TomTom's iPhone App update to version 1.8 with Multi-Stop routes

There was a new update to TomTom's iPhone App released yesterday. Version 1.8 was complement with new Multi-Stop Routes functionality. It means that you can add up-to five extra points to your route without recalculating it, so you can for example pick up friends and visit places of interest more easily – and you only need to plan your route once. 

Many bloggers (including Engadget) wrote that with this update TomTom releases HD Traffic data to iPhone. Dear bloggers TomTom HD Traffic service is available in the AppStore at least from March 2010!!!

After acquiring TeleAtlas - one the world biggest producers of geographic data - TomTom became undeniable leader on the GPS Navigation market. With it's innovative products TomTom's mission "to reduce traffic congestion for all" becomes possible.  

source: TomTom

The art of geographic data

Geographic data which we know are mostly rasters or vectors. Tables. Attributes. Numbers. All very analytic. For some people boring. But is there a beauty in it? Not a beauty for a scientist but in a general sense... Is there an art of geographic data? Aaron Koblin - artist specializing in data and digital technologies - proved that its true. In his project called 'Flight Patterns' Koblin visualized airplane traffic over North America over 24h. 

And the image of Atlanta International Airport:

We can see how the pattern is changing over time due to different time zones of east and west US.





Do you still have any doubts that geographic data can be an art?


source: Aaron Koblin

C3 Technologies - Google Earth killer?

C3 Technologies - company with its origin in the Swedish aerospace and defense company Saab AB, is now applying previously classified, military image processing technology to the development of 3D maps as a platform for new social and commercial applications. And the effect is astonishing especially knowing that according to the company its generated automatically. It is a very promising 3D data capturing and visualization solution for the navigation and geographic information systems industries.

How do they do that? 

C3 maps are assembled almost automatically using high resolution, spatial areal imaginary. So basically their planes are outfitted with photogrammetric cameras pointing every direction and capturing overlapping images. Knowing the GPS position, angles, rotation and distance between cameras their are able to almost automatically generate 3D, photo realistic, stereo-graphic view on a captured area.

Previously similar data could be captured by LiDAR - remote sensing technology that uses laser scanning to collect height or elevation data. LiDAR is however pretty expensive technology. We don't know the initial costs of the C3 technology but it seems very cost effective in use. Google Earth from the other side involves using Google SketchUp 3D modeling. That means that people are almost manually putting parts of maps together which is is very time ineffective. 

Nokia OVI Maps 3D 

C3 Technologies has partnered Nokia to deliver the first usable version of its mapping data with Ovi Maps 3D in the begging of 2011. Currently it features 20 cities with limited functionality: pan, zoom, changing view angle. Company claims however to have 100 city models already produced with 22 more scheduled for Spring 2011. With this functionality its just a gadget to play and to check the possibilities of C3 technology. But does it mean that Nokia will use this data in OVI Maps? I am looking forward to here something about it.  

Google Earth killer?

Definitely not yet. The potential of Google Maps and Google Earth is not rooted in 3D view but in data that they have collected and interoperability with open standards (like KML). Row 3D without data about roads, streets, POIs ect. is not very useful.

But let's concentrate on 3D view itself and compare two products: Google Earth and Nokia Ovi Maps 3D. I order to do that I decided to choose Sagrada Família, one of the most architecturally sophisticated church in the world, situated in Barcelona, Spain, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí in early XX century.

We can observe that C3 model is much more photo realistic. Shadows and amount of details is really impressive. We can see however that automatically generated 3D geometrical objects like towers or rooftops of building on the second plan are not perfectly represented and Google Earth has advantage in this field. There is as well difference is representation of trees and ground details between two models. In Google Earth they are flat and in C3 they are convex, however not really well represented. 

