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Pinpointing locations

Michael Kanellos CNET News

Published: 29 Mar 2004 16:35 BST

Similarly, MetaCarta's geographic search software will discard irrelevant results. For example, it excludes results in which the word "London" is followed by "Broil" or preceded by "Julie," if the search is about the course of the River Thames.

So far, the technology has been used mostly by the US government. Both Language Weaver and MetaCarta, in fact, received venture funding from In-Q-Tel, the venture fund the CIA established, the companies have said.

The potential for commercial use of their software is huge, however, and both companies have started to ship their products to nongovernment customers. Only 8 percent of the world's population speaks English as a primary language, but about 80 percent of Web sites are in English, according to Language Weaver's Benjamin. The company's technology is pricey now -- a translation engine for French and English costs about $25,000 (£13,737) -- but the price will decline, as the translation database expands.

"We're not going and trying to reach out to people in their native languages and cultures," Benjamin said.

Michael Kanellos is a senior department editor at CNET News.com, where he covers hardware, scientific and research issues, and start-up companies. He holds qualifications from Cornell University and Hastings College of the Law. He has worked as an attorney and a freelance travel writer, among other occupations.