The Tuesday, Sept 12th meeting of the Rocky Mountain
Internet Users Group (RMIUG) will discuss "Online Mapping
and Local Search"

Local search, where Internet users search for local listings
in their area, is rapidly growing as an important part of the
search engine landscape. New technology and competition
from numerous companies is revolutionizing this space,
which represents countless commercial transactions as
most consumers still buy from their local brick-and-mortar
retailers.

Our meeting will address the growing and dynamic local
search marketplace as it transforms to better meet the
needs of Internet users.

April Connolly (aconnolly@...) is the Sr.
Product Manager for MapQuest.com. MapQuest.com
reaches over 53 million unique users per month and
continues to grow at a rapid rate. April will give a talk
entitled, "MapQuest Search: Helping People Find Places."
She will cover how MapQuest's search is integrated
with maps and directions, why local search is important,
and her thoughts on where the market is moving.

We may add one additional speaker to the meeting, to
be announced shortly.


Links:
MapQuest, http://www.mapquest.com
Google Local, http://local.google.com/
Yahoo Local, http://local.yahoo.com/
Search Engine Strategies Local Search conference,
http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/sewlocal/sept06/index.html

The meeting is Tuesday, Sept 12th from 7:00 - 9:00 pm
(with optional 6:30 pm start for refreshments and
informal networking). The meeting will be held at The
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) at
1850 Table Mesa Drive in Boulder. To get to NCAR from
the Boulder Turnpike (US 36) or Broadway (US 93), take
Table Mesa Drive west towards the mountains for
approximately 2.5 miles into the foothills. NCAR is at
the top of the hill. For door-to-door driving
directions, go to MapQuest (http://www.mapquest.com/),
click on Driving Directions, enter your starting
address, NCAR's address, and voila! Park in the NCAR
lot, go in the main door, and ask the guard to point
you to meeting, which is held in the main auditorium,
right off the lobby. The meeting is free and open to
the public, but we may pass the hat to help defray
expenses.

Our meeting location seats about 120 people. That is
usually enough room to accommodate all attendees, but
it's impossible for us to predict how many people will
show up for any given meeting. Seating is always on a
first-come, first serve basis, and in the event of
more attendees than seats, we won't be able to admit
additional people into the auditorium after all seats
are filled.

Thanks to our three sponsors who help make RMIUG
meetings happen:
---------------------------------------------------------------
MicroStaff (www.microstaff.com) which provides
Creative and Technical talent for Web, Interactive
Media, Marketing Communications and Software
Development projects, is the sponsor of food and
beverages for RMIUG meetings.

ONEWARE (http://www.ONEWARE.com) -- a Colorado-based
software company that provides semi-custom web-based
applications, sponsors the RMIUG meeting minutes.

Copy Diva (http://www.copydiva.com) which provides
marketing project management, marketing communications
consulting, and web content development is the AV
sponsor for RMIUG.

Consultants and companies are invited to bring
Internet-related Product information, brochures, and
business cards which will be displayed on an
information table.

There are email mailing lists set up for this group.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, see
http://www.rmiug.org/html/email_lists.html. You
can also reach the RMIUG "Executive" Committee
at rmiug-comm@.... Our web site is at
http://www.rmiug.org/


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Please note that RMIUG is hosted at NCAR and we are
their guests. NCAR has security regulations in effect
that we must follow in order to use the facility. If
any RMIUG attendee is unwilling to follow these simple
regulations, I would ask that he or she not attend and
instead read the minutes after the meeting.

Here are the NCAR security policies that must be
followed:

1. No weapons.
2. Must sign in at front desk and provide name.
3. Cooperate with security folks including providing
ID if requested.
4. We are guests of NCAR so cooperation and courtesy
are expected when dealing with NCAR staff.

If there are any questions or concerns with this
policy, please contact me directly.
Thanks, Dan Murray (dan@...).
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