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.

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Monday, November 2. 2009

TeleNav to File for IPO ($75 million)

- WSJ

Tuesday, June 9. 2009

TomTom to Team with Apple; Stock Jumps 17%

After some tough months I'm sure the folks at TomTom were pleased with the market response to the announcement made yesterday at Apple World Wide Developer Conference. For now, TomTom is the only nav developer to partner with Apple. The first app, and a car kit for the iPhone, is slated for release this summer, when further details and pricing will be shared. One analyst suggested a $50 price point, about the same level as TomTom's introductory hardware offering, though this is far above the price of most apps in the AppStore.

- Wall Street Journal

Tuesday, April 7. 2009

Podcast: Any Game Changers in LBS Yet?

Many announcements related to location-based services came out of the CTIA show last week, including winners of the NAVTEQ LBS Challenge. Were any truly game changing? Our editors look at the current state of LBS and what may be ahead.


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Tuesday, March 31. 2009

Mobile Patient Communcator - A PDA for the Patient During Doctor Visits

How does this sound to you?

Once registered, patients are notified of their exam room availability and provided a digital map with step-by-step directions. After unescorted self-rooming, they receive updates on their doctor's status. A large family medicine clinic at a nationally ranked healthcare provider is currently testing the MPC self-rooming application.

The Mobile Patient Communicator also provides videos and health quizzes while the patient waits. The device works based on wireless networks.

The developer, International Medical Solutions, says the device frees up nurses from "rooming patients" so they can spend more time with patients. I know in my/my Dad's healthcare world nurses don't to the escorting; it's the assistants who do the rooming and also take your temperature and blood pressure.

Based on the mazes I've followed in hospitals, I confess I'd rather have a personal escort and I really want my Dad to have one!

- press release

Thursday, February 12. 2009

TomTom Map Share Feedback Even Surprises Tele Atlas

This week, Tele Atlas (TA) announced the first release of their global street network that is augmented with data from TomTom Map Share, a service offered to users of TomTom portable navigation devices (PND) that allows them to independently report a variety of road network changes including impedences, new signage, etc. The feedback is sent to TA, a TomTom company, but as a consequence of collecting so much additional data, TA recognized that it was also capturing new road geometry not previously mapped.

Users of TomTom PNDs have the option of providing feedback in a few different ways. One is to manually indicate road blockages, for example, but another is to share certain bits of data such as speed and position. As it turns out,TomTom users were leaving their PNDs on even in areas where there was sparse or no road coverage such as certain regions of Eastern Europe. This feedback made it's way to TA database managers that are recognizing that new road segments were being added to the community contributed data. This new information allows the company to selectively dispatch crews to verify new road geometry and perhaps identify pockets of new users for additional marketing and advertising.

I spoke to Mr. Arnout Desmet while attending the Map World Forum conference in Hyderbad. Directions just recently interviewed Mr. Desmet when it was announced that TA had signed a agreement with the Survey of India (SOI) to incorporate SOI data into the TA road database. He also informed me about TA's historical speed profiles which are now being incorporated into traffic information. TA began collecting speed information in 2006 and now has a database of historical profiles in 5 minute increments for various times of day and now over months of time. Essentially, TomTom users are acting as probes on the street network collecting a vast amount of data that now equals twice the entire road network of Europe every 24 hours according to Mr. Desmet. He believes this is a unique service that TomTom provides to users.