Tele Atlas Establishes New Operation in Russia

Tele Atlas (Belgium) has established a new company, Tele Atlas RUS. With headquarters in Moscow, Tele Atlas RUS will assume the databases and all activities of Navmaps, Russia's leading provider of navigation maps. The new company will strengthen Tele Atlas' operations in Russia and increase its direct interaction with suppliers and with Roskartographia, the Federal Agency of Geodesy and Cartography.

Industry observers predict there will be a dramatic boom in the consumer use of Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) in Russia, due to the country's continued economic development and the government's expected move to abolish all non security and military limitations in relation to the accuracy of spatial data. Several of Tele Atlas' commercial partners, such as BMW, Porsche, DaimlerChrysler, Audi, Blaupunkt, Mio and Pioneer, have also started to introduce their products in Russia, and now require up-to-date, comprehensive navigation data.
With the use of navigation technology by logistics management companies set to follow a similar growth path, Tele Atlas RUS is ideally placed at the forefront of these developments.

Tele Atlas and Navmaps began working together in 2004 and have already developed a navigable digital map of Russia that includes Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad and the surrounding regions, as well as the major connecting road network that joins the most important cities in the European and Asian parts of the country up to the Chinese border. The map includes tens of thousands of POIs, house numbers and navigations attributes. Tele Atlas RUS will now build on these foundations and enhance the coverage and content of the existing geographic database.