OREANDA-NEWS. April 15, 2009. Yandex.Maps launched integrated world map with integrated search.

Now, instead of separate maps of specific cities and countries, Yandex offers its users one single map to “travel” from Chukotka to Seattle. The updated Yandex.Maps service allows searching for a geographic object in the whole world. For example, the service finds Don River (Дон in Russian) as in Russia, so in Great Britain or France. The search results are ranked based on how far each particular location is from the location on the current map fragment.

The updated Yandex.Maps also allow to make synonym searches. The traditional “Piter” (a well-established nickname for Saint Petersburg) or “Minvody” (the name traditionally used for Mineralnye Vody) takes the user, correspondingly, to the Russian Northern Capital or to the famous spa resort. And if a user makes a slip, Yandex.Maps suggest the correct spelling and show the right link (for instance, “Versailles” for “Verailles”).

In addition, Yandex.Maps can now understand the names of many foreign cities as they are spelled in local languages. Yandex.Maps users can now find Lithuanian Liepāja or Austrian Großweikersdorf without having to check how they should spell these names in Russian.

The integrated map has become a new technological platform for Yandex.Maps to develop further. Developers and webmasters can use the updated map service via Yandex.Maps API (http://api.yandex.ru in Russian).