Vodafone UK and Telmap, which specialises in advanced mobile mapping and navigation solutions, have teamed up with UK online mapping service Multimap to introduce Find & Go, which converges PC location-based services with the mobile phone.
Using Find & Go, Vodafone customers can now search for a destination on their PC on the Multimap website, and send the search result to their mobile phone free of charge. Using this information, customers can then obtain driving directions from Multimaps Driving Direction Service or receive directions for turn-by-turn pedestrian or driving navigation using the Find & Go service. Multimaps Driving Directions Service is available exclusively on Vodafone live! for the next three months.

Vodafone says that using mobile network positioning, Find & Go makes it much faster for customers with GPS-embedded handsets to identify their current location and search for places or landmarks immediately, without the need to wait for their phone to pick up the satellite signal.  This means searching for locations is now possible even when a customer is indoors or out of the GPS signal range.
In addition, Find & Go suggests route alternatives based on traffic conditions and estimated times of arrival, so that customers get a complete mobile navigation experience. The service is designed for both in-car and pedestrian navigation, and features the latest 3D maps and directions, with spoken instructions announcing street names. It also references millions of points-of-interest such as hotels, restaurants, shopping centres and attractions.

Building on the success of Vodafone SatNav we wanted to provide even more customers with access to the best location based services on their phone, says Vodafone UK Head of Internet Services, Al Russell. To do this, weve made the mapping and local search available to all customers without a need to subscribe. With some great new features, Find & Go now gives customers everything they need to find and travel to their chosen destination with the utmost ease.

Jeff Kelisky, CEO of Multimap adds:
Customers are expecting increased convergence of their online and mobile experiences. This deal makes it simple for Multimap.com and Vodafone customers to send direction information to their mobile phones from the web so they can navigate while on the go for a seamless experience. We will continue to innovate and harness the combined technology of Multimap and Microsoft to provide more comprehensive information and a more connected user experience for mobile phone users.

Available on 14 handsets in total, (six GPS-embedded phones and an additional eight using the Bluetooth GPS key ring) Find & Gos maps, local search, and driving directions are free of charge, with an option to subscribe to the turn-by-turn navigation service for 5 per month. Three months subscription is included on the Nokia N78, 6120 and N95 8GB and one month with other Find&Go compatible handsets. Customers can purchase the service from any Vodafone retail store, through telesales or directly from Vodafone live!