The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports that Ask.com today launched Ask City, a new local search engine that provides detailed map locations for searched businesses. Citysearch, Ticketmaster and four other IAC services have been tapped to provide additional content -- like reviews and tickets -- for businesses searched.

Ask City is also partnering with companies outside the IAC conglomerate, such as Fandango and OpenTable, which lets users make restaurant reservations. The move should bolster the site's profile against competitors' Yahoo! and Google. IAC's chairman and CEO, Barry Diller, has been working to improve Ask.com's offerings since its March 2005 acquisition.

The engine won't offer advertising, but IAC sees the site as an opportunity to increase traffic to Ask, where ad revenues should benefit.