Yahoo announced a new set of quick search apps today. The one I like the best is this Sketch-A-Search App, but they also released OpenTable Quick App today and will be releasing a Restaurant Comparison Quick App soon.

Let me take you through the Sketch-A-Search App which is live today on Yahoo Search. The Sketch-A-Search App lets you draw an outline on a map and confine local results to be within that outline. Ask.com had a similar tool ages ago named Ask City’s Shape Search Tool but since Ask dropped their maps program, the feature died with it.

It all starts with a search with local intent, such as [restaurants 94109]. You should then see quick link under the local results that reads “Sketch-a-search.” Here is a picture:

When you click it, a DHTML box overlays on the screen allowing you to rearrange the map and then draw on it. Here are more pictures:

As a companion to the desktop search app, Yahoo released an iPhone and iPad version on iTunes for free.

For more search apps, see the Yahoo Search Blog.

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Yahoo: Maps & Local | Yahoo: Search

About The Author: Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here. For more background information on Barry, see his full bio over here. See more articles by Barry Schwartz

Connect with the author via: Email | Twitter | Google+ | LinkedIn