Update: NAVTEQ Shutting Down Phone Map App Nav4All that Uses NAVTEQ Data

About Directions

Special Announcement

Newsletter Sign Up

Follow All Points Blog on Twitter

Calendar

Syndicate This Blog

RSS 0.91 feed

RSS 1.0 feed

RSS 2.0 feed

Top Referers

www.lizardtech.com (81)
www.geo2web.com (44)
www.blogger.com (43)
slashgeo.org (36)
www.linkedin.com (32)

Our Points

Monday, February 8. 2010

Update: NAVTEQ Shutting Down Phone Map App Nav4All that Uses NAVTEQ Data

NAVTEQ responded to NAV4ALL's claim that its license was unexpectedly not renewed in an Italian blog (strange place to make a statement on the matter in my opinion). It's view of things:

... it [NAVTEQ] was simply unable to reach an agreement that aligned with its terms and conditions.

Speaking to an Italian gadget blog, Navteq said it doesn't disclose the details of individual contracts, but added that Nav4all's 'surprise' at the decision should have been nothing of the kind as it followed standard practice in the renegotiation process in advance the existing contract's deadline and that everything was scrupulously documented.

The statement also indicates that NAVTEQ continues to be independent and did not act on direction from above, that is, from Nokia. The Inquirer notes that another NAVTEQ licensee notes increased licensing fees and restrictions of late.

- The Inquirer

----- Original post 2/1/10 -----------

The free app is called Nav4All, has about 27 million users and runs on almost all phones.

Nav4All CEO Hennie Koerkamp explained the abrupt end to his company's app in a letter to customers:

It is with the deepest regret that we hereby notify you that the global navigation of Nav4All will go offline in 3 days [as of 31 Jan]...

The reason for the same is that the data licence agreement with Navteq (a 100% Nokia subsidiary) was not extended, in a totally unexpected manner. It is not possible to implement data from another supplier in our Nav4All systems within the short term. The Nav4All navigation system was developed for Navteq data. Nav4All has therefore been constrained to stop.
We greatly regret the fact that we have to suspend the operation of our service.

This is the beginning of the "map wars" now that Nokia has turned it mapping app free and apparently will limit who can use its NAVTEQ data. I'm hopeful Nav4all will look at OpenStreetMap or another source once the dust settles.

- The Register
- Full text of letter

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Satellite Navigation, NAVTEQ at 06:00 | Comments (7) | Trackbacks (0) |

Trackbacks

Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Does OSM support turn-by-turn navigation and directionality for reliable routing? I think not.

If it ain't Navteq it's Tele Atlas. If not them, then AND would suit if your market is Europe, but it's really a duopoly for global markets.

This is a proxy skirmish between Nokia and Google.

Wonder what our navigation choices will be in three years?

#1 Archie Belaney on 2010-02-01 16:28 (Reply)

OSM actually does have a structure to support both directional elements and turn-restrictions.

http://www.ridethecity.org/ is a good example of a routing app built on OSM data.
It's not perfect or ideal by any means, but there is potential for better tools and apps.

#1.1 Kevin (Link) on 2010-02-08 16:53 (Reply)

The letter to customers doesn't say what the reason for Nokia/Navteq not extending the license. It could be interesting to know the official reason given.

#2 Laptop GPS World (Link) on 2010-02-02 06:30 (Reply)

I've seen the license.

They don't have to give a reason.

#3 Archie Belaney on 2010-02-02 17:31 (Reply)

Besides that OSM data is not "perfect or ideal by any means" their license is also not free from risks. The Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license states: "If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one."

So, once you resulting work is released on with OSM data it will result that your own work will also be licensed under CC-by-SA. This is a big risk for any commercial company.

#4 Scott on 2010-02-09 08:29 (Reply)

Agreed - if a user of OSM data alters, transforms, or builds-upon: then they would be subject to the restrictions. This is a big reason that companies like Waze did not source from OSM - Waze is indeed wanting to alter and improve upon the data.
I still think in possible though, that as long as the underlying data is not modified, or that new data products are not created by the application, then OSM data could one day be a viable source for a routing application.

#4.1 Kevin (Link) on 2010-02-09 09:26 (Reply)

Agreed, however when will be that day. The market is changing now, so all need to move now, including the OSM community if they want to be part of the turn-by-turn navigation market.

#4.1.1 scottdex on 2010-02-10 14:37 (Reply)

Add Comment

Name
Email
Homepage
In reply to
Comment	Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (word), underscore are made via _word_. Standard emoticons like :-) and ;-) are converted to images. E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly. Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above:
	Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry

Advertisers

Polls

Have you yet interacted with a geospatial product or service provider via social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn)?

	July '10
Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31