16 November 2004

Multimap Drives Customers of Ford’s Brand Portfolio to their Nearest Dealerships throughout the US and Canada

Multimap’s “Storefinder” and “Travel Directions” Services Go Live on Ford, Volvo, Land Rover, Jaguar, Mazda, Lincoln and Mercury’s North American web sites

Ford, one of the world's leading providers of automotive products and services, and Multimap, Europe’s number one online mapping provider, today announced a significant development to help customers of seven of Ford’s brands to find their nearest dealership, and map their route to it. Visitors to the North American web sites of Ford, Volvo, Land Rover, Jaguar, Mazda, Lincoln and Mercury can search for their nearest dealership, and receive step-by-step travel directions to it using high-speed, high-quality location services from Multimap. Visitors to www.ford.ca can choose to search for and receive this information in French or English, while their neighbours in the US can do so in English or Spanish, on www.ford.com. Web users searching for dealers can also refine their search by selecting car/van rental, vehicle repair, used cars, etc. The rollout is designed to enhance customers’ experience online, boost brand loyalty, and increase footfall to Ford Global’s dealerships in the US and Canada.

Visitors simply enter their zip code or town and state in the search box on www.ford.com or www.ford.ca, and Multimap delivers a list of the top three nearest dealerships with full contact details and a map which plots their locations. Users choose a dealership, and click on one of three links for further location information; there’s a link to a detailed map of the area surrounding the dealership selected, a link to the dealership’s own website, and a link to Multimap’s “Travel Directions” services. Users can also go to the “Travel Directions” service directly, where they enter their street, town and/or zip code and click on the “Plan my route” link. Multimap then delivers a map with a highlighted route from start to destination point, plus step-by-step directions detailing highways, crossroads and streets. Individual and cumulative distances for each step of the journey are also provided. “Maplets,” or maps showing each step of the journey are, at this point, only a click away.

Jeff Kelisky, Multimap’s Chief Executive Officer said, "We’ve worked with Ford in Europe for a number of years, and we’re delighted that Ford has chosen to extend that relationship to its home market, and largest market, the US. Building new dealer locator services for seven Ford brands at once allowed us to demonstrate our capability to deliver large, complex projects on time, on spec., with high-quality results. This deal also marks a milestone for Multimap: increasing our market share in the internet mapping sector in North America is high on our agenda, and we’re very pleased to be able to announce new business in the US and Canada with a brand of Ford’s calibre.”

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.