AP News : WLAJ

Aug 31, 12:35 PM EDT

Get the lay of the land with Earthcomber

By FRITZ FAERBER
Associated Press Writer

Say you are a German food-eating, battlefield-visiting movie buff in an unfamiliar town. How can you build a perfect itinerary? With Earthcomber, a personal directory service with a dizzying amount of information.

The search function on http://www.earthcomber.com can turn up just about anything and everything, from the aforementioned German restaurants and historic battlefields to barber shops, cafes, post offices, ATMs and even plumbers. Users can find more than 10 million locations around the U.S., according to the company.

Use it to plan ahead and locate promising spots on a map of where you are or where you plan to be. Or, install it on your phone, PDA or GPS device, so you can access the information on the go.

There are many location-aware guides, but many focus on one target, whether it's free wi-fi hotspots or restaurants. This one seeks just about anything you can imagine, which is one aspect that company President Jim Brady says makes Earthcomber unique.

"Earthcomber lets you combine, so you don't have to keep app-hopping," he said via e-mail. "And we also make it work automatically - that's the only way you're ever going to find those rarities."

Brady says the app could be considered a "Personal Concierge," "Personal Radar" or "Personal Reconnaissance Application."

It gathers information from sources including the National Register of Historic Places, US Geological Survey, Yellowpages.com, Citysearch and others.

I used it on my iPhone and found the deluge of information to be overwhelming. It took me a while to figure out how to screen out the information useless to me (which might be exactly what someone else wants).

The key is to hone down the search to a few interests and put them on what Earthcomber calls "My Radar." That way, you can get a list of nearby spots, sorted by proximity, that match your interests. And it updates the list as you move.

Brady promises it will soon be easier to adjust your preferences.

"In a short while, we'll channel all angst and frustration into a clean, simple, obvious design," he said.

Earthcomber not only churns out an avalanche of options, it also recommends places to go - many listings include user ratings from the Yelp Internet review site. It also spots friends - who agree to show up on their buddies' screens. And, businesses that appear at the top of a list in a beige box come mainly from yellowpages.com and include more detailed information.

On the Web site, there is a community section, where users can input locations for others to see, such as dog parks, the Battle of Gettysburg and favorite bars. But this area seems to have pretty thin traffic and needs much more user participation to reach its potential.

Earthcomber provides maps only for the United States. The service is free to users and gets revenue from advertisers. At that price, you get a LOT more than you pay for.