June 24, 2008 7:57 AM PDT
Yahoo licenses neighborhood map data
Yahoo has licensed detailed data that describes 40,000 neighborhood boundaries in more than 2,000 U.S. cities, from a company called Urban Mapping.
"Allowing users to search by neighborhood yields more appropriate results, adding value and relevancy to the overall experience," Bob Upham, director of business development for Yahoo's Geo Technologies group, said in a statement.
Urban Mapping's Urbanware database works with a thorny geographic issue, trying to describe informal and often ill-defined neighborhood boundaries.
Meanwhile, Yahoo hopes people will help define neighborhoods through its Flickr photo-sharing service, too.
Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank. 
