Fixed Mobile Convergence

Tweaking its offering in a mobile market segment that’s grown rapidly since BlackBerry (News - Alert) and Android G1 phones began mimicking Apple’s iPhone App Store approach, a Dutch digital maps provider today released a new version of its database.

 

Officials at Tele Atlas (News - Alert) say their new version of MultiNet took input from TomTom users in Europe and North America and upgraded its map change detection and validation processes.

 

According to Bill Henry, chief executive officer of Tele Atlas, the 2008.10 release of MultiNet marks a better, faster map.

 

“Tele Atlas’ history of innovation has positioned the company as a global leader in map testing processes and methodologies,” Henry said. “We look forward to incorporating an even greater scope and volume of community data from additional sources, such as end users of wireless, Internet and personal navigation systems or enterprise applications using our data, to further increase the quality, richness and timeliness of Tele Atlas maps.”

 

To update its maps, Tele Atlas says it captures and verifies changes from more than 50,000 global sources, including government documents, public safety officials, construction companies, truck drivers and satellite and aerial imagery. With TomTom (News - Alert) users as an additional source, Tele Atlas is expected to increase the total number of changes identified by its network, particularly in geographically dispersed and rural areas covered less frequently by other data sources.

 

Even those rural areas are getting more attention from mobile phone users with GPS capability.

 

As TMCnet reported today, Wales-based Sanoodi has launched SMap, an integrated and free route-recording and sharing application for BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Nokia phones or personal digital assistances that are GPS-equipped.

 

Sanoodi is a social Web site that allows its users to record, upload, and share outdoor activities on the Web. The latest offering has been developed to work in conjunction with the new Sanoodi Web site.

 

From SMap, routes can be uploaded live to the Sanoodi Web site as they are being recorded. Moreover, unlike competitors’ service, SMap can be used to record routes both online via the Internet and also offline.

 

For MultiNet 2008.10, Tele Atlas used community data to identify and validate more than 50,000 changes related to street names and traffic direction corrections in Europe and North America. The total number of changes detected by community input for street name and traffic direction attributes in Europe and North America already matches the number of changes made using all other sources for those specific attributes in these regions, Tele Atlas officials say.

 

Those end-user communities are become more and more important as companies strive to provide real-time information, according to Dominique Bonte, a research director in telematics and navigation at ABI Research (News - Alert).

 

“By effectively harnessing this community-based feedback, digital maps and location-based content will offer more accurate, up-to-date information for the delivery of more powerful navigation experiences,” Bonte said.