NAVTEQ to Provide LBS Developers with Foreca Weather API and Data
Written by NAVTEQ
Monday, 16 February 2009
Now available online at NAVTEQ Network for DevelopersT site
Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, Spain. Stand 1G45 Hall 1 - February 16, 2009 - NAVTEQ, a leading global provider of digital maps for vehicle navigation and location-based solutions, announced its collaboration with Foreca Ltd., a weather service company specialising in services for digital media and mobile, to provide the LBS developer community with access to ForecaWeatherAPI and NaviFeed, both of which enable the implementation of weather information based on location into mobile applications and web services. Access to the Weather API and NaviFeed "getting started" package is free of charge through the NAVTEQ Network for DevelopersT site (www.NN4D.com).
ForecaWeatherAPI provides weather forecasts, current conditions and optional mobile weather animations for any location in the world. This free "getting started" package allows LBS developers to get access to latitude/longitude-coordinate based current weather conditions and a three-day overview forecast with weather codes and symbols and daily forecasted high and low temperatures, and use these in applications or web services. Additional weather features and animations are available under separate commercial agreement with Foreca.
NaviFeed provides accurate weather information based on the user's position and the forecast is created in real-time based on the coordinates. The interface is suitable for integrating weather information into mobile applications, web applications or any other application which can receive and visualise online data. The service is available for any location worldwide, including open oceans. Due to the coordinate-based approach, NaviFeed is well-suited for any LBS application.
As a part of ForecaWeatherAPI, developers with a commercial agreement with Foreca can also get access to weather data via NameFeed, which provides weather information for more than 140,000 pre-defined locations globally which are identified by location names and IDs instead of latitude/longitude coordinates.
The collaboration between NAVTEQ and Foreca had its roots in Foreca's successful participation in the 2008 edition of the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge, the leading developer competition in the LBS space. At the Global LBS Challenge, Foreca gained recognition for its outstanding weather services and applicability to LBS applications.
"The NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge was an excellent way for Foreca to showcase its capabilities to the leading global LBS players," commented Marko Moilanen, VP Business Development at Foreca. "We are very excited to now be working with NAVTEQ to provide its developer community with the opportunity to integrate weather information with NAVTEQ maps into new innovative LBS applications with the use of the ForecaWeatherAPI."
"NAVTEQ Network for Developers is the premier program for connecting LBS application developers and partners, offering the technical and business support needed to build, showcase and launch the industry's most innovative LBS solutions," said Marc Naddell, vice president, partner and developer programs, NAVTEQ. "With the help of the Foreca Weather API, any connected navigation device can bring users up-to-date weather forecasts for a particular destination, on-route and wherever you want to go. This provides an excellent added functionality to NAVTEQ map data and already existing mapping APIs."
Naddell continues, "We have been able to implement Foreca weather forecasts as an interactive service and dynamic content feature on our NN4D website, using an available geocoding API. This is a great example of how easy it is to use API's supporting NAVTEQ map products to create LBS features, in this case to enhance a community service."
For technical documentation describing the ForecaWeatherAPI in more detail, available weather data as well as licensing conditions, and to see a demo implementation of weather data feeds on NN4D, go to www.nn4d.com/foreca.
The ForecaWeatherAPI is being demonstrated in the NN4D pod on NAVTEQ's stand at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain this week. You will find NAVTEQ in stand number 1G45 located in exhibition Hall 1 at Fira Montjuïc.
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