British Local Search Engine Coded in 24 Hours

WebKnowHow
Tuesday, July 25, 2006; 02:08 AM

The new local search engine LocalBrit.co.uk went from concept to working application in 24 hours, said its creator.  The site is a good-looking mashup that combines a 4.5 GB database of UK businesses with a GMap interface.   The end result is  a clean and intuitive search experience.

The chief developer had the experience from his previous project iBegin: a Toronto area local search engine. The creation of LocalBrit was as much a personal chalenge as a business endevour. The site runs on open source LAMP technology,  and is hosted on a personal server. 

Says the author: "About a week ago, by what can only be described as a freak series of coincidences, I had a database of business-data for the UK fall into my lap... Racing against the clock, I set about to create a functional search engine that spanned all of the UK... The end result? A lot of fun."

A "log" of the page's creation is available at http://www.localbrit.co.uk/story.html/.  It starts with  " 8:00 am - Started Work." and, predictably, ends on the following day with "8:01 am - I declare myself winner."