The 2010 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge(R) Expands to Five Regions
Written by NAVTEQ
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
The premier developer competition for location-based applications
launches with dedicated South America and India tracks in addition to
EMEA, North America and APAC regions
CHICAGO, Aug. 12 -- NAVTEQ, the leading global provider of digital map, traffic and location data for in-vehicle, portable, wireless and enterprise solutions, today announced the launch of the 2010 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge (www.LBSChallenge.com) competition which now includes five regions: Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA), North America, South America, Asia-Pacific (APAC) and India. Registration for all five regions opens today.
The details for the first two regions have already been confirmed:
The registration period for EMEA ends on Friday, October 30, 2009. Solution submission deadline is Friday, November 20, 2009. The judging and awards ceremony will be held at a NAVTEQ hosted event at Poble Espanyol in Barcelona on February 14, 2010 during Mobile World Congress 2010.
The registration period for the North America region ends on Friday, November 20, 2009. Solution submission deadline is Friday, January 8, 2010. The judging and awards ceremony will be held at Where 2.0 (March 30-April 1, 2010) in San Jose (CA), USA. NAVTEQ will present the winner on stage during the opening keynote on the evening of March 30, 2010.
Details on the other regional tracks will follow shortly on the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge website. The addition of the dedicated tracks for India and South America regions to the competition this year reflects the global interest in location-based services, the ambition to tap the innovation in the fast-growing mobile developer community and show industry support for emerging markets.
This year's NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge also introduces new features to encourage wider developer participation and provide even more industry exposure for contestants:
Contestants may submit their pre-commercialized location-based applications for any platform and for any device, provided they employ NAVTEQ map data. Technical support will be given for sponsor endorsed platforms and devices from multiple vendors.
In addition to prizes given for the four applications with the top scores in each region, NAVTEQ will award "Best Of. . ." recognitions to individual applications in a wide range of categories, for example Best use of User Generated Content (UGC), Best Use of Location-Based Advertising, and Best Use of Pedestrian Content (see regional rules for details).
NAVTEQ will hold a competition at the conclusion of the 2010 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge with each Grand Prize Winner from the five regions competing against each other for the title of "Global LBS Challenge CHAMPION." The five Grand Prize Winners will compete for the title in conjunction with the European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) International Evaluation Meeting to be held in mid to late September of 2010.
The global prize pool for this year's competition will start at $6.7 million USD in cash and licenses and is expected to grow as all sponsor prizes are finalized.
Now in its seventh year, the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge is the premier event in the location-based services (LBS) industry, inviting application developers to build innovative applications for devices using dynamic positioning technology and NAVTEQr maps. It is a world-wide competition conducted by NAVTEQ Network for Developers(TM) (NN4D), NAVTEQ's global community and support program for LBS developers and business partners. Over 32% of semifinalists have gone on to receive venture capital funding or launch commercially distributed applications.
"With the addition of India and South America as contest regions and the expansion of the rules to include LBS applications for any platform and device, we expect the 2010 edition of the Global LBS Challenge to produce our best group of location and context aware applications to date," commented Marc Naddell, vice president, partner and developer programs, NAVTEQ. "We believe that the extended scope of the competition, the breadth of awards and the significant prize pool, as well as the additional industry exposure around the CHAMPION selection make for a very attractive proposition to developers globally."
To see full details on this year's competition, go to the new Global LBS Challenge website: www.LBSChallenge.com.
About the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge
First launched in 2003, the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge is focused on driving the development and visibility of innovative navigation solutions for wireless devices. From wireless business applications to sports, travel and security, integrating the accuracy and richness of NAVTEQ digital map data facilitates the timely evolution of the next wave of LBS. Over 32% of past semifinalists have gone on to receive venture capital funding or launch commercially-distributed applications. For more information on this year's competition, go to www.LBSChallenge.com.
About NAVTEQ Network for Developers
NAVTEQ Network for Developers (NN4D) is a dynamic online web portal and global community that provides developers and business partners with the technical and business support needed to build, showcase and launch the most innovative location-enabled solutions. Connect with the people, tools and resources you need to grow your business by visiting www.NN4D.com.
