Hmm, that's definately interesting. Definately a big step towards taking the giant overwhelming trashpile the internet has become and turning it into a more personal experience. In the old days, "world wide" had it's appeal, now I think people would much rather have the option of making their web surfing a localized experience.

You are right about the spamming though. It seems like the only way this could work would be if it was a dmoz type thing, with editors in every local. Maybe if they required that websites provide a local contact phone number with site submission, and require phone confirmation, so they could tell by area code if the listing was legit.

If there is a way to fuck it up and make it useless, people will find it.