192.com unveils mapping app for business websites

Online-directory company 192.com has made its local mapping application available for integration into businesses' websites.

The Local Search Solutions product, launched on Tuesday at the Internet World exhibition in London, will allow businesses to not only specify which local services they want to show on the maps but, in some cases, also to use 192.com's array of residential data.

"We now have a clear lead on other map and data providers," said 192.com's new technology director, Dominic Blackburn, who claimed the service is particularly suited to "retailers, estate agents and portals".

Speaking to ZDNet.co.uk at Internet World, Mark Taylor, the company's business-development manager, said 192.com's maps offer resolution of 4cm per pixel in central London — the highest available from any online service. Most areas in the UK will only enjoy 12.5cm resolution — equivalent to that of Google Maps — but Taylor claimed that 192.com's coverage was still superior to that of its international rival, particularly in rural areas.

On the subject of providing residential information — derived from census and home-ownership registers — to third parties, Taylor said the data was already available on the 192.com website. He stressed, however, that the company would be "very particular about who will be using that sort of information".

Taylor said the residential data was "not to be used for marketing purposes", as this would fall foul of the Data Protection Act, but could be stripped of names and other identifying details and be supplied to property portals or local information sites.