What do you get when you merge the MSN Virtual Earth service team with the MSN Search team? A combined local-search group, it seems. On Monday, MSN announced the first fruits from that merged unit: A beta of MSN Local Search. The new service will provide "geographically targeted search results about businesses and other local information, as well as online street and aerial maps pinpointing the results," much the way that Google, Yahoo and America Online are doing. The MSN folks are saying to expect the MSN Local Search technology to go gold by the end of the year.