TomTom to buy TeleAtlas Forums

nukeadmin · Site Admin

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AMSTERDAM, July 27 - Satellite navigation device maker TomTom has jumped ahead of its rivals with a plan to mine information from drivers -- echoing the Web "community" approach that has worked for Wikipedia and YouTube.

Hoping to tap into a group of enthusiastic users and cement its leadership in a fast-growing market, TomTom will gather information about traffic flows and will tap its SatNav customers to discover inaccuracies in its digital maps.

The strategy, internally dubbed "Navigation 2.0", is similar to the way that Web retailer Amazon.com gathers user reviews and tracks purchases, generating value above the money shoppers spend.

Its success rests on TomTom's planned 1.8 billion euro ($2.5 billion) acquisition of digital map maker Tele Atlas -- a move that will likely raise the bar for rival device makers such as Garmin, but also for companies such as Nokia who are indirect competitors in the navigation area.

"What people haven't fully realised is that next to the Internet community, there is a mobile community," Tele Atlas Chief Executive Alain De Taeye told Reuters, adding this included millions of drivers with navigation devices as well as users of mobile phones equipped with global positioning (GPS) chips.

Already TomTom is getting 16,000 pieces of user feedback a month, but so far it has not been able to make the best use of this information because if did not own the underlying maps.

What an excellent idea by TomTom management, it cna only be good for the users / customers with more up to date implementations and faster updates on map data etc Smile

whistlinggypsy

[quote] Another intriguing aspect - TomTom are buying TeleAtlas, one of only two suppliers of the mapping used by all satnavs.

Dave [quote]

Thanks for the info nuke but DAB's beat you by a week Wink

Bob

nukeadmin · Site Admin

ah lol he is always doing that Wink

teemyob

I thought Navtech was independent of the two (though using teleatlas for the maps)

Trev

rickwiggans

There are two companies with similar names, in the business, so to speak. Navtech make GPS hardware, and Navteq who are the other mapping company. They supply, amongst others, Garmin.