Nowadays search engines are focusing on content that is relevant to a user’s location. But one cannot rely completely on results generated by any search engine. The results can be biased as search engine optimization techniques can be used by any site owner or blogger.
HP is one company that has realized the unreliability of location-related search results on search engines. What they have produced as a result is their own geotagging (sort of) service, called Gloe.
Gloe is a simple to use website that lets users decide whether or not a site is relevant to one’s location. The site shows us a map of the world. We then proceed to enter our location. Let us assume we are in Creil, France. (If you are using Gloe on Firefox, your location will automatically be detected with your permission.)
We are shown a map of our region and a circle of radius which we can specify. This radius can be as large as 30 miles.
On the right pane, we can view websites recommended or added by users to the Gloe project. We can also view the votes associated with these results.
The results can be filtered by selecting what type of site we are looking for. This can done via the menu next to our location box. This simple procedure allows us to find all user-shared online content relevant to our website.
If you are simply visiting Gloe to check it out, a list under our map shows the latest activity on the site.
A top contributions list is also available.
Gloe, in conclusion, is an interesting experiment by HP. Its success depends purely on how popular it gets and how many users add content and tag it location-wise. To make things easier for users, HP has created a bookmarklet for Gloe which can be used anytime we see a website relevant to geographical location we know.
Click here to visit HP Gloe.
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