Microsoft Corp said Wednesday it has acquired Multimap, one of Britain's top online mapping companies, for an undisclosed sum in attempt to offer better targeted advertising.

Microsoft said the deal gives it location and mapping technology that complement its existing offerings such as Virtual Earth, Live Search, Windows Live services.

This acquisition will play a significant role in the future growth of our search business and presents a huge opportunity to expand our platform business beyond the U.K. and globally, said Sharon Baylay, general manager of the Online Services Group at Microsoft.

The move is Microsoft's latest in a series of purchases this year, namely its $6 billion buy of Aquantive, making it the company's largest acquisition to date.

Partnering with Microsoft gives us a world of new opportunities to build our mapping services into new technologies and applications, Multimap CEO Jeff Kelisky said in a statement.

As one of the world's foremost technology brands, Microsoft is in a position to bring even more value to the Multimap service and give people everywhere new, exciting and fun ways to get from point A to point B, Kelisky added.

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