13 July 2007

The two GIS experts examine the exciting trajectory of the world of online mapping over the last fifteen years and predict major shifts on the horizon for the future

Multimap's Founder, Sean Phelan and Senior Software Engineer, John McKerrell, are gearing up for their closing presentations at the first international OpenStreetMap conference, in Manchester (14th and 15th July). Phelan will guide the audience through the key milestones of the online mapping space over the last fifteen years - from the initial creation of Xerox Parc Map Server in 1993 to the birth of the concept of OpenStreetMap in 2004 - while McKerrell will focus on the current pervading craze for mash-ups and where this might be leading. Together, they will square up to the future of this high-growth area, and make some bold predictions about what the future has to offer. There are whisperings of near-real-time updates from GPS devices to OSM data on Multimap and other sites, and OpenStreetMap coverage of more than 50 countries, before the noughties are out.

The State of the Map conference brings together a selection of the most interesting, innovative and thought-provoking talks and workshops that the open mapping community has to offer, and many of the key contributors to the project which aims to create a global open map. In addition to Phelan and McKerrell, high-profile speakers include Ed Parsons, Google's Geospatial Technologist for Europe, Middle East and Africa and former CEO of Ordnance Survey; Steve Chilton, Chair of the Society of Cartographers (UK); and Steve Coast, Founder of OpenStreetMap.

Commenting on the conference, Sean Phelan, Founder of Multimap, said, "Both John and myself are excited to be participating in the first international OpenStreetMap conference. With great changes afoot and the enormous growth that the location-based services space continues to experience, it's a very exciting time not only for OpenStreetMap, which is making great strides in its coverage, but also the mapping industry at large."

Steve Coast, Founder of the OpenStreetMap Project, stated, "Already enormously popular in the UK, Netherlands, Spain and Germany, we are delighted to note increasing support of OpenStreetMap on a global playing field. In celebration of this, and to mark our three-year anniversary, we are pleased to bring together many of the project's supporters and contributors in one place to discuss the progress that we're making, and indeed ways that we can further improve our processes and efforts. Our key challenge remains to build awareness of our very worthwhile activity, engage more people worldwide, and support their data contributions as efficiently as possible. With so many leading authorities in the field on board, the conclusions we reach are likely to change the face of online mapping!"

About Multimap

Multimap is one of the world's leading providers 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. We also offer a highly-functional API (Application Programming Interface).

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, Australia and countries in Asia; 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 10 million unique users, registers more than 190 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 Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100 league table of fastest-growing unquoted UK companies across all sectors. In 2006, Queen Elizabeth II awarded Multimap The Queen's Award for Enterprise in the innovation category, and Multimap was one of only three companies to feature in the Sunday Times Microsoft Tech Track 100 league of fastest-growing unquoted UK technology companies for the fourth year running. In 2007, Multimap won the Best Use of Technology category of the Fast Growth Business Awards and Sean Phelan, Multimap's founder, was awarded Ernst & Young's 2007 London Region Entrepreneur of The Year Technology and Communication award. In 2006, the company featured in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 for the UK and Ireland, and the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 for EMEA. Multimap also featured in Deloitte Touche's Technology Fast 50 league for London and Southern England in 2005 and, in the same year, Red Herring named Multimap as one of the Top 100 private companies in Europe.

About the OpenStreetMap Project

The OpenStreetMap Foundation aims to create a completely open map, based on mapping data gathered by individuals via GPS, and submitted to the foundation. The data is freely available for both private and commercial use under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.