 2, I provided some background on the early research and the difficulty with categorization. In Part 3, I developed a possible model for how Google categorizes information and a work-around for frustrated business owners so that they could get categorized correctly. Hopefully soon, the need for these sorts of work-arounds will disappear.
Recently I had a phone conversation about Google Maps categorization issues with Carter Maslan, one of Google's geo product directors. Carter leads the product management efforts for Local Search. Prior to joining Google, Carter was Director of Technical Evangelism at Microsoft and Director of Product Management and Marketing at Inktomi. The talk was informative and hopefully the first of several that will provide greater insight to the Maps product and its workings. Below, an account of our conversation and what I learned from Google about their efforts to fix the problem.
Over the past several week I have explored some of the issues involved with categorization of businesses in Google Maps on my blog Understanding Google Maps. In Part 1, I detailed the more than year long history of small business frustration. In Part 2, I provided some background on the early research and the difficulty with categorization. In Part 3, I developed a possible model for how Google categorizes information and a work-around for frustrated business owners so that they could get categorized correctly. Hopefully soon, the need for these sorts of work-arounds will disappear.
Recently I had a phone conversation about Google Maps categorization issues with Carter Maslan, one of Google’s geo product directors. Carter leads the product management efforts for Local Search. Prior to joining Google, Carter was Director of Technical Evangelism at Microsoft and Director of Product Management and Marketing at Inktomi. The talk was informative and hopefully the first of several that will provide greater insight to the Maps product and its workings. Below, an account of our conversation and what I learned from Google about their efforts to fix the problem.
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