Internet Retailer is the first magazine devoted to reporting on the Internet revolution in retailing and today remains the only magazine on the market with this exclusive focus.
Tele Atlas Deploys Team in New Orleans to Assist in Post-Hurricane Katrina Redevelopment
Written by Tele Atlas
Friday, 14 December 2007
Tele Atlas
Corporate Challenge Deploys Team in
New
Orleans to Assist in Post-Hurricane Katrina Redevelopment
Interchain and Tele Atlas
collaborate to create custom data collection solution that uses mobile phones
and other GPS-enabled devices to help coordinate disaster relief
efforts
Lebanon, NH December 14, 2007
Tele Atlas (FSE: TA6, EUNV: TA), a leading global provider of digital maps and
dynamic content for navigation and location-based solutions, today announced a
team of employees will be deployed in New Orleans between December 13 and 18 to
test a location-based emergency management and disaster assistance solution
prototype developed jointly by Tele Atlas engineers and Interchain Solutions
Private Limited, a location-based services (LBS) company based in India. As part
of the Tele Atlas Challenge program, a bi-annual philanthropic
competition for company employees that is designed to
encourage the development of innovative applications and projects that leverage
map data and technology, the teams project will be used to collect information
on the status of Hurricane Katrina redevelopment efforts to be used in the
ongoing Dartmouth College Gentilly Project.
The Tele Atlas Challenge-winning
team includes employees Bart Guetti, Thale Jacobs, Peter Jacoby, Jari Reini,
Wayne St. Jacques and Clayton Morlock. After winning the Challenge, the team was
awarded 10,000 to assist in the development and implementation of the proposed
project. The team has invested time and expertise over the past year to prove
that mobile phones and similar devices equipped with cameras and GPS functions
can help coordinate relief actions after a significant disaster or public
emergency. Through the collaboration with Interchain, application is designed
to serve as an easy-to-deploy and easy-to-manage solution that leverages cell
phone, GPS and web technologies.
In the time following a natural
disaster or public emergency, the availability of location-relevant information
is essential to recovery, states Morlock, Tele Atlas senior engineer and
Challenge team leader. The application we developed through the Challenge is
designed to share vital information on damages associated with disasters, such
as identifying blocked roads or locations of emergency facilities such as water
resources and hospitals, to make it accessible and actionable data for anyone
that need it.
Members of the team will implement
the LBS solution in
New Orleans this week working
in collaboration with Dr. Quintus Jett, Senior Research Fellow at the Center for
Digital Strategies at the Tuck School of Business at
Dartmouth and his students from
DartmouthCollege, as well as residents of
New Orleans. Together, the
group will gather map data for the Colleges Gentilly Project, which is
assisting Hurricane Katrina redevelopment efforts by assessing the current state
of all dwellings in designated neighborhoods by collecting information on their
structural status, such as whether they are being rebuilt, are abandoned or are
in need of repair. The data will be used by Dr. Jett in his efforts to
disseminate information to residents, business owners, nonprofits and others to
enhance resource allocation for rebuilding and to accelerate the recovery of
neighborhoods.
Employee volunteerism is an
important part of Tele Atlas' global responsibility and our employees are
dedicated to supporting our mission to make a meaningful contribution in the
various communities where we operate, said Joanna Nikka, vice president of
human resources, Tele Atlas. Through the innovation, creativity and enthusiasm
of our employees, the Challenge Program enables Tele Atlas to further this
commitment and to leverage our digital map resources to support this
mission.
About Tele
Atlas
Tele Atlas delivers the digital
maps and dynamic content that power some of the worlds most essential
navigation and location-based services (LBS). The information is the foundation
for a wide range of personal and in-car navigation systems and mobile and
Internet map applications that help users find the people, places, products, and
services they need, wherever they are. The company also works with business
partners who trust its digital map data to deliver critical applications for
emergency, business, fleet, and infrastructure services. Through a combination
of its own products and partnerships, Tele Atlas offers digital map coverage of
more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. The company was founded in
1984 and today has approximately 2,500 full-time staff and contract
cartographers at offices in 24 countries and uses a sophisticated network of
professional drivers, mobile mapping vans, and more than 50,000 data resources
to deliver highly accurate and up-to-date digital maps. Tele Atlas is listed on
the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (TA6) and on Euronext Amsterdam (TA). For more
information, visit www.
teleatlas.com.
About
Interchain
Interchain was founded in 2006 as an
organization primarily focused toward providing Location Based Services to the
Consumer as well as
Enterprise clientele. Interchain has in-house
design, development and manufacturing infrastructure in
Bangalore and marketing presence in US, Europe and in the
Middle East for its Personal Navigation and
Fleet Tracking solutions. For more information, visit
www.interchainsol.com.
Do you have a location-aware application, social location service or other location-sensitive service that you'd like to share with us? Please browse this growing directory of Social location Services and feel free to leave a link to your favorite service! See the Directory HERE
Navigation and Location Europe 2009 - Europe's largest gathering of Navigation & Location pioneers is back for the 5th year. The conference strives to keep one step ahead of the market by providing the most up to date business information. June 10-11, 2009
Where 2.0 Conference 2009 - The O'Reilly Where 2.0 Conference will pinpoint how far location
technology has reached, explore the boundaries of geospace, and point
the way into the location frontier at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose,
CA, May 19-21, 2009. O'Reilly Media and program chair Brady Forrest
invite proposals for conference sessions, workshops, demos, and panels
for Where 2.0 2009.
Telematics Detroit 2009 Conference & Exhibition, June 2-3
- The world's leading event for the digital in-car and mobile industry
is back for another successful year. Telematics content and service
strategies for winning hyper connected customers will be revealed.