Yahoo Maps India Launches Vernacular Content; Some Issues
By Nikhil Pahwa - Mon 24 Mar 2008 10:23 PM PST
Yahoo Maps India has launched maps in local languages, reports InformationMadness. I tried out Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Maps Vernacular, and noticed a few usability issues. For example, if I enable the vernacular feature, a native language of the state is automatically selected for me - I don’t have a choice of languages. Also, the moment I switch to Ahmedabad, the language automatically changes to Gujarati. The other issue (see this image), is that only the maps are in the local language - the rest of the Yahoo maps site is in English, and the maps search is in English. So the target audience is essentially a bilingual one. The local language content doesn’t work in the hybrid mode. This is a step in the right direction, but only a step. There’s much to do if they intend to make their local language content relevant.
I also checked and MapMyIndia, which provides maps to Yahoo, doesn’t have vernacular content. I wonder how this plays out in case of MapMyIndia - they have both a consumer and B2B segment, and are competing on the consumer front with their B2B clients - Yahoo.
