Tele Atlas, supplier of digital maps to many SatNav manufacturers, has this week released a new version of its digital map database MultiNet to its partners; and in this 2008.10 release, changes in the road grid from reports made by end users were used for the first time. The first technology used for this is TomTom’s ‘Map Share’, with which users can easily feedback errors or changes in the mapping on their SatNav.Normally, to update its maps, Tele Atlas registers and checks more than 50,000 sources worldwide, such as official government documents, satellite and aerial photos. By adding this extra source of info, the company greatly increases the number of registered changes in its network, and also gets that information much faster, especially in remote and rural areas that are not covered well by the other sources.
50,000
For the new map release, Tele Atlas has used its user feedback to identify and validate more than 50,000 changes (primarily in street names and driving directions) for both Europe and North America.Amazingly, the total amount of these user corrections is already bigger than the number of corrections which were identified through the more usual sources in Europe and America combined.
“The release of MultiNet version 2008.10 marks another important step toward Tele Atlas’ goal to use community input to deliver better maps, faster,” said Bill Henry, CEO of Tele Atlas.
“Tele Atlas’ history of innovation has positioned the company as a global leader in map testing processes and methodologies. 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.”
Strict Procedures
Tele Atlas uses strict quality procedures to process the information from its sources. As the volume of user feedback increases, the engines and systems used by Tele Atlas to check and validate the input will have to increase their efficiency, resulting in a decrease in time needed to update the database. Later versions are also intended to utilise further categories of Map Share information, such as reports of new road layouts, roundabouts etc.When the new mapping material will become available for the end user depends on Tele Atlas’ partners. But CEO Henry expects the first products based on the 2008.10 version to be released before the end of the year.
