The most powerful technology A9.com invented for Yellow Pages is “Block View,” which brings the Yellow Pages to life by showing a street view of millions of businesses and their surroundings. Using trucks equipped with digital cameras, global positioning system (GPS) receivers, and proprietary software and hardware, A9.com drove tens of thousands of miles capturing images and matching them with businesses and the way they look from the street.

The whole process (except for the driving!) is completely automatic, making it fast and efficient. Block View allows users to see storefronts and virtually walk up and down the streets of currently more than 10 U.S. cities using over 20 million photographs. A9.com is driving and at some point hopes to cover the whole country....

Screenshot of an A9.com Yellow Pages search result and business detail page.

Current List of Cities Having Block View Images

  • Atlanta
  • Boston
  • Dallas
  • Chicago
  • New York City (Manhattan)
  • Denver
  • Los Angeles
  • Seattle
  • Portland, Oregon
  • San Francisco and the Bay Area

John Battelle gives more info in his blog and a full article.