Vodafone LIVE MapWay

Europe : m-spatial, the mobile phone mapping solution provider, announced Vodafone UK as a major customer for MapWay, its newly launched managed service solution providing maps and walking directions for use on mass market mobile phones.

Cambridge UK-based m-spatial has integrated its unique MapWay pedestrian navigation service into Vodafone live!, which now has over a million customers across Europe. MapWay is now available in the travel section of the Vodafone live! menu.

MapWay delivers state-of-the-art graphical walking directions which are 'made to measure' for the user's route and mobile phone. A massive database of 20 million buildings in the UK underpins the service, allowing carefully selected landmarks such as pubs and shops to be highlighted. This not only helps users to work out which way to walk at the start of their journey but also where to turn along their route. The result is a sequence of easy to follow maps, tailored to fit the user's phone, which are much more usable for pedestrian navigation than traditional street-maps.

Andy Walker, m-spatial CEO commented: "We are delighted to have integrated MapWay into Vodafone live! which is setting new standards in widening and personalising mobile content services. m-spatial believes that the uniquely readable walking directions delivered through MapWay's compelling end-user experience will be increasingly used by customers as their preferred means of navigation on foot, leading to significant usage and revenues."

Accessed from the Travel section within "More ", MapWay allows Vodafone live! users to quickly and easily specify the start and end points of their journey. Using MapWay's unique user interface they are able to directly enter the names of locations such as restaurants, pubs, shops and stations - or specify their destination by address or postcode. The service also has a 'FindMe' feature that takes advantage of the automatic positional feed from the phone network to ease the process of setting the journey start point.

Walker continued: "Vodafone's decision to adopt MapWay is an early reward for our single minded focus on providing the best possible user experience in a carrier grade package which is quick and easy to adopt for our customers. By combining our state-of-the-art products with industry leading expertise, we have developed a market leading solution that we expect to be adopted by more customers in the near future."

About m-spatial

Based in Cambridge, UK, m-spatial was formed in 2001, drawing together leading experts in the field of wireless data services and the analysis, management and delivery of geo-spatial data. Its core technologies of 'made to measure mapping' and 'pinpoint location selection' are designed specifically for use on mass market mobile phones, and provide a 'best in breed' user experience. m-spatial's carrier grade MapWay managed services combine these unique capabilities with comprehensive street-level mapping data sourced from industry leading suppliers. MapWay Interactive offers mobile network operators and consumer brands the opportunity to offer a turn-key pedestrian navigation service to their customers. MapWay Components allows maps and walking directions to be quickly and easily integrated into new and existing mobile applications.