backdraft7 - 11:10 pm on Apr 1, 2012 (gmt 0)

No SnowMan, it is not readily available in any local markets...but pretty soon it won't be available in ANY markets. And yes, the operative word in your comment is "yet"...

The more I read, the more it's sounding like you'll need to "game the system" again to rank nationwide or worldwide. Making thousands of localized pages will most likely get you "Panda slapped". Doing so just seems wrong. What's also wrong is Google trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. You can not say that every business uses the same localized business model. Neither tangible or non tangibles fit their assumed model. Sure, if I'm "Joe the Plumber" in New York, I don't service Los Angeles or Chicago.
Their new model only fits for SOME brick & mortar retail markets.

But what about online retail outlets? They sell worldwide, as do non tangible paid content sites (like my own). Blog operators? forgetaboutit!

If Google is going to geotrack my website, slap it on their little map and then feed me only traffic from within a 100 mile radius, then I might as well fold up shop now.

That's what it's sounding like.

IF they proceed down that slippery slope, then it will not be long before Yahoo, Bing and Dogpile take over the search engine market. My suspicion (and yes , I'm suspicious - lol) is that Google is gunning for Facebook's possible entry into the search engine market. We'll then wind up being nothing more than cannon fodder in the ongoing Google vs. Facebook war.