Google Local has their own Java mobile client, read about it “here”:http://www.google.com/glm.

Sadly, they support only a limited set of phones, explicitly excluding Blackberries, unlike “J2MEMap”:http://thebogles.com/blog/2005/11/j2memap-interactive-google-maps-on-your-mobile-phone/. (What ever happened to write once, run anywhere?!)

It looks to be a very rich and attractive interface. My only question is whether the app sacrifices usability for graphical richness. At the end of day, in my experience, what most of us need is to call a business or get directions. On a tiny screen with a slow connection, it’s a challenge to make scrolling maps the focus of the interface. Google’s app requires half a dozen clicks plus a slow map download just to accomplish these tasks.