1 November 2004

Cardiff University and Multimap Lead the Way with New English/Welsh Door-to-Door Travel Directions

Multimap, Europe’s leading online mapping company, today announced the deployment of its “Travel Directions” service on Cardiff University’s web site. The new service enables students, lecturers and visitors to map their route to the University’s 60-strong portfolio of premises. Multimap delivers step-by-step travel directions and plots the route on a map, from any start point in the country.

What’s more, Cardiff University and Multimap have worked together to provide the mapping service in both English and Welsh, making it even more accessible to users. This is the first time a dynamic directions service has been produced in Welsh, and will now benefit any future customers of Multimap who need to cater for Welsh speakers.

Visitors to www.cardiff.ac.uk click on the “Locations & Maps” link on the homepage, followed by the “Travel directions” link that subsequently appears. They then enter their postcode, select a university location such as hall of residence, lecture theatre and sports centre from a drop-down list, and hit “Get directions”. Multimap delivers clear, user-friendly, step-by-step directions from start to end point; estimated journey times and distances for individual and cumulative steps; and links to detailed maps of each step. An overview map that plots the entire journey also appears, and users click on forward and backward arrows to move between street-level maps of each step of the journey. Should Welsh speakers wish to access the mapping services in Welsh, they simply click on “Cymraeg” on the home page and access the mapping service from there.

Martyn Kelly, Cardiff University, said, “We are fully committed to ensuring Cardiff University’s web presence reflects the nature of the University – first class and innovative. Multimap, with its multilingual capabilities, excellent mapping data, and reasonable pricing model, was the obvious partner of choice for our Travel Directions service.

“Typically at this time of year, with some 4000 new students and their families negotiating their way to and around the city for the first time, a lot of time is taken up giving directions on the phone. Multimap’s step-by-step travel directions service is an innovative and helpful service. We’re delighted with the results and feedback has been very positive,” he continued.

Nick Reeve, Multimap, commented, “We work with a number of leading universities in the UK to ensure that finding the way to a hall of residence or lecture theatre doesn’t become an unnecessary source of stress for students, and are delighted to welcome Cardiff University aboard. Not only are our Travel Directions easy to follow, but it’s also easy for users of the web site to access them, in whichever language they prefer – now including Welsh.”

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 and Australia; road maps of the world; door-to-door travel directions; aerial photographs; weather forecasts; links to location information; and services such as hotel, restaurant and entertainment booking. The public site attracts over 7.3 million unique users, registers more than 140 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 Tech Track 100 league table of fastest-growing, unquoted technology companies for the second consecutive year.

About Cardiff University

Cardiff University is recognised in independent government assessments as one of Britain's leading teaching and research universities. Founded by Royal Charter in 1883, the University today combines impressive modern facilities and a dynamic approach to teaching and research with its proud heritage of service and achievement. The University's breadth of expertise in research and research-led teaching encompasses: the humanities; the natural, physical, health, life and social sciences; engineering and technology; preparation for a wide range of professions; and a longstanding commitment to lifelong learning. From its outstanding central location amidst the parks, Portland-stone buildings and tree-lined excellence in all areas of activity. Cardiff is a member of the Russell Group of Britain's leading research universities. Having gained national and international standing, Cardiff University's vision is to be recognised as a world-class university and to achieve the associated benefits for its students, staff and all other stakeholders.