Cuil Maplines: A Good Idea That Needs Work

Jun 25, 2009 at 1:54am ET by Matt McGee

Cuil has announced an interesting new map-based tool called Maplines. On some queries, the Mapline shows in the right column of Cuil’s search results above the Timeline feature.

What’s a Mapline. Here’s Cuil’s explanation: “Just as our Timelines show a concept across time, our Maplines show a concept across a map.”

It’s an interesting idea, but seems to be poorly executed. The Mapline on a search for John Legend, for example, shows a random assortment of places that the singer has performed in the past — certainly not a complete list. The Mapline on a search for Seattle Mariners includes the locations where many current and former players were born.

cuil

What would be more useful on queries like these would be to show a map of John Legend’s upcoming tour dates, or a map of upcoming Seattle Mariners games. It’s an interesting idea, though, but one that needs more refinement.

Matt McGee is the Search Engine Land Assignment Editor, and offers search marketing consulting and training to businesses of all sizes. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and HyperlocalBlogger.com.

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