Yahoo! releases Sketch-a-Search for iPad, update for iPhone

Yahoo has released an iPad version of its popular iPhone Sketch-a-Search app. For those not familiar with the app, Sketch-a-Search lets users simply sketch a line around an area of the built-in Google map to find restaurants within the sketched area. The app on the iPhone is great, and it's something I've always thought Apple would be smart to build in as a feature to iOS's Google Maps app. Searching a map by drawing a line with your finger is much faster and user-friendly than typing in search queries. The only drawback to the app is that it only searches for restaurants and not other points of interest.

The iPad version of the app is essentially the same as the iPhone version, with the exception of being optimized for the iPad's larger display. Alongside the release of Sketch-a-Search for iPad, Yahoo updated the iPhone version of the app, too. Both versions now feature Zagat-rated restaurants in the search results, along with the ability to book a table through the app using OpenTable integration. Yahoo! Sketch-a-Search for iPad and Sketch-a-Search for iPhone both require iOS 4 or later, which means that unless you are running the iOS 4.2 beta on iPad, you're gonna have to wait to use the app even though you can download it now.