Restaurant Online Mashups

Online map developers asked themselves, "What if you had a map that could give you driving directions from your house to a local restaurant? What if that same map could show you a picture of that eating establishment, a promotional video, give you a menu run-down, detail consumer-generated reviews and allow you the ability to make reservations or link to order online?"

Then they set out to create just that. Mapping and social networking features have converged on sites like Google Maps, Yahoo Maps and others, which aim to be your one-stop-shop for local information.

Across the country, New York City pizza lovers knew they had a big market for their restaurant map. At www.sliceny.com, founder Adam Kuban created his own map to help area residents find local delicious New York style pizza in their neighborhoods.

"The advantage of having a map [instead of a list] is that it's visual and people can click on it. They can zoom in on it to their neighborhood... and they can go and look and see where it is."

Users of Google Maps have created a number of restaurant "mashups" based on the Google template. One of the most notable sites is www.menurequest.com, which features more than 5,000 links in New York, San Diego, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Napa Valley, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington DC.

Users can visit the restaurant's website, read reviews, get driving directions and make online reservations through this amazing map. These are just a few of the food maps available to culinary curators. Perhaps your very own city has a site designed just for hungry local residents like you.

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