I'm looking forward to see some more commercial applications of C3 3D maps and how they will develop. Both Google Earth and C3 models have their pros and cons. Maybe in a future we  will witness fusion of both technologies.


source:  C3 Techologies, Nokia OVI Maps 3D

Garmin to acquire Navigon

On Tuesday 14th of June, 2011 Garmin - one of the most popular sellers of navigation and smartphone GPS software - announced that Navigon’s shareholders have signed an agreement for a Garmin subsidiary to purchase Germany-based Navigon. “This acquisition is a great complement to Garmin’s existing automotive and mobile business. Navigon has invested significantly in the European automotive OEM business, and we feel that we can rapidly expand our automotive OEM footprint and capabilities through this transaction,” said Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and COO. “With Navigon, we are also acquiring one of the top-selling navigation applications for the iPhone and Android platforms – something that we expect will help drive revenue for the combined company going forward. Combining Navigon’s and Garmin’s strength also improves our competitiveness and standing particularly in Europe.” Garmin said that Navigon will continue to operate as a subsidiary of Garmin and that the deal is still subject to regulatory approvals. 

A Garmin spokeswoman at the company’s Olathe headquarters declined to reveal what the company paid for Navigon, which is 90 percent owned by General Atlantic Partners, a private U.S. equity firm. Financial Times Deutschland reported this month that Garmin was considering paying more than $70 million.

Some analysts saw Navigon as a struggling company with just 5 percent to 7 percent of the European market. (It holds about 20 percent of the market in Germany.) By purchasing the company, Garmin perhaps saves Navigon and adds incrementally to its own sales in Europe. Garmin also was enticed by Navigon’s popular applications for iPhone and Android smartphones.

Garmin, Navigon and Dutch manufacturer TomTom, the European leader, have all seen their prospects hurt by the smartphone. Many consumers are forgoing purchases of handheld GPS devices and relying on applications in their phones instead. That has meant a shrinking market for GPS device makers, which have begun to battle for contracts to provide the devices built into the dashboards of cars and trucks. Garmin also has found rich markets in devices made for boaters, bicyclists and people looking to incorporate navigation into their athletic training regimens.

Navigon was founded in 1991, two years after Garmin. The German company’s first signature software product debuted in 1996 as Autopilot, later named AutoPilot 2000. The company continued as chiefly a maker of software until 2008, when it began to sell its own navigation devices. But the timing proved poor with the spread of navigation-enabled smartphones, and Navigon quickly pulled its devices from the U.S. market. Worldwide, Navigon has more than 400 employees. Garmin has about 7,000 workers and more than half the American GPS market. TomTom, its chief competitor, has just less than half the European market and a fourth of U.S. sales.

source: Engadet, The Kansas City Star

GeoCommons 2.0 - Web based mapping platform

Web based mapping platform GeoCommons launched it’s 2.0 version yesterday. GeoCommons is the internet service where users can share, transform, visualize and mash-up geograohical information. The new version of the platform includes HTML5 display, a visualization engine GeoCommons says is capable of displaying hundreds of thousands of data points, web based editing, time-release views of mapped data and many other changes.

Why to use?

GeoCommons is a online free application that allows to use some of functionality of traditional GIS desktop software. It allows to:

• design, make and visualize multi-layer maps
• perform temporal visualization
• share over popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter ect.
• embed maps on a blog or website
• geo-coding (by uploading CSV speadsheet)
• convert data (e.g. Shapefile to KML !!! )
• filter geographical data
• open access to geographical data
• access open API for developers

And what's best about it. You can do it in 10 minutes!!!

Drawbacks?

One need to stated as well disadvantages of the project. Fist of all the unknown accuracy of the data uploaded by users and other sources such as government agencies or non-governmental organizations. The only way to estimate accuracy of the data is to rate it, which for many purposes is basically insufficient. Secondly the data uploaded by users are open to others, so performing some business analysis is impossible.

Although there are pros and cons the tool is definitely worth exploring.   

Quick example: Map of Royal Wedding Tweets in 2011:

Learn more about GeoCommons:

source: GeoCommons