Microsoft Launches MapPoint Web Service for Australia

location based services

Multimap.com creates innovative, location-enabled services for Natuzzi using MapPoint technology
CANBERRA, Australia – 4 August 2004 – Microsoft today announced the Australian launch of Microsoft® MapPoint® Web Service 3.5 (MWS) the company’s popular location and mapping Web service. The MapPoint Web Service is Microsoft’s hosted platform for integrating maps, driving directions, proximity search, geocoding and other location-based functionality into applications and business processes. Today, hundreds of companies around the world utilise the MapPoint Web Service to offer mapping and location services. With the introduction of MWS 3.5 in Australia, businesses and third-party software developers will be able to easily and cost-effectively deploy location-based solutions and applications that incorporate Australian location data.
Among the first to use the MapPoint Web Service in Australia is the Australian arm of furniture company Natuzzi. Working together with Microsoft and international reseller partner Multimap.com, a leading provider of online mapping and location-based solutions, Natuzzi has created an international dealer locator that enables customers to easily find and get to Natuzzi retail outlets in Australia and around the world. Multimap provided custom development and ASP services to integrate MapPoint Web Service functionality into Natuzzi’s existing dealer locator, which can be found at http://www.multimap.com/clients/places.cgi?client=natuzzi&db=AU.
As part of its recently announced non-exclusive worldwide partnership, Multimap.com has added Microsoft’s MapPoint Web Service to its service portfolio, providing customers and prospects with a broader range of services. Under the international agreement, Multimap will integrate and resell Microsoft MapPoint Web services with its Storefinder and dealer locator services. The Microsoft-Multimap collaboration also extends to new MapPoint offerings including the recently announced MapPoint Location Server.
"We were attracted to the MapPoint platform because it provides us with a great opportunity to extend the functionality of store locators and other location-based applications to our customers," said Matthew Watkins, international internet division manager of Natuzzi. “Multimap’s strong solution development and project-management skills and the guaranteed high performance and availability of MapPoint Web Service gave us the solution we had been looking for but could not find previously.”
“MapPoint’s seamless interoperability with our Storefinder & Dealer Locator services enables us to provide an even higher level of customer service,” said Chris Warrick of Multimap. “Customers such as Natuzzi benefit by having a greater choice of location-based services and content available to them.”
With MWS, developers can easily build location-aware applications using familiar development tools and programming models, without needing to make large investments or have high-level expertise in location, mapping or geographic information system (GIS) technologies. Moreover, the MapPoint Web Service supports industry standards such as Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and Extensible Markup Language (XML), making it easier for developers to ensure interoperability of solutions built on the MapPoint platform.
"With the growing focus on mobile application development, enthusiasm for a MapPoint Web Service has been building," said Frank Arrigo, manager of Technical Evangelism for Microsoft Australia. "We’re very pleased to be working with Multimap to bring the service to Australia and can’t wait to see some of the location-based solutions Australian developers will bring to market.”
Also, as part of the launch, Microsoft is pleased to offer a free MWS trial to MSDN® developer program subscribers. Trial participants will be able to get access to MWS production servers for one year and will receive up to 50,000 transactions free of charge, enabling developers to test live applications commercially before committing to the service.
Service, Pricing and Availability
Customers will enjoy enterprise-level service agreements that include guaranteed response time of less than one second per map (as measured inside Microsoft's datacentre) and service availability of 99.9 percent.
Pricing for MapPoint Web Service will vary depending on feature set and volume of maps consumed. More information on pricing and licensing is available from a Microsoft MapPoint sales specialist by emailing mapemea@microsoft.com. For inquiries regarding having a complete MapPoint based solution built for your organisation, contact our channel partner Multimap by contacting James Bamford with Multimap Australasia at: james@multimap.com or 02 9262 6551.
More information about the MapPoint Web Service can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/mappoint/webservice/
More information about Multimap.com’s services can be found at http://www.multimap.com.au
About Microsoft Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realise their full potential.
About Multimap.com Multimap.com is Europe’s leading provider of mapping and location-based services. The company delivers more online maps, point-to-point driving directions and geospatial (“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 and registers more than 120 million page impressions every month. Multimap recently came 27th in The Sunday Times' Tech Track 100 league table of fastest-growing companies.
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The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
For further information: Shannon Rudd Product PR Manager Microsoft Australia (02) 9870 2451 0410 533 055 shannr@microsoft.com Susan Moore or Katie Peters Howorth Communications 02 8281 3830 or 0414 819 294 / 0416 363 259 howorth@howorth.com.au For more information on Multimap: Christopher Warrick Multimap Australasia (02) 9262 6551 0400 345286 Chris.warrick@multimap.com