Using data culled from Yellow Page listings and other databases, Perry Evans, a pioneer of online mapping with MapQuest in the 1990s and cofounder of instant messaging company Jabber, is preparing to tackle the major search engines in local search via a technology he says will transform the way local business info is located online, writes eWeek (via MarketingPilgrim). Evans's company, Local Matters, is a 150-employee startup that has partnered with directory listings services; its platform combines online mapping with a comparison-shopping engine for local businesses, even those without an online presence.

Because it provides search results for small businesses that do not have websites, Evans argues, the company can outperform local search services from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, and Amazon's A9. He said Local Matters can also provide the back-end to local newspapers, Yellow Page providers and city search agencies to roll out search services that are superior to what Google or Yahoo can offer.

For Local Matters customers, the new platform could be used to sell add-on advertising to small businesses. "If you tell a Yellow Pages ad salesman that he can now offer a web listing on a powerful new local search engine, then that makes his job so much easier," Evans is quoted as saying.

Using AJAX, Local Matters allows users to build itineraries, use click-and-drag maps and compare prices from competing merchants from within a browser. It also plans to expand into mobile search through SMS.