FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A First For Adidas Auckland Marathon 2005
Adidas Auckland Marathon 2005 is the First New Zealand Event
with Maps and Directions for Mobile Phones
Competitors and supporters in this year's adidas Auckland Marathon can now
get maps and directions to start and finish locations on their mobile
phones on Vodafone Live's SmartFIND service. SmartFIND traditionally
provides maps and directions throughout New Zealand, including the ability
to find locations such as bars and cafes, restaurants, car parks and petrol
stations. This is a New Zealand first, where race information has been
provided to mobile phones.
Thousands of people flock to Auckland for this event, with large numbers
from outside of Auckland. Currently, entries indicate that no less than 16
countries will be represented at the 30 October event. Luigi Cappel of
solution provider GeoSmart Limited said, "We were looking to extend our
services on Vodafone Live to include event locations and wanted to start
with a prestigious event where mobile access to maps and directions would
add real value. The adidas Auckland Marathon attracts a huge number of
competitors and we felt that this would be a great opportunity to help
people find strategic locations on race day, and showcase our LBS (Location
Based Services) technology."
adidas Auckland Marathon General Manager Stephen Brown said "We are
constantly looking for ways to add value to our event. On race day,
thousands of people descend on Auckland to compete in the Marathon and
other distances, as well as a huge number of supporters. With different
start venues for the various races, being in the right place at the right
time is critical and we felt that access to maps and directions on a mobile
phone would be a great service to offer."
About SmartFIND
SmartFIND is a service available to anyone using a Vodafone Live capable
mobile phone. It allows the user to locate streets or Points of Interest
throughout New Zealand. In addition to displaying maps on a mobile phone's
screen, it will calculate the distance from one location to another and
provide turn by turn instructions on how to get there.
About the adidas Auckland Marathon
The adidas Auckland Marathon is entrenched as an Auckland City event and in
the national marathon calendar. It is undoubtedly New Zealand's premier
road race event. It is the only true world-class road running event
annually staged in New Zealand.
With Marathon, Half Marathon, 10km and 5km Walk options, this year's event
will have an estimated 10,000 participants and an anticipated 20,000 people
expected in Victoria Park for the race finish and free to all "Party in the
Park" concert featuring some of New Zealand's leading contemporary bands.
About GeoSmart Limited
GeoSmart is the premier aerial photography and mapping company in New
Zealand. In addition to being the leading supplier of cartographic and
aerial maps, we are blazing the trail in digital Smart Maps including
in-car navigation, vehicle tracking and fleet management. GeoSmart provides
Internet Location Based Services (LBS) and intelligent maps for the widest
range of devices including PC's, PDA's, Smartphones and Mobiles. This
includes features such as 'Where is?', 'Where are my assets?', 'How do I
get from - to-?' for example.
Clients include Wises Maps, DOC, Vodafone, Automobile Association, Navman,
Siemens VDO, Toll Rail, BMW, Holden, Honda in addition to Transit NZ and
most local bodies in New Zealand and Transit NZ.
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