IT WAS an idea sparked by graffiti dubbed on a wall in Southampton.

When software developer Simon Hassett saw Banksy’s No Future mural in Mount Pleasant Road, he decided to look for other works by the famous Bristol-born guerrilla artist.

But even though pictures of bona fide works by Banksy are published on the artist’s website, their locations are not – so finding out where they all were was not an easy task.

Simon, 24, said: “I’d always known about Banksy but never been as close to one as when I saw the piece in Southampton.

“I was really inspired by it but finding out where others were was nothing short of impossible.”

• Banksy is the pseudonym of a Bristol-born graffiti artist and political activist, who has kept his identity a secret.

• He started doing graffiti in his home-city in the late 1980s.

• He’s known for his contempt for the Government in labelling graffiti as vandalism and dubs his work on public surfaces such as walls.

• His subjects often include rats, apes, policemen, soldiers, children and the elderly.

• His works have been snapped up by the rich and famous – including Christina Aguilera who bought two prints and an original for £25,000 in 2006.

• In September last year, Banksy visited Southampton on his way to the Bestival music festival on the Isle of Wight and stencilled a picture of a little girl holding a balloon with ‘No Future’ scrawled above it.

• A few days after the location of the mural was revealed in Bevois Valley, vandals splashed over it with white paint.

It was this struggle that prompted Simon, who lives in Ocean Village, Southampton, to come up with the idea for an iPhone application that would tell everyone where Banksy works are located.

Months later, after trawling through the Internet for information and jetting off around the world to find the controversial spraypaint masterpieces, Simon has launched the Banksy iPhone App – and it’s already a best seller.

The mobile phone application (app) allows people to find Banksy pieces near them, get directions to where they are and look at pictures of the works on their phones.

Simon, who works as a web developer in the city, says it’s been a labour of love to put the software together.

He added: “Actually making the app probably took about six weeks. But getting the information on all the places took three or four months.

“I went to Bristol a lot – it’s become one of my new favourite cities.

“The ones in Israel I didn’t go to, but the rest of them I tried to see.

“I went over to America – there’s quite a lot in New York and it actually coincided with planned holidays, so it’s been fun.”

Nearly 3,000 people downloaded the map within the first six days of its launch and it’s topped the ‘lifestyle’ category of the chart on the iPhone app store in both Britain and America.

And it’s also been a hit in some unexpected areas of the globe.

Simon explained: “It’s been popular in some peculiar places – it was the number one selling app in Macedonia, even though there are no Banksys there at all.”

And even though the Banksy App could be a real money-spinner, Simon says he developed it for the benefit of other graffiti-art enthusiasts.

He said: “It would be nice if it made me some money but it’s more because I’m a huge fan of Banksy and I want to share his works with other fans.”

See the Banksy App on iTunes