Find your way with just a few clicks on pointthailand.com

The service has been developed by a 4-year-old local software company and is designed to be a guide that will give directions to destinations in Thailand for free.

Ecartstudio chief executive Tachpong Hotrabhavananda said this service is different from Google Maps because it focuses specifically on Thailand and provides location details of small roads, businesses and buildings.

"PointThailand.com provides detailed directions about destinations in Thailand, which you cannot find on Google Maps," Tachapong said.

Developing on the ideas of its parent companies, online map providers Loxley and Point Asia, the company has developed the software to enable businesses provide access to their locations through online maps. It also provides simplified and easy navigation to specific destinations.

PointThailand.com is a Web application embedded with a business directory and a search engine. It provides businesses the option of adding an online map feature on their company websites. 

"Our service is an e-directory presented in the form of a map. We provide the service to businesses that want their locations to be visible on a map. Small business get the service free of charge but larger organisations have to pay an annual fee," Tachpong said.

The service has been available for almost a year. Currently, there are about 30,000 small businesses and 40 large organisations listed on PointThailand.com.

The best part of the service is that all information is stored within the same database, which enables end-users to search for the location of a  specific company.

The latitude and longitude values of a company's location can be sent to GPS devices to enable easy navigation, the chief executive said.

"It is ideal for businesses that have branches or dealers in various locations across the country and want to communicate with each other through maps," Tachapong said.

It also provides a service called "Share Point" that allows people to create maps of their personal "meeting points" and share it with a group of friends. It allows them to zoom in, zoom out as well as calculate the distance from the point of origin to the destination.

The service offers a "Mini Map" for businesses that want to put an online map on their existing websites to help customers reach them easily without having to create their own maps.