THIS is the first glimpse of the so-called "Hand of God", which is set to transform the way we interact with computerised maps.

The unveiling of the glove-like device comes as Southampton-based Ordnance Survey, Britain's national mapping agency, celebrates a significant milestone.

Employing 1,200 people at its HQ in Romsey Road, Maybush, OS has just notched up the 10,000th order for its flagship database.

The OS MasterMap, the definitive digital map of Great Britain, underpins a staggering £100 billion of economic activity.

Customers include the emergency services, government, local authorities, energy companies, motoring organisations and construction firms.

Now the agency, which is tasked with making a healthy financial return to the Treasury, is pushing its innovative side by spinning out a number of applications to businesses under patent or licence agreements.

One of the applications being worked on is the 'Hand of God', worn in the pictures by senior research scientist Chris Phillips.

He is fine-tuning the glove so that people who dislike using a fiddly desktop mouse can manipulate images by pointing at them or "intuitively" grabbing and pulling details off the screen.

Researchers have also proven how the power of navigation can be harnessed in years to come by overlaying map data on views of the real world through a "magic window".

For instance, weary hikers in search of a pub or a youth hostel will be able to use a kind of X-ray vision by aiming their mobile phone or personal digital assistant (PDA) in various directions to see what is over the brow of the hill in front of them.

It will be virtually impossible to get lost because the magic window can even show the way to your destination, be it in the mountains or in a desert.

Another innovation is the "zapper".

Using satellite technology linked to the OS digital map database, a PDA or mobile phone can be aimed or "zapped" at a building or object.

Information about the point-of-interest feature, including its history and any linked websites, will be flashed up on screen.

Chris says: "You could zap the Tudor House museum in Southampton and find out all about it. It makes the world a desktop computer."

The revolutionary tools are being showcased by Chris and his colleagues at Britain's biggest ever outdoor leisure show, which is being held at Birmingham NEC this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.