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Tripadvisor Inc. recently launched search and directory services that let users comb the Web for comprehensive, relevant, personalized travel data.
TripAdvisors technology filters, sorts and ranks information on vacation destinations, said officials of the Needham, Mass., company. Search results come from newspapers, travel magazines and guide books; comments come from message boards, personal home pages, travelogues, rating sites and user reviews.
The company has written custom crawlers, or spiders, that are intelligent enough to determine which pages are important, officials said, and editors sort, classify and rank this information.
Information is organized by source and relevancy based on a users personal profile. A profile that includes travel interests and demographics enables users to receive personalized destination information, officials said.
All content in the companys database is based on Extensible Markup Language, enabling easy integration and customization with a partners travel content and site design.
TripAdvisor will license its technology to Internet portals, travel sites and travel service providers beginning this month. The company is discussing agreements with three major Internet portals. Pricing was not available.