Cruickshank brought heavyweight marketing experience to Multimap, having been group marketing director and then group marketing and interactive director at radio groups GWR and GCap respectively. He also sports impressive online experience that includes founding Smove.com, which became Property Finder.

"Historically, Multimap focused on being a B2B business. We have over 1,200 business clients that use Multimap technology on their sites, for example," says Cruickshank. "But I joined to set up B2C business. While it had a good website and was attracting a decent audience, it wasn't run as a consumer business.

"It wasn't that the consumer side wasn't pushed, it did exist on the website," he adds. "And it was generating money. But only in the past year has the company said that B2C is the main growth opportunity. It now represents approximately 40% of total revenue streams."

Multimap is aiming to build the complete location planning system and experience, says Cruickshank. Deals made prior to acquisition have seen Wikipedia entries appear next to certain locations, while since becoming the default mapping service for Microsoft it has been able to use its new parent company's detailed Bird's Eye View photo imagery.

"For those users who merely want to put in their postcode, get a map and print it off, we want to make that as easy as possible," says Cruikshank. "However, there are a large number of people in the UK who want an immersive experience, wanting to add lots of information on top of the map, expose other services and use it more as a planning tool."

December's Microsoft deal, rumoured to be worth just over $50m (£25.3m) has provided Multimap with opportunities and access it couldn't have achieved had it remained independent. Cruickshank says it wasn't inevitable that Microsoft would buy it, but it was clear there was only so far it could go alone. "Microsoft clearly has the resources to enter the global race in mapping and win, and we can now set our targets higher," he says.

Changes have followed quickly. Multimap results are now being integrated within Live Search results (NMA 01.05.08), and Microsoft has access to Multimap's geotargeted advertising platform. It also has big plans for mapping and local search, which Cruickshank says he'll be heavily involved with. "My job is responsibility for EMEA, so whether it's the Multimap brand or another Microsoft mapping brand, I'll be responsible for driving growth," he says.

As with most areas online, the shadow of Google falls heavily over the mapping sector. Far and away the market leader, Google Maps is for many their default online service.

Cruickshank says Multimap and Microsoft can learn from Google Maps and, given his background, he wants to do more to establish the Multimap brand.

"What we need to be better at is something that Google Maps is doing in the US, which is being more of a media brand, in a sense," he says. "In the US it's very good at being on the ball, so if there are forest fires it has the map and sends it to all the newsdesks quickly.

"That's what I want Multimap to be doing. Anything map-related, people should be able to find it on Multimap, whether it's to do with politics, sport, music or anything," he says.

One of the key focus areas is mobile. Multimap users can send maps saved online to mobile devices, so they don't need to be printed out, while registered users can access their search history from their handset.

Cruickshank says Multimap's mobile offering is one of its major USPs and that it's set to expand. "We're intent on making online and mobile experiences as connected and seamless as possible," he says.

It will also focus on increasing its advertising offering. Multimap provides advertisers with geo-targeting that can get down to a micro-level locally. With the help of Microsoft, it's determined to extend its advertising portfolio and become the first choice for advertisers looking to work with mapping.

"In the past year or so we've done things like move our ad sales in-house," says Cruickshank. "It has made a big difference. Because they're our own people, they can go out and sell Multimap in a very dedicated fashion."

Overall, Cruickshank says that the main concern is not Multimap's keeping up with the market but the reverse. "It's going to be difficult to keep users and potential users up to speed with new services," he says. "Similarly, it's a big job to communicate that to the users, but it's a good challenge to face."

CV

Name Jim Cruickshank

Title Director of mapping, local and shopping for EMEA, Microsoft Age 37

Education 1991-93: BA Geography, Leeds University

Career 1993-2000: Graduate trainee, rising to deputy media director, Leagas Delaney; 2000-01: Chief operating officer, Smove.com; 2001-03: Marketing and commercial director, Property Finder; 2003-05: Group marketing director, GWR Group; 2005-07: Group marketing and interactive director, GCap Media; 2007-08: General manager of B2C worldwide, Multimap