Ask has created AskCity, by combining its maps with information from CitySearch, another product owned by the same company, IAC. TechCrunch has had a preview and says:
Key categories are Businesses and Services, Events, Movies, and Maps & Directions. The three pane interface allows users to conduct multiple searches, revise itineraries, create multi-point driving or walking directions (only Yahoo and Ask offer multi-point directions). Restaurant reservations are linked via OpenTable, event tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster (another IAC property) and soon they will integrate movie ticket purchases through Fandango. Searches can be refined by neighborhood, cuisine or movie genre.
Over at GigaOM, Om Malik has an interview with Ask boss Jim Lanzone, who says:
AskCity is a new local search application from Ask.com. It has been under development for the better part of 2006. AskCity is available for all US cities, though the content is deepest in the top 50 markets. We plan to take the product international in 2007.
Update: The New York Times now has extensive coverage with The Retooling of a Search Engine.
