Lobbying group ICOMP, whose members include complainants Microsoft, Foundem, Hot-map, Streetmap and Nextag, said any solution should include measures ensuring that rivals could compete on a level playing field with Google.

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Despite the general squishiness of its central character, the book abounds with colorful personalities in supporting roles, such as W. Graham Arader III, the bombastic map dealer who pretty much created today's hot market in antique-map collecting.

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This is Los Angeles with a heat map showing hot spots for tourism.

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Even as these dark memories linger, though, Laos is poised to follow a path traveled by its neighbors Vietnam and Cambodia, both now hot spots of a different sort: on the tourism map.

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You pick a side, pro-energy or anti-energy, and do battle in the real world against the other side by linking energy hot spots to one another, creating protected zones on the map.

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One hot spot for deal seekers is Mexico, which is struggling to reclaim its place on the tourism map.

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