The UK leads Europe when it comes to maps on smartphones, according to new research from comScore. Its MobiLens and MMX services have been looking at smartphone and computer usage in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Overall, an average 35% of smartphone users and 49.5% of computer users had accessed mapping sites across the EU5 countries. Smartphone map users had increased by 55% during the past year, with map use on computers increasing by 8%.

New research from Berg Insight suggests that non-traditional mobile-enabled consumer devices have strong potential for growth.

The most popular of these consumer M2M devices are SIM-equipped satellite navigation units and e-book readers, although strong growth in handheld gaming consoles, personal tracking devices and personal health devices is also expected.

A new iOS and Android app called Sidecar promises to enhance mobile and WiFi voice calling with additional ‘smart calling’ features. Users can offer video, photo sharing and location information during a voice call.

An additional benefit is the ability to call any mobile telephone number in the US and Canada for free when using WiFi, even if the recipient isn’t using Sidecar.

New research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project has found that 74% of smartphone owners use their phone for real-time location-based information, with 18% using a geo-social service to ‘check in’ or share their location.

Although smartphone ownership among Americans has risen from 35% of adults in 2011 to 46% in 2012, the overall proportion of US adults who use location-based information has increased much faster.

In-car navigation provider TomTom has announced that Research In Motion is using TomTom’s data for its BlackBerry Traffic, BlackBerry Maps and BlackBerry Locate services. It means that the BlackBerry Traffic application now offers real-time road information from TomTom HD Traffic.

In addition, developers can include TomTom mapping and traffic information in their own apps.