Forget the usual dreary image of guides and telephone directories: local information, including maps, has suddenly become big business.

Some big global technology companies see the pro-vision of local, geographically based information as an important business trend: two personal nav-igation-dev-ice makers are battling to buy the Dutch digital mapping company Tele Atlas for nearly $3bn (£1.5bn); Nokia has just bought the US's Navteq for $8.1bn; maps have become a big part of Google's business strategy.