InfoNow switches to Microsoft's Virtual Earth

Microsoft said Tuesday that it will replace MapQuest as the mapping service supplier to InfoNow, a provider of online store locator technology.

The agreement is a validation of Microsoft's Virtual Earth service but it stops short of significantly improving the software giant's position in the mapping and location market, one expert said.

InfoNow customers include LaSalle Bank, EverBank Financial, and Suzuki. The agreement with Microsoft means that customers of those companies can search online for stores, bank branches, and automated teller machines (ATMs) and receive results that include Virtual Earth's bird's eye view, driving directions and relevant information such as parking facilities.

"It's a validation of Virtual Earth but it doesn't do anything to boost [Live Search Maps]," said Greg Sterling, founder of consulting and research firm Sterling Market Intelligence. Live Search Maps is a Microsoft service that lets users search for local businesses and view maps.

In the future, the agreement may lead to the integration of InfoNow customer data, such as ATM locations, into Microsoft's Live Search Maps, a spokeswoman for Microsoft's public relations firm said in an e-mail. Such data would be a valuable addition to Live Search Maps, Sterling said.

Microsoft won't get advertising revenue out of the deal either, the company said.

However the arrangement with InfoNow does offer Virtual Earth some branding exposure because the Virtual Earth name will be displayed with the map results, Sterling noted. That could be important for Microsoft, which lags behind competitors MapQuest, Google, and Yahoo in consumer awareness, he said.

InfoNow says that 20 million consumers access its service each month.