TeleNav Turns to Tele Atlas For LBS Content

location based services

By James Alan MillerMay 31, 2006TeleNav, a provider of location-based services (LBS) services to mobile handsets has inked a deal with Tele Atlas, which will now deliver geographic and mapping content for these solutions. The latter will serve as the data Ying to the former's solutions Yang.
Voice-based GPS navigation Mobile Resource Management, asset GPS tracking, and local search to carriers are among TeleNav's fortes in the wireless world. These LBS solutions work over traditional mobile phones, as well as BlackBerry, Symbian, Palm Treo and Windows Mobile PDAs and smartphones.
The company's flagship product is called TeleNav GPS Navigator. It automatically updates maps and business locations, offers speech recognition, dynamicly updates gas prices and more, according to TeleNav.
TeleNav selected Tele Atlas because its global coverage and focus on partner support. TeleNav President & CEO HP Jin said, "TeleNav is committed to providing our customers with the best content and services in the market. We are pleased to expand our content portfolio to feature Tele Atlas maps and point of interest (POI) content for North America and Europe."
Tele Atlas said its geographic content currently works with 150 LBS-based applications on wireless personal navigation devices, PDAs, and smartphones, including city guides, real time traffic, weather and social networking applications.
The company's COO Mike Gerling explained, "Accurate map data is the foundation for the most useful, and used, LBS applications...We look forward to working with TeleNav to bring the convenience and benefits of location services to the masses."
Early last month PDAStreet got a peak into one way Tele Atlas keeps its geographic data up to date: a tricked-out Toyota Sienna. We took a ride in a bright orange Tele Atlas van at CTIA 2006. The vehicle was equipped with four cameras - two facing front and the other two angled to either side - along with global positioning receiver (GPS), a rack of computers, two 250 GB hard disk drives (one for back up) that gets switched out every couple of weeks or so, and a laptop.
The van - one of only nine in the U.S. - captures images every few meters, collecting road information such as lane counts and speed limits and exit signs to help users more easily and safely find locations. They are currently deployed to validate the accuracy of information for millions of miles of road each year.
The vans are just one of many tools the company uses to provide its customers - like TeleNav - with the geographic information they need. In fact, the company says it relies on 50,000 data sources worldwide for its map data.
Click link below for more on our Tele Atlas van ride. Related Links:
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