Specialized seach engines are certainly creating an interesting niche for themselves.  To succeed, they need to do more than just filter results.  A savvy searcher can do that on his or her own using the right search string on Google or Bing.  No, specialty search engines have to provide an added value.  For the adventurers among us, Goby is the new go-to for exploring places and things to do.

Goby focuses on answering the three key questions that frustrate most intrepid travelers:  What, Where, and When.  Simply tell it where you are going, what you want to do, and roughly when and then let Goby do the rest.  The search engine uses “deep Web” technology to search carefully selected, “pre-qualified” databases and information sites.  Search results are then presented in a more meaningful (read: relevant) way. 

The folks behind Goby not only love to travel, but are an impressive bunch when it comes to harnessing the web.  Goby was co-founded by Mark Watkins from Endeca, Lycos’  Vince Russo  and entrepreneur / MIT professor Mike Stonebraker.  Their goal was simple:

[. . .] to make it as easy as possible to research and plan everyday adventures and free-time activities. Our main goal is to eliminate the need to hop around to lots of different websites and wade through information that’s often incomplete, irrelevant or hard to find.

Their end product – the Goby search engine, however, is sublime.  More than that, it is fun to use.  The “offbeat attractions” category is a hoot!  Who knew there were so many haunted houses in Oregon?  Goby did . . . that’s who!  So before you go, go by Goby!