MSN Local places query listings on a map from the company's MapPoint Web Service. Search features aerial images plucked from the company's TerraServer-USA database, when they are available.

Their local service also delivers relevant web pages, chosen using an existing MSN technology called Near Me that identifies pages in the search engine's general index with location-specific tags. For example, a search for the term "dry cleaners" in Dallas will retrieve appropriate business listings. But it may also deliver a newspaper article naming the best dry cleaning providers in the area.

You can run a local search directly from the MSN Search homepage by entering your search and clicking the "Local" search tab. If the searcher doesn't specify a location here, MSN Local Search uses the default location entered in the "location" box on the MSN Search settings page.

MSN has ambitious plans to catch up with the others

MSN Local Search will be enhanced with the launch of MSN Virtual Earth, a new service that lets users superimpose driving routes, places and weather information on maps and satellite images. That feature should be available the end of September.