There was a news from the least expected quarters on the signs of what is yet to come in search. You wouldn’t expect National Association of Convenience Stores conference  to give you guidance on the future of search. In the recently concluded conference, Gilbarco Veeder-Root a supplies of fuel control systems for gas stations announced a system that lets gas station owners:

… display maps, find local listings, and even print driving directions and money-saving coupons from Gilbarco’s Encore® dispensers with color screens and the Applause™ media system. The live internet connection means all information is in real time. The Gilbarco® Applause™ media system is the first content management system that uses Google’s world-class open content infrastructure to deliver valuable information at the pump.

Many advertisers have been vying for the attention of the captive customers filling gas. Now this display system is meant to display “aps on the pump’s screen and locate their desired destinations. They can also search Google’s local business listings by category (restaurant, hospital, gift shop, etc.) to find the nearest choices. Once a destination is selected, consumers can also print the driving directions at the pump. Easy-to-read instructions are printed on the receipt printer, making it convenient to take them with them in the car.”

There is one catch that wasn’t mentioned in the press release but was pointed out by IWeek,

The Google service will be very limited initially. Using the pump’s touch pad, drivers will be able to choose a category, such as restaurants, hospitals, hotels, or landmarks, and then pick a listing and print a map to the location. Retailers will choose the listings.

This may sound like a limitation to most, but I see this as the emergence of UG search results.  Imagine a common open platform like this that is available for every community and individual. The members then start compiling search results that they think are relevant to particular queries. May be they even decide the Ads they think are relevant. Just like the Gas station managers who pick only those attractions and restaurants that are are close by, the user search generators will focus only on content that are relevant to the particular locale they are in.  The multiple planes of separation now you can get very interesting, locale, interests, gender, income level, ….

This is User generated search. Or is this Search2.0.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 8th, 2007 at 11:55 am and is filed under Digital Media, web 2.0, social media, Social Networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.