Google Maps Local Services Search

I am creating a VB.NET WPF application that requires a user to nominate services local to the area they are in (such as the closest hospital, fire station, etc). Using the maps.google.com.au web site I can return the results that I am seeking, and I have stumbled across an AJAX based API that too returns results that I am after, however this is in a format that I am unfamiliar with (I think it is JSON).

Using the following URI, I am able to get a file that contains results for all hospitals local to Adelaide, South Australia, can anyone advise if this is JSON and if they could provide any sites or information on how I can parse this data in VB.NET 3.5.

http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/search/local?v=1.0&q=public--hospitals%20adelaide%20sa%20australia

If there is any suggesstions on better Google Maps API's that can achieve this (I would love XML format as I am more familar with XML then JSON) your suggesstions will be开发者_如何学运维 greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Matt

You can use the json.net library to parse the JSON data