About NAVTEQ
NAVTEQ is the leading global provider of digital map, traffic and location data that enables navigation and location-based platforms around the world. NAVTEQ supplies comprehensive digital map information to power automotive navigation systems, portable and wireless devices, Internet-based mapping applications and government and business solutions. The Chicago-based company was founded in 1985 and has approximately 4,000 employees located in 190 offices and in 39 countries.
Mobile Technology Feature - Top 10 Business Apps for Android - Android has become one of the most popular mobile operating systems
in the world due to advanced software, competitive manufacturers, and an
app market that is filled with exciting and useful applications. Read
on for this fine Top 10 List compiled by tech writer, Blake Sanders
The Really Big List of Mapping, Geo location Mobile developer resources, APIs and Tools - The Mobile Ecosystem... no question that mobile is huge and
the opportunity for developers, in particular, geo developers! There's
loads of developer resources on the web so to help the developer,
here's a listing of just some of the fine dev resources, blogs,
toolsets and more to consider when developing or porting your app to a
smartphone or Tablet.
ArcGIS.com Mashup Tutorial with Flickr and Foursquare data-
Here's a simple "how to" tutorial on working with the free ArcGIS.com
to easily import KML or RSS data from Flickr and foursquare into ArcGIS
to create your own custom map mashup. ArcGIS.com has some recent
updates including support for KML, be sure to check it out!
Most Users of Free Photo Apps Say Adding Cool Effects is Most Useful - Adding cool effects
to photos was rated as the most useful thing by more than halfof
consumers surveyed using free online photography services, according to
CatchFree a free
online service that helps people find the best free mobile and web applications
to perform useful tasks.
Amazon Kindle Fire Tablet Up Close - No Replacement for the iPad But Pretty Darned Sweet - As could be
expected, speculation and blogging is rampant with many stories and
pseudo "reviews" coming out, many of them touting the next "iPad
killer".
Mobile Developer Resource - MapQuest & The Mobile Worker - Facility management companies, surveyors, multi-level marketing,
insurance claims, pipeline companies, water utilities; all have field
workers who would benefit from mobile applications. Not only checking in
to work sites, but keeping a record of the work done
Flickr GPS Photo Tag Tip - Here's a tip for Flickr users who want to share their GPS information
with their photos. note, in order to do this you'll need to be
capturing photos using a GPS-enabled or GPS-aware camera (see you're
smartphone hardware settings to ensure that GPS or location sharing is
turned "ON)".
Mobile data usage in Canada to triple between 2010 and 2012 - Some interesting, yet not terribly surprising, numbers on mobile
usage coming out of Canada. According to a report summarized on
Techvibes, mobile usage is soaring, in particular, the smartphone
segment
Social Location Directory
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
Suggested Reading
The Underground Guide To The iPhone:
The iPhone is – if I may say so – one of the greatest mobile
revolutions of the past decade. More and more, mobile phones seem to
materialize out of our wildest dreams. Because of the tight integration
of third-party applications, you can do nearly everything with your
device — be it gaming, working, fooling around, and of course phoning.
Good Mobile Messaging: Executives and professional field forces spend an increasing amount of time on the road tending to business.
Mobile Apps - Native or Web?:
You probably have a plan to build a mobile app, but you've struggled
with the basic question - Should I build it using open web standards
such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, or should I build it as a native app
for the devices I want to target?
iBike Coach App- a new “Always On” feature always gathers data
Nike+ GPS App- for sports tracking, recording and sharing
Featured Events
Content & Apps for Automotive Europe 2012 (18-19 April, Germany)
will give you key insights on how in-vehicle connectivity is being
revolutionised as OEMs integrate dynamic content to stay relevant
throughout the vehicle life cycle.
Location Intelligence for Enterprise - Europe 2012, January 16-17, London Hear from Google, Jones Lang LaSalle, Tesco, Willis, Oracle,
ESRI, Microsoft, PBBI and many more as they debate the best strategies
for business models and integration.
Consumer Telematics Show 2012 (Jan 9, Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, USA) is the most prestigious and
dynamic consumer telematics focused meeting for the automotive industry.
Held in Las Vegas on the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES),
this year's senior-level speakers will include General Motors, Audi,
Toyota, Panasonic, Continental, Hughes Telematics, Gartner, KIA,
Mercedes-Benz and many more
Esri Dev Summit - The
Esri Developer Summit (DevSummit) brings together developers and GIS
professionals from all over the globe. March 26-29, 2012, Palm Springs,
CA
