It looks like Google is ditching Tele Atlas as its data provider for Google Maps in the US, says ReadWriteWeb, in favor of a do-it-yourself approach. Google had been using Tele Atlas maps since September 2008 after moving away from Navteq maps after Navteq was acquired by Nokia. Now, Google will use its own data, which it will supplement with data from government sources and a crowdsourcing approach.
Navteq, a subsidiary of Nokia, provides data for Yahoo! Maps, Bing Maps, and MapQuest as well as automotive navigation systems for BMW, Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz, Mini and many other car makers (accounting for around 85% of market share), and portable GPS devices made by Garmin, Magellan, and Lowrance.
Navteq’s main global rival is Tele Atlas, a wholly-owned subsidiary of automotive navigation system manufacturer TomTom. Tele Atlas has a five-year agreement to supply data to Google Maps and use consumers to update their maps. Navteq, will also collect data from consumers to improve its maps, but it will tap into their cell phones.
Mapping services are protective of how their data can be used, says ReadWrite, which is one of the reasons Apple can’t offer turn-by-turn directions in the built-in mapping application on the iPhone.
By providing its own maps and an API for others to use these maps, Google could potentially become a major competitor to Tele Atlas and Navteq now, and if Google continues to make these maps easily available to developers without cumbersome licensing restrictions, it could bring radical change to the mapping business, observers ReadWrite.
Google’s Street View uses a tricycle to go places cars can’t. A white pole in the back holds an octagonal platform with eight cameras on the sides and one on top. Each minute, the cameras take bursts of high-definition photos to allow online users to get a virtual tour of the area. Google uses Iconix cameras and German SiCK brand laser scanners – likely the LMS 200 series. Google has released an experimental browser plugin that will make it possible to display rich 3D graphics in Web content.
In 2008 a total of 155 million smartphones were sold, or 13% of all cellphones. In 2013, IDC predicts that 20% of the 1.4 billion phones sold will be smartphones, or 280 million.
In 2007, personal navigation devices dominated the GPS device market with more than 90% market share. But the availability of GPS-enabled mobile phones will account for around 70% of the market share by 2013, says a new market research report by RNCOS.
In 2009, market tracker iSuppli says, there will be 114 million personal navigation devices in use, compared to 57.8 million smart phones. But by 2014, the numbers will flip: 305 million smart phones will be in use, versus 128 million PNDs.
Today, roughly 2 million iPhone owners used navigation features on their handsets, according to a iSuppli. That’s about 4% of the total number of standalone GPS devices. By 2013, iSuppli sees 28 million iPhone owners using the navigation features, or roughly 38% of the expected 72 million GPS devices Gartner sees in production that year.
All Points Blog, The Map Room, GPS Review and Google Maps Mania have more, including Fifty Drives of a Lifetime which is now an iPhone application. RoadTweets is a smartphone application that makes it super easy to capture and share travel experiences from the road.
Quiksee lets you to create your very own Street View like tours with Google Maps and an iPhone. Tours can be placed on online maps such as Google Maps and can also be inserted into your Facebook and Myspace pages.
Related Location services articles on Dailywireless include; AT&T Rolls Out Garmin Navigation Phone, Tom Tom: $99 iPhone Navigation App, iPhone Navigation Apps Compared, Rental Bikes: Free with Location-based Apps?, Google Crowdsources Live Traffic on Maps, Merits of Twitter Location Debated, Rental Bikes: Free with Location-based Apps?, Tom Tom: $99 iPhone Navigation App, Location-based Apps from Navigon and Skyhook, Tracking Tools, Loopt on Sprint Instinct, and Navigation: There’s an App for That.
