The service, called GeoSearch News (pictured below) lets users specify a
place-of-interest and returns mapped search results presented in order of relevance - as determined
by a combination of keywords and the specified location.
Journalism.co.uk reported in December that Reuters had started using
MetaCarta to experiment with a mapping service to help users visualise breaking news by linking its online stories geographically.
The Reuters' maps appeared beside articles on the site's US news
channel, plotting stories on world map according to the places
mention.
By rolling over pinpoints on the embedded Microsoft Virtual Earth map, users
were given a location and news headline linked to specific articles.
Similar technology has now been put to wider use listing geographically a
series of international, regional and topic specific news publishers and bloggers.
"It [GeoSearch News] combines the unique power of geographic search
with keyword search and is the single place to find current news
stories, from a wide variety of sources, about any place, quickly,"
said Rick Hutton, Vice President of Content Services at MetaCarta.