Browse a collection of experts' favorite places using your phone

For years my favorite thing to do with my phone has been looking up local business information. I can't tell you how many times I've used Google Maps for mobile to search for nearby businesses and then get directions. Being able to find businesses from my phone is liberating -- no longer do I need to plan ahead when I go out.

I've discovered many of my favorite places using my mobile phone, and today a number of local experts have shared their favorite places with us all. Their favorite places are all over the world, in cities such as New York City, San Francisco, Tokyo, London, Paris, Madrid, Moscow, and Prague.

For example, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is a big fan of Nathan's Famous hot dogs. Can't say I blame him.

And if I ever meet virtuoso cellist Yo-Yo Ma, I know exactly how I'll break the ice. We can talk about a mutual favorite place -- Yank Sing in San Francisco, which serves amazing dim sum.

You can explore our collection of experts' favorite places using most smartphone operating systems: Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Symbian S60, and Windows Mobile.

Just visit m.google.com/fav using your phone's browser. You'll need to install Google Maps for mobile for the website to work correctly.

If you'd rather use your computer for now, visit the desktop website to explore our collection of experts' favorite places. You can send the collection of favorite places to your phone with the "Go Mobile" link on the top right.

Posted by Ryan Pollock, Product Marketing Manager, Google Mobile