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THE LOCAL SURFACESWhere The Local Internet actually appears.

The Local Surfaces

WHERE THE LOCAL INTERNET ACTUALLY APPEARS.

A Local Surface is a user-facing experience powered by shared The Local Internet infrastructure. This is the catalog of those experiences, and an explanation of what kinds of experience the shared system can power.

Deployed surfaces
398
User-facing experiences
375
Kinds of surface
10

Counted from the running system when this page rendered — not a maintained list.

Different Websites. Different Local Experiences. One Connected Network.

The Local Internet brings together a growing collection of connected websites and digital experiences that help people discover businesses, jobs, housing, events, savings, information, and opportunities in their communities.

Each surface provides another way to explore and connect with what matters locally.

TheLocalSurfaces.com — The Connected Network of Local Websites & Experiences. 393 Core-Connected Surfaces covering Businesses, Savings, Jobs, Homes, Events, Information and Opportunities: National 26 surfaces, State 249, Regional 1, Local 12 and Functional 105. 99 Independent Marketplaces: 97 independently operated and 2 Core-operated (LocalInformed.com, USAInformed.com). Shown over a lakeside sunrise beside the Duluth lift bridge, with a laptop showing a connected U.S. map. Find Local Businesses, Explore Local Experiences, Get Connected to Your Community. Different Websites. Different Local Experiences. One Connected Network.
The graphic counts 393 Core-connected surfaces — reviewed directory entries, not counting the 99 marketplaces. The 398 deployed surfaces shown above count every website The Local Internet currently serves, including navigation, routing and explanation sites.Select the graphic to open it full size in a new tab.

See How The Local Surfaces Connect

1:15 narrated explainer · captions available

Transcript

  1. 0:00 · What is a Local Surface?

    Across The Local Internet, connected surfaces create different ways to discover local businesses, places, and information.

  2. 0:07 · One Business Record

    It begins with a Business Record. Instead of maintaining separate records for every destination, The Local Core provides a shared foundation for eligible business information.

  3. 0:18 · Geographic Surfaces

    Geographic surfaces help organize discovery from national destinations to states, counties, cities, and communities. Each surface can serve a different geographic purpose.

  4. 0:31 · Category and Experience Surfaces

    Other surfaces organize discovery around categories and experiences, helping people explore information relevant to their needs. Some experiences are available today, while others remain in development.

  5. 0:45 · Eligibility and Distribution

    Not every record belongs on every surface. Eligibility, permissions, and publication controls determine where approved information can appear. A configured surface is not automatically a place where records are published.

  6. 0:59 · The Connected Infrastructure

    One shared foundation. Multiple eligible destinations. Connected through The Local Core. Independently operated marketplaces remain separate. Explore the infrastructure at TheLocalSurfaces.com.

The network in figures

  • 393 Core-connected surfaces
  • 99 marketplaces: 97 independently operated and 2 operated by The Local Core
  • 490 unique domains in total
  • 42 surfaces currently show published business records

A configured surface does not necessarily contain published business records. Independently operated marketplaces are separate from The Local Core.

WHAT A SURFACE IS

A Local Surface is a user-facing experience powered by shared The Local Internet infrastructure.

A new surface does not require:

  • Another Business Record
  • Another database
  • Another geography system
  • Another claim workflow
  • Another verification system
  • Another publication system

One authoritative object appears across several surfaces through the existing publication architecture — each placement records the reason it legitimately belongs there. A surface never copies a record, and a surface is never on its own a reason to publish one.

One Record. One System. Many Surfaces.

THE SURFACE CATALOG

Grouped by the kind of experience each surface provides. Every entry below is served by this application at the address shown.

Geographic surfaces

250 surfaces

State, regional and state-edition experiences over one shared geography. No surface holds a geography of its own.

Type: Geographic discovery · Scope: A single state or region

  • Alabamaiz
    alabamaiz.com

    Discover Alabama.

  • Alabamaizz
    alabamaizz.com

    Alabama, reported and discovered.

  • Alabamaizze
    alabamaizze.com

    Discover. Participate. Promote. Connect.

  • Alabamazz
    alabamazz.com

    The state marketplace.

  • Alaskaiz
    alaskaiz.com

    Discover Alaska.

  • Alaskaizz
    alaskaizz.com

    Alaska, reported and discovered.

  • Alaskaizze
    alaskaizze.com

    Discover. Participate. Promote. Connect.

  • Alaskazz
    alaskazz.com

    The state marketplace.

and 242 more of the same kind, generated from the same shared system.

Discovery surfaces

18 surfaces

Ways in for people: national, state and city entry points and the consumer discovery experience.

Type: Consumer discovery · Scope: National down to city

and 10 more of the same kind, generated from the same shared system.

Business and storefront surfaces

8 surfaces

Where a Business Record is found, claimed, managed and presented as a storefront.

Type: Business experience · Scope: Business Records and their locations

Information surfaces

7 surfaces

Articles, guides and local knowledge, organized and browsable.

Type: Information · Scope: Local and national

Offer and savings surfaces

2 surfaces

Published offers and savings attached to real Business Records.

