Google Buzz Hits Google Maps; Search Suggest Comes To More Countries

Google Buzz has been available on Maps for mobile devices, but now Google has made it possible to access Buzz on Maps for the PC. In addition Google is rolling out localized Search Suggest for Maps in more places around the world.

You access the “Buzz layer” on Maps by selecting  more, which reveals the various places people are posting about:

If you examine a few of these, you see that people are using Buzz (in my quick check) mostly as a kind of “check in” for locations, which makes sense.

In bringing Buzz to Maps on the PC, which Google says fulfills user requests, it may be hoping to give it some new utility and visibility amid all the other LBS tools and check-in services out there vying for attention.

Separately Google said that it is rolling out Suggest for Maps more broadly: “As of today, you can get suggestions if you’re using Google Maps in China, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, United States, United Kingdom, and we’re looking to bringing this functionality to all our users around the world soon.”

Suggestions are tailored to location so that the same keywords will trigger different suggestions in San Francisco vs. New York or Paris.