Community Input to Add Map Content

The new Tele Atlas database also realises 500,000 edits sourced from community input from more than 30 countries across five features, including one-way traffic flow identified via Map Share technology, one-way traffic flow detected by GPS measurements, the change of a crossing to a roundabout, road gradient measurements and new road geometry.

To update its maps, Tele Atlas captures and verifies changes from tens of thousands of global sources, ranging from government documents and public safety officials to construction companies and truck drivers, as well as satellite and aerial imagery. By validating and adding contributions from individual drivers as an additional source, Tele Atlas is able to increase the total number of changes identified by its network, particularly in geographically dispersed and rural areas covered less frequently by other data sources. This community input further enables Tele Atlas to create fresh maps and deliver a better experience for end users of its maps. Since its first use of community input, backed by stringent review and validation processes, Tele Atlas has increased the volume of community input changes tenfold from Q4 2008.

Tele Atlas has been using community input for over a year as part of its comprehensive database source and verification processes and has incorporated real world GPS measurements from TomTom Map Share customers to deliver new and adjusted roads. The company has also delivered products such as Tele Atlas Speed Profiles and Tele Atlas HD Traffic. Tele Atlas HD Traffic is designed to provide an estimate of delays at specific locations, allowing routing programs to evaluate the true time of a given route; when incorporated into a navigation solution, end users can receive traffic congestion data as it occurs, enhancing navigation across the personal navigation, cell phone, fleet management, government and in-vehicle markets.