Adrian Holovaty’s much-anticipated hyperlocal site Everyblock just launched for Chicago, New York and San Francisco. At it’s core, it’s a powerful aggregator of news, user-generated content and data — all geotagged and mapped. News stories, blog posts, Flick photos, building permits, crime data, restaurant reviews, Craigslist postings… etc… you can map it all around your house, in your neighborhood. “We’re a geographic filter — a ‘news feed’ for your neighborhood, or, yes, even your block,” explains the Everyblock team. And it looks like just about everything is automated.
I’ve always believed that the hyperlocal nut will be cracked with a technology solution, not a content solution. Why try to convince people to submit content when there’s already a ton of it out there that just needs organizing? I’ll be posting a full review of the site soon, but my first impression is Everyblock has more potential to succeed than any hyperlocal effort before it.