New Speed Profiles in Navigation

Users of mapping applications and GPS devices will soon be able to travel more efficiently on congested roadways, minimise transportation costs and find the most optimal routes to their destinations. Tele Atlas, a leading global provider of digital maps and dynamic content for navigation and location based solutions has launched Speed Profiles, which provide highly accurate speed data to allow end users of consumer, enterprise and business fleet navigation systems to find the most optimal route to their destination and far more accurately estimate their travel time.  

With the release of Speed Profiles, Tele Atlas is the only global digital map provider to enable route calculations based on highly comprehensive historical travel time and measured speed information. Traditional systems available today use standardised estimates to calculate routes, ignoring hurdles such as traffic lights, school hours and rotaries that can severely impact travel times. Tele Atlas Speed Profiles transform the navigation user experience because routes can be calculated using actual measurements. As a result, drivers have unique insight into real world traffic patterns, helping them intuitively make the best route choices that normally only well-informed locals would select.

Tele Atlas Speed Profiles marks a breakthrough in accuracy, with data derived from almost half a trillion speed measurements shared by consumers over the past two and a half years in 26 countries, making it unique in terms of both size and richness. To ensure a high level of accuracy, the 33.5 million kilometers of both directions of roads available in Tele Atlas Speed Profiles have been driven and measured on average more than 2,000 times at different times and during different days of the week. With this highly accurate information, Tele Atlas Speed Profiles delivers a breakthrough solution with actual average speeds for every five minutes of the day on any day of the week for frequently traveled roads.

"Navigation system and application users increasingly are seeking rich and dynamic information that will help them to better plan their routes and enjoy a more informed, efficient journey along the way," said Tele Atlas CEO Bill Henry. "With the launch of Speed Profiles, we have demonstrated Tele Atlas' ability to deliver another significant benefit for the industry that harnesses the power of community and propels Tele Atlas and our customers into the next generation of digital mapping."

Tele Atlas Speed Profiles is available in 24 European countries, the United States and Canada. The product can be used as a back-up to real-time traffic flow information or as a standalone, add-on to a navigation application, offering:

• Broad coverage for end users including data for major freeways, highways, urban and rural arterials and secondary roads;
• A more precise estimated travel time with the granularity of information in many places for five minutes intervals of the day for each specific day of the week; and
• A uniform, low data footprint to optimise device cost and efficiency, providing developers the ability to incorporate the data in all their existing and future solutions and to differentiate offerings for all scales of devices.