Type: Offers · Scope: Local and national

  • The Local Savings
    thelocalsavings.com

    Local offers, savings and promotions connected to real businesses.

  • The USA Savings
    theusasavings.com

    Find offers and savings from businesses across America.

Event and happenings surfaces

2 surfaces

Events, activities and venues connected to the shared record system.

Type: Events · Scope: Local and national

Review surfaces

2 surfaces

Reviews and business responses attached to authoritative records.

Type: Reviews · Scope: Local and national

  • The Local Reviewed
    thelocalreviewed.com

    Reviews connected to real Business Records.

  • The USA Reviewed
    theusareviewed.com

    Reviews of businesses across America, connected to authoritative records.

Featured and promotional surfaces

8 surfaces

Surfaces capable of carrying governed featured and promoted placements, and the activity flow. Not every surface supports promotion.

Type: Featured and promotion · Scope: Local and national

  • The Local Advertised
    thelocaladvertised.com

    Local advertising connected to verified Business Records.

  • The Local Featured
    thelocalfeatured.com

    Businesses, places and stories selected for attention.

  • The Local Flow
    thelocalflow.com

    The flow of local business and community activity.

  • The Local Promoted
    thelocalpromoted.com

    Discover what local businesses are promoting.

  • The USA Advertised
    theusaadvertised.com

    Advertising connected to verified Business Records across America.

  • The USA Featured
    theusafeatured.com

    Businesses, places and stories selected from across America.

  • The USA Flow
    theusaflow.com

    Business and community activity flowing across America.

  • The USA Promoted
    theusapromoted.com

    Discover what businesses across America are promoting.

Subject and intent surfaces

78 surfaces

The same records narrowed by subject or by intent — a category or a related object that genuinely exists.

Type: Subject experience · Scope: National, by subject

and 70 more of the same kind, generated from the same shared system.

Architecture and explanation surfaces

23 surfaces

Not consumer surfaces. These explain, route into or connect the system rather than presenting records themselves.

Type: Explanation and routing · Scope: The system itself

and 15 more of the same kind, generated from the same shared system.

DEPLOYED, REGISTERED, OWNED

Every surface listed here is deployed: this application resolves its address and serves its experience. The list is read from the running hostname resolver, so a name that is merely owned, registered or planned does not appear. What this page cannot check is whether each address is currently pointed at the application by its registrar — that is a domain connection, held outside the system, and it is not claimed here.

Deployed surface

An experience this application serves at its own address. Everything catalogued here.

Registered destination

A place in the Surface Registry that a record can legitimately be published to. Some deployed surfaces are ways in and hold no registry row of their own.

Owned name

A domain held but not deployed. Not a surface, not counted here, and never activated automatically.

See the registered destinationsSee the deployed network

GRID AND SURFACES ARE NOT THE SAME

One Local Grid

What is connected?

The Local Surfaces

What experiences are available across that connected network?

Grid = network. Surfaces = experiences.

NAMESPACE → PLATFORM + OS → GRID → SURFACE

A name receives a role; the platform and the operating rules provide and govern the capability; the grid connects the deployment; the surface delivers the experience. This is how to read the system, not a set of database objects.

  1. Step 1
    Namespace

    Defines the role a name holds.

  2. Step 2
    Platform

    Provides the shared capabilities.

  3. Step 3
    OS

    Operates the rules and workflows.

  4. Step 4
    Grid

    Connects the deployment.

  5. Step 5
    Surface

    Delivers the experience.

THIS IS A CATALOG, NOT A ROUTER

One Local Portal

Audience router — where do you want to go?

One Local Start

Task router — what would you like to do?

The Local Surfaces

The catalog and explanation of the surfaces themselves.

CARRIED FORWARD

Retained

One Record. Many Surfaces.

Retained — it is the production architecture, not an aspiration.

Surfaces as generated experiences, not hand-built sites

Retained, and running: fifty state addresses and the subject network are one application reading one record set.

A surface catalog worth publishing

Retained, and now generated from the running hostname resolver instead of a maintained list of domains.

Not carried forward

The surface generator and health console

Prototype tooling of a separate application. No such generator operates here.

Demonstration data on the surface catalog

Demonstration businesses are excluded from public discovery by policy. Nothing fictional is catalogued as a surface.

AI answers and agent endpoints as delivered capability

Records here are structured and machine-readable, which is the honest claim. Answer and agent products are not operating today.

WHERE THIS SITS

The Local Internet is the ecosystem these surfaces belong to. You do not need to read any of this to use them.

TheLocalCore.comOneLocalGrid.comTheNamespaceCompany.comExplore local

Part of the six foundations of The Local Internet

  1. TheLocalCore.com— InfrastructureLive
  2. TheLocalRecords.com— The RecordsLive
  3. TheLocalCatalog.com— The CatalogLive
  4. TheLocalGrid.com— The NetworkLive
  5. TheLocalInternet.com— The DestinationLive
  6. Localzz.com— The Marketplace (Evolving)Evolving