Wednesday, November 4. 2009

Garmin Profits Up (despite SatNav chaos)

It may be a bit hard to fathom since TomTom saw losses based on lower margins that Garmin saw profit increase on what? Higher margins! "Garmin Ltd.'s (GRMN) third-quarter profit rose 26% as improved margins more than offset a moderate decline in revenue."

The stock is up 64% this year.

- WSJ

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Satellite Navigation at 07:48 | Comments (4) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tuesday, November 3. 2009

Podcast: With Geodata, Developers, not Consumers Rule

If consumers think of geodata as a commodity, what does that say for its future? What are the key data relationships? And what, if anything, will differentiate one offering from another? Our editors ponder these questions in light of evidence that consumers know and care little about who makes, manages and updates basemaps.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Google, Open Source, Directions on the News Podcast, Satellite Navigation, Navigation, Social Networking, Tele Atlas, NAVTEQ, TomTom at 06:00 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Thursday, October 29. 2009

My Thoughts on Google Navigation Beta

Last I looked there some 300 news articles about Google announcement yesterday of the beta of Google Navigation for the Android (and perhaps other) platforms. Stocks of PND players like TomTom and Garmin were down (though there were other reasons for the slipping stock prices, too). Mostly, though the sentiment was "Google will be killing off another industry." Perhaps.

After a day of watching I have just a few thoughts.

Back when Tele Atlas and NAVTEQ were acquired by TomTom and Nokia the general sentiment was that no one could possibly challenge "the big two." Why? Collecting and confirming mapping datasets for the large areas they already cover (with very good, if not perfect, accuracy) was too hard and costly and they had such a big headstart. Smaller players, like AND and Germany's United Maps, have toughed it out, working to state their differentiations (better licensing for the former and feet on the ground to fill in the holes for the latter). Neither has taken on the big two, but my sense after speaking to senior company reps recently is that they are doing fine, thank you. No, no one seemed to think that Google, the company that wants to organize the world's information, was going to work to collect and conflate and update geodata. But, apparently, we were not thinking like Google. Sure Google still licenses some data (parcels and imagery and even some road data) but clearly, they've taken on the big two, the two that now have no only a headstart with data, but also a headstart in cell phone hardware and navigation, when paired with their larger owners.

My other thought as the errors in Google's dataset become the butt of James Fee's jokes and real concern by those in Canton, Ohio, is that most people are doing just fine with the data. I'm one of them. Even though we at Directions Media were the ones to contact Tele Atlas to confirm Google was using its own data in the U.S. a few weeks back, I use Google Maps exactly as I have in the past. In fact, two weeks ago I routed myself to, then printed out Google Maps of key areas in a marathon my friends were running north of Boston. No issues. In fact, until I returned home from the event, it didn't occur to me that maybe, just maybe that was not such a great choice. For most people, for most things, Google Maps seems to work fine. And, as many are pointing out, online navigation services that use NAVTEQ and Tele Atlas data have errors and sometimes route "oddly." Google has an edge that will likely get their quirks fixed better and faster: the "report a problem" button. I've written time and time again how the Yahoo and MapQuest and Ask.com (and other services) don't provide direct ways to report errors. Nor do NAVTEQ and Tele Atlas. Oh, the websites are out there (and TomTom does have MapShare). The number of people using those tools can't possibly compare to those using Google's in app "report a problem." The tools never got the buzz that Google Maps is getting, either.

Finally, on the day Google rolled out the new app NAVTEQ reported on a survey (which I guess it financed, though it was not stated in the press release) that showed that 72% of users of nav tools it powers are "ok" with ads in the apps and some 19% click on the ads. Another 6% actually visit the businesses. So, it seems Google's business model (advertising) is a good one.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Google, Satellite Navigation, Tele Atlas, NAVTEQ at 06:49 | Comments (8) | Trackbacks (0) |

Thursday, October 22. 2009

Forrester: 1/3 Have GPS Nav (of some kind)

A mail-based survey of 5,600 people reveals that 31% North American adults say they own "a portable navigation device (PND) or in-car solution or mobile phone app."

Also noteworthy: PND ownership grew at 8 percent in 2009 over 2008, but phone- based solutions grew at 49%. In-car devices experienced a 3 percent growth over 2008.

- Twice

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Satellite Navigation at 07:56 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Monday, October 19. 2009

Science Suggests Using GPS "Dulls" Brain's Mapping Tools

Alex Hutchinson writes in The Walrus (Canada's Best Magazine):

...neuroscientists are starting to uncover a two-way street: our brains determine how we navigate, but our navigational efforts also shape our brains. The experts are picking up some worrying signs about the changes that will occur as we grow accustomed to the brain-free navigation of the GPS era.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Satellite Navigation at 07:33 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0) |

Thursday, October 15. 2009

NYT Reviews iPhone Nav Apps: Not all Rosy

Erica Taub writes the review and notes:

Of the four GPS apps I tested — from major navigation companies — each crashed several times, jolting my iPhone back to the home screen. Occasionally, the iPhone did not seem to recognize that I was even using the GPS feature, and the phone simply shut off. None of the apps could keep up with my driving. I often made a turn or reached an intersection before the map redrew to indicate that I had. At other times, the app showed me making a turn before I actually had.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Satellite Navigation, Apple at 09:39 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |