03 August 2005

Multimap, Europe’s leading online mapping provider, today announced the implementation of its Storefinder service for property web site, www.propertyfinder.com. Visitors to the site, which sources residential properties from over 2,400 estate agents, are now able to search for properties by location and view suitable options as icons on a map.

Jim Buckle, managing director of Propertyfinder, commented, “The new propertyfinder.com gives home-hunters a property web site which reflects how they want to search more closely than ever before. People often have very specific views about where they want to live, and being able to view that area on a map, with the available properties displayed, gives people by far the best way of finding the perfect property.”

Visitors to www.propertyfinder.com can access an interactive map displaying the whereabouts of all the properties available in a particular area by clicking on the UK map on the homepage. Accommodation type is indicated by icon colour and property hunters can zoom in/out and pan N,S,E,W to adjust their view. By simply hovering their mouse over an icon of interest, they can view a picture and summary of a property to the left of the page and, for further information, including a more detailed and content-rich map, users simply click on an icon of interest. Alternatively, property hunters can access a list of suitable properties in a desired area by entering their search criteria, including desired postcode or area name, on the homepage. Each of the properties listed has a link to a Multimap map showing its exact location.

Since the implementation, visitors have sent unsolicited emails to Propertyfinder with rave reviews of the new technology. One called it: “…the best property site on the internet!”, adding “ as a surveyor, I think that it is the cleverest use of technology that I have seen”.

Commenting on the deal, Jeff Kelisky, CEO of Multimap, said, “We are delighted to be working with industry giant, Propertyfinder, and are pleased to provide such a useful service to its customers. Location is certainly the key determining factor when it comes to property, and the maps are particularly helpful for people with specific requirements, for example to be near a railway station but not on a railway line. Our maps allow them to see at a glance which properties are suitable for their requirements.”

About Multimap

Multimap is Europe's leading provider of mapping and location-based services. The company delivers more online maps, point-to-point driving directions and geo-spatial ("where's my nearest?") searches to more companies than any other supplier in Europe. All services are offered on mobile, PDA, kiosk, and interactive TV platforms and in multiple languages.

The public website, www.multimap.com, provides a range of free, useful services to assist with everyday life. Key features include street-level maps of Europe, USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia; road maps of the world; door-to-door travel directions; aerial photographs; links to location information; and services such as hotel, restaurant and entertainment booking. The public site attracts over 8.6 million unique users, registers more than 160 million page impressions every month, and is one of the top 10 most visited websites in the UK. Multimap recently featured in The Sunday Times Fast Track 100 league table of fastest-growing unquoted UK companies across all sectors.

About Propertyfinder

Propertyfinder was the UK’s first property portal co-founded in 1995 by Nick Leeming FRICS as Internet Property Finder Ltd (IPF).

In July 2000 it received a £5.5m backing from a consortium led by the venture capitalists, Arts Alliance and in August 2001 it merged with asserta holdings Limited.

Propertyfinder today is the largest property portal dedicated to independent agents. It has over 200,000 properties from over 2,400 agents across the UK and overseas, following its recent merger with assertahome. Some of the larger members include Chancellors, Foxtons, Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward, John D Wood & Co., Harrison Murray, Townends, Winkworth, YourMove as well as members of TEAM and the Guild of Professional Estate Agents.