Multimap, one of the leading commercial online LBS provider for UK and Europe, has finally offered a Javascript API. It has draggable maps, geocoding to street level, and the backend even emits JSON as well as XML. If only I’d had this two weeks ago for EuroOSCON: Google Maps didn’t grok Brussels addresses–I just couldn’t get the hotel to show up, whereas Multimap’s geocoder is spot on. The fact that Multimap seems to cover more locations in Europe than Google does might make mashup life pretty interesting over the Atlantic. Multimap are offering full customer support and they’re aggregating a ton of data sources beyond just NavTeq, TeleAtlas, and Ordnance Survey. They’ve got API demos and a simple demo app. I suspect their business model is to drive traffic and interest to their commercial geocoding and other pay-to-play services.
