Coming soon: Google Maps for China?

SearchEngineJournal is reporting that Google has launched a beta version of Google Local in China. Here is an excerpt from the article:

Google Local Hustles in China
Google has launched a Chinese version of Google Local for residents of the People'’s Republic of China. The Chinese Google Local is termed Google Bendi (Bendi is Mandarin and/or Cantonese for Local or 'Natives'’) and still in beta, Google Local China'’s Beijing maps are powered by Mapabc.com. (read the full article here..)

The article states that Google Bendi has "maps for 77 cities and information on businesses and services for over 100 cities." I can only predict that this means that a Google Maps service for China is just around the corner - and with it Google Maps mashups for China! Tourism and Olympic mashups would be first ones I would expect to see based in English.




Technorati Tags: [googlemaps], [china]