the Delocator! Delocator.net

<p>I love the internet, and i love people who subvert the mainstream with it's own tools.</p> <p>I just found [lk:delocator.net|The Delocator] on [l:http://techstrategy.typepad.com/emerging/2005/04/delocatornet.html|TechStrategy.org's blog] <strike> Not sure how I found tech strategy, I think someone put it up on the [lk:wiki.penguineday.org|Penguin Day Wiki].</strike> That's right, this is Katrin Verclas' Blog.<br /> (I was in the midst of a Firefox Tab opening frenzy, and called pulled away and then forgot where I had opened all the tabs from) We're all connected because it seems like [l:http://sstrudeau.com/|Scott Trudeau] sent it over to the folks at techstrategy. Scott has commented here and we talked at nTen.</p> <p>So the concept is that instead of the starbucks locator (which i have use to prove a point about the pervasiveness of starbucks locations) people can put coffee shops into the [lk:delocator.net|Delocator] and then others can search by Zip Code.</p> <p>The big problem is this doesn't work for NYC. and further more it doesn't seem to prove the point that SB is putting hte locals out of business. A search on the 10009 zip returns 176 cafes and 178 Starbucks within those 5 miles, and give you locations as far away as NJ (Manhattan is skinny) and Brooklyn.</p> <p>This is an argument htat I have heard trotted out when I am railing against SB proliferation "SB leads to more coffee drinking and actually spurs the coffee economy locally" or some such nonsense. I actually believe that we are just a nation of addicts. ([l:http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=coffee+addiction&spell=1|google search for "coffee adiction" turned up 640k sites] and a [l:http://news.google.com/news?q=coffee%20addiction&hl=en&lr=&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N&tab=wn|google news search turned up 244 articles]. I have battled it since finding [lk:http://www.altdotcoffee.com|alt.coffee in the fall of '95] and now i am hooked on [l:http://themudtruck.com|the Mud Truck and Mud Spot, and Brew Mud at home].</p> <p>Perhaps the delocator could add a choose your radius feature (1, 3, 5, 10 miles) or could be coupled with [lk:maps.google.com|GoogleMaps] so that the cafes in delocator can be placed on a google map (a la [l:http://www.paulrademacher.com/housing/|CL meets gmaps])and then your address can also be placed on the google map. The pushpins for the cafes could then lead you to information about the cafe that is in the delocator database.</p>