In fact, it’s probably the friendliest local search engine we’ve seen. Simply answer “What are you looking for?” and “Where are you looking for it?” then click “Search.” That’s as intuitive as it gets!

But Baillie’s not resting on his laurels. In an interview with WebProNews at Search Engine Strategies, he delivers kind words for Ask.com‘s new AskCity service, and chats a bit on the mobile web market.

“From an industry perspective the hardest part of being on to mobile devices is getting on to what’s called the ‘deck’ or the initial list of options you have on a carrier. A lot of carriers… have walled in their experience. The first hurdle is getting on to the ‘deck’… after that it’s only limited to what the devices can do.”

As most web savvy businessmen, Baillie knows his SEO, sharing his take on filters versus penalties and even musing on Google’s profit from spam blogs. Why should Google battle scraper sites when they share revenue from ads placed there with AdWords?

“It makes money in the short term, but in the long term it presents a bad user experience. I think that it IS in Google’s interest to get rid of these. Even though the short term may be a hit…”

You’re on vacation in Chicago; it’s Friday night, and you’re looking for a hot spot to go and check out the local scene. In pulling out your trusty notebook, you see that Cabaret Metro is featuring a great local act tonight, but you have no idea how to get there. Consequently, you pull the listing up in an online business directory to get an address, and then you navigate to another site to map out the directions from your hotel to the Metro. This is a textbook scenario that Ask.com is looking to streamline with the launch of AskCity.

The platform is structured to integrate event search, business listings, movie search and map features all into one application, providing a wider range of information and interest for users of the service. AskCity contains a couple of different features that separate it from other mapping services, annotated maps and walking directions.

Map annotation serves a “social geography” role in allowing users to annotate their own maps and share them with friends, highlighting particular points of interest or even just arranging a particular place to meet. AskCity’s walking directions are also a well-conceived tool for large cities such as Chicago or New York, which implement many one-way streets that often make it faster and more efficient to walk to a particular destination.