Well, that’s what it calls itself anyway.  It’s not quite a search engine and not quite Google Maps.  Goby.com is a search engine meant to find you local things based on what you want to do.  So searching for “Italian Food” in Moscow, Idaho should bring you a list of Italian restaurants in that town.

The three search boxes to build your search are simple and require no login: what you want to do, where you want to do it, and when you want it to be.  Each of these can receive extraneous data, though the better your “computer” the better your result will be.  So to find those Italian restaurants in Moscow, you’d search for “Italian food” or “Italian restaurant” in “Moscow, ID” or “Moscow, Idaho” and you’d say “tonight” or “today” or “tomorrow” and click for results.

The site is a little quirky and doesn’t always deliver, however.  The above search, for instance, took two tries (the first returning an error) and came up empty.  Not surprising, since Moscow, ID isn’t exactly a booming metropolis.  Still, other searches I tried that should have worked also didn’t.

Looking for italian restaurants in Washington, DC comes up with matches in Washington State and New York City searches often include New York State returns.  Other areas that seem like they should have information, like Los Angeles or Miami, don’t.  So the app does need some work.

On the other hand, it just launched in September and other aspects of the engine, such as auto-filling the date and extruding real English into search-able data it does beautifully.  Finished results include Google Maps to the location(s), Yellow Pages-style information on the business (if available), and so forth.

Overall, while Goby is in its growing stages and experiencing some pains, it’s definitely worth trying.  Just don’t base your entire vacation plan on it yet.  It’s free and has great potential.