Online map sites have experienced some of the fastest growth seen on the internet in the last year, according to a report from Nielsen//NetRatings.
The research shows that 7.1 million European web users accessed a mapping website during July, an increase from 2.5 million in October 2001. Online map sites are especially popular with office surfers who need to find out the locations of meetings and places to socialise. The reach of leading map sites among at-work users is twice that of home surfers.
“It’s the kind of service that easily gets taken for granted but these sites actually have enormous potential,” said Tom Ewing, European analyst at Nielsen//NetRatings. “Whilst at present, the majority of these sites provide their information for free, there is a possibility to generate revenue from them in the future.”
Multimap is the leading map site in the UK with a unique audience of 1.4 million while Steetmap has 684,000 users. In France, Mappy.com is visited by 947,000 users but Ewing points out that there is little semblance of a continent-wide service.
“Currently there may be two or three local mapping sites in every market, but there is no key pan-European player as yet – if you’re looking for the ‘new Google’ this sector is an interesting place to start.”
