Google is not the only map search engine that gives you satellite images and pictures of the streets you are searching. Pandia takes a look at Schibsted, a Scandinavian company with classified ads and map search engines in many countries.

Google dominates the search news all the time, so we think it is high time to let you know that there are smaller actors out there that actually do manage to keep up.

Some of these actors may look small, but given that they have search sites under different brands in several countries, what they do matter.

From classified ads to yellow pages

The Norwegian/Nordic media company Schibsted is one of these companies, and as search companies go, you could argue that Schibsted is more important than its Norwegian sibling Fast Search and Transfer. At least it is much more visible to the regular searcher.

Schibsted Classified Media (SCM) has, for instance, online classified ads operations in Norway, Sweden, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil and Colombia.

Schibsted owns, among other sites, classified ad search services Finn.no in Norway and Blocket.se in Sweden as well as Swedish map search site Hitta.se. The same technologies are underpinning them all.

From web search to local search

We have written about Sesam before. Sesam.no used to be a regular web search engine powered by Fast Search and Transfer, but Schibsted realized that that was a battle they could not win. Google has too strong a brand in the Nordic area for Schibsted to beat it at regular web search. So what did they do?

Schibsted turned Sesam into a yellow page and news search engine, focusing on what it can best: information on the local market.

There is also a Swedish version of Sesam.

3D images of Scandiavian cities

Schibsted is, like its American rivals, investing a lot in up to date search and display technologies.

Last year Sesam presented 3D maps in map search results. These 3D models are based on a technology coming from the Swedish air force and the “JAS-Gripen” fighter jet project, commercialized through C3 Technologies.

The technology is based on stereovision. The images, taken from different angles from airplanes, have precise coordinates linked to them, which makes it possible to build 3D models of cityscapes.

Here’s a demonstration video depicting the Oslo Town Hall, only minutes from the “Pandiaplex”:

Rådhuset Oslo - Sesam 3D kart from Morten Jacobsen on Vimeo.

So far the 3D maps are available for Oslo, Tønsberg, Trondheim, Sarpsborg, Fredrikstad and Drammen in Norway. Stockholm, Uppsala, Västerås and Örebro are covered by Hitta.se in Sweden.

Sesam(e) Street

This week Sesam launched its own answer to Google StreetView. Like Google, Sesam has driven a car around Oslo city taking a large number of street level pictures.

In all Sesam took some 350,000 pictures of Oslo streets this summer, merging them into some 120,000 panorama scenes. Sesam use Flash to present the scenes.

In order to protect privacy, most pictures were taken on Sunday mornings, at a time where there are few pedestrians. Moreover, all faces and number plates have been blurred.

Sesam image from Pandia’s street.

Schibsted’s Hitta.se has presented facade photos for some Swedish cities since 2005.

Finding your niche

The Schibsted strategy is based on the philosophy that you must find niches where search engine giants like Google are more vulnerable, in this case local search in ads and maps.

In this they may succeed. Indeed, many Scandinavians do know about these services and they use them.

One major hurdle is branding. Google is the number 1 search engine in the Nordic area. The Google brand is strong and its press coverage is ubiquitous. In other words: It is easier for Google to brand its Google Maps than for Schibsted to make its street view search known to the public.

This is made even worse by Schibsted’s tactic of using various local brands for services using the same technologies. This is mainly due to history, i.e. acquisitions of brands that may have a strong presence locally.

Finn, the Craigslist of Schibsted, is available in a large number of countries, using the same technology, but the service is presented under different brands, making it invisible in the media. Unlike Google, Schibsted is therefore unable to generate a global visibility for its offerings.

Schibsted should definitely take a closer look at this strategy and see if it is possible to build a global search brand based on these services.

See also Oslo ned i minste detalj, digi.no (in Norwegian)
Wikipedia on Schibsted
Swedish 3D Maps better than Google Earth! Zhoogs