More than 20 Years of Mobile Mapping at TomTom

When it comes to mapping the world’s roads, TomTom is a pioneer and one of the most experienced firms in the industry. It is now 20 years since its mobile mapping team in Łódź, Poland, started a journey that continues to be a cornerstone of TomTom’s business today.

To keep its maps as fresh as possible, TomTom uses an array of sources, including government information, survey vehicles and community input. But there’s one source that stands unique in its accuracy, reliability and value to the company: mobile mapping vans, or MoMas for short. Thanks to MoMa vans, the company’s maps continue to become ever more detailed and refined.

To learn more about the company’s mobile mapping journey, Matthew Beedham spoke with Krzysztof Miksa, who is TomTom’s director of engineering in autonomous driving, and Marcin Lechowicz, who is director of maps. They also happen to be two members of the team that developed and built TomTom’s first mobile mapping vehicle.

That story began in 2001 when an unassuming Peugeot Partner van, equipped with all manner of sensors and GPS hardware, rolled out for the first time in Łódź. Its job was to gather thousands of data points every second which could then be used to build some of the most detailed digital maps of the time.

Before we get to that, let’s go a little further back in time. Continue reading here…