\textquestiondown Donde está? – Surveying Local Search in Honduras

Abstract

We present a user survey on the use of location-based search in Honduras, a developing country in Latin America. Our goal is to understand the current state of local search and the tasks people are trying to accomplish and gather insights into information seeking behavior. We survey early adopters in the form of students and staff of a university. The results suggest that due to specific characteristics, local search is rather underdeveloped in Honduras and people rely heavily on their social circle to gather geospatial information. This trend continues in a still weak local Web search that is focused on planning aspects and includes social networks as major sources.