The idea

How do you build the perfect local web site with news, events, comments and more?

The first successful implementation will be a grand slam.  Newspapers used to fulfil this role but have largely dropped the ball. Many people are working on this around the world but so far none have nailed it.

There’s Yelp, which specialises in reviews of bars and restaurants. There’s Judysbook, which began with a broader community feel, but has since moved towards shopping. There’s Insiderpages, which is struggling, and focused on business listings. Smalltown focuses on local business, too. Topix gives you community news. Backfence gets closer, as does ePodunk to coverage of wider community events but their execution and user interfaces have remained unimpressive. Craigslist provides a local marketplace, but stops there. All are very useful but are not compelling as a method of finding our what is happening nearby.

LocalHero  aims to takes both existing content (from local bloggers, papers, movie listings etc) and user generated content, and packages them into local content. For any location, LocalHero will let you discover stories, comments, status updates, and other content. This content will be extracted, cleaned up, analysed, and categorised to ensure it is relevant.