Xing Adds Contact Locator Maps

Business social network Xing is announcing the addition of a Google Maps mashup inside of their service. Assuming your contacts have listed addresses and have the correct privacy settings, you can see on a world map where the concentrations of your contacts are. Kristen Nicole suggests, "I imagine meeting planning and travel options could be one direction in which to head, as well as other location-based resources for obtaining news/updates/etc. about individual users within your contact list can also be helpful."

To be honest, why do I care about my contacts on a map? Wouldn’t a simple list of cities be easier? I agree with Kristen but would take it a step further. If Xing wants to make an absolutely kickass map, they need to add in tons of business coverage. When you select a location, tons of local resources should be shown (tie into Yelp, and YellowPages.com). Even more importantly, a list of other Xing members who aren’t on my contact list but are in the selected location that might be good matches based on my characteristics. That’d be hot.

Tim calls Xing one of the top German Web apps.