TELE ATLAS AND SKYHOOK WIRELESS ANNOUNCE AGREEMENT
Written by TELE ATLAS
Tuesday, 03 January 2006
Companies to Work Cooperatively On Highly Accurate Location Based Solutions That Function Anywhere
January 03, 2006, Boston Tele Atlas, a leading global geographic content provider, and Skyhook Wireless, provider of the industry's first Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS), announced today an agreement aimed at delivering next generation location-aware solutions.
The companies will work together to provide application developers with a single source for location-aware geographic content. The agreement will not only expand the addressable market for location-aware applications to any Wi-Fi enabled laptop, PDA or mobile phone, but will also enhance the location coverage available in environments where traditional location technologies fail.
Signals from GPS satellites are often interrupted or disappear completely in complex environments such as urban canyons or mixed indoor/outdoor environments. The software-based WPS from Skyhook Wireless overcomes these shortcomings by leveraging a database of known Wi-Fi access points to accurately calculate location. Unlike GPS, WPS does not require single purpose hardware, and supplements GPS to provide additional reliability, compatibility and coverage for location-aware solutions.
"One of the biggest challenges to the mass adoption of location-based services has been the lack of a seamless integration between geographic data and reliable location determination" said J. Gerry Purdy, Ph.D. principal analyst for Cupertino based the wireless analyst group MobileTrax. "The partnership between Tele Atlas and Skyhook Wireless is a step in the right direction for the development of pervasive location-based services."
Combined with highly accurate, up-to-date Tele Atlas geographic data, Wi-Fi enabled devices will be able to consistently position users attempting to find location information or points of interest (POIs) where no adequate GPS signals exist. They can also quickly guide emergency service workers trying to find the location of an individual using a Wi-Fi enabled device, even if that device is well inside a building.
"The ability to easily pinpoint a specific location on a map whether indoors or out is imperative for the fast developing location-based services (LBS) applications market," said Michael Shean, co-founder and vice president of business development, Skyhook Wireless. "Tele Atlas has a superior process for ensuring its maps and other geographic content are highly accurate and completely up-to-date, as well as a long heritage of serving the very complex emergency services market. They are also the ideal partner, with the best database, for the emerging location application market."
"Skyhook's WPS technology breaks traditional barriers in metropolitan markets, and will deliver a significant advancement to our partners," said Mike Gerling, chief operating officer, Tele Atlas, the Americas. "The combination of Skyhook's WPS solutions and Tele Atlas street navigation and geocoding data means mobile consumers of all stripes and emergency services personnel can, without interruption, locate any place, product, or person."
About Tele Atlas
Founded in 1984, Tele Atlas is a leading provider of digital maps and dynamic location content for a variety of navigation, location-based services and geospatial products and database solutions. The company's database is a highly accurate reproduction of today's street network, enabling turn-by-turn route guidance on a high percentage of European, US and Canadian roads. Tele Atlas' compatibility with major navigation systems and its open system design have made the company's technology adaptable to both consumer and business-to-business applications. From logistics to marketing to traffic and fleet management, in almost every sector of today's business and consumer world, Tele Atlas has built a reputation as an acknowledged pioneer and leader in the digital map industry. For more information, visit www.teleatlas.com.
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