Yahoo Labs Map Chat - Can Be A Useful Tool
Have you ever feel the need of an interface where you can interactively show someone on the map "which place" you are talking about? This intersection, that corner or some pan vaala's place. Sometimes it is just easy to take the person on the map and pin point the location.
You might have seen people exchange URLs to websites, descriptions and comments, and routinely send links to online maps. Yahoo Labs is working on such application where your friends/contacts can chat with an interactive map and local search.
An experimental prototype mashup application, MapChat brings Yahoo! Instant Messaging contacts to a scrollable,interactive Yahoo! Map. It allows people to search the Yahoo! Local database, visualize results, then comment and chat about them. People can chat in real-time or maintain a private conversation with friends over time. MapChat transforms online maps into shared digital environments for place/location exploration and rendezvous negotiation.
Elizabeth F. Churchill (Yahoo Research), Elizabeth Goodman and M. Cameron Jones are working on this prototype and I am sold on the fact that you have all the tools available to interact with your friends and show them locations on the map with local search results and reviews etc.
You can play around with this prototype @ Yahoo SandBox.
What do you think about this prototype?
You do not need to be too inspired to visit Venice in any season. The magic of V... 
We may have seen Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Amrish Puri and our Anil Kapoor...