Navteq maps the republic of Ireland...

[kevmac YTY]

http://www.mysatnav.ie

[kevmac YTY]

12 December 2006

NAVTEQ Puts Dublin Port Tunnel on the Map Before the Opening!

NAVTEQ (NYSE: NVT), a leading global provider of digital maps for vehicle navigation and location-based solutions, was yesterday given special permission to map the new Dublin Port Tunnel before it opened - ensuring the information is available as soon as possible for integration into satellite navigation systems.

Due to open on 20 December, this is the largest ever road transportation project in the Republic of Ireland and hence a key development to add to the full map coverage we announced earlier this year. Therefore, getting it into our map database as soon as possible was, of course, a priority, explained Ronan McGurren, the NAVTEQ geographic analyst in charge of the project. As the tunnel is over four kilometres long, it is not possible to rely on GPS signals to give us a position, so we brought a specially equipped car over from Paris to complete the job.

The car features an Inertia Measuring Unit which relies on ‘dead reckoning’ – the same principle used by Christopher Columbus when sailing to America! The difference is this sophisticated unit calculates the position of the vehicle 200 times per second and is accurate to less than a few feet whereas Columbus calculated his position once a day and could easily be several miles out…

A gyroscope in the unit notes the direction of the vehicle whilst an odometer measures the distance travelled – by relating this information to the starting point, the current position can be calculated. Once you know where the vehicle is, an accurate trace of the road can be created even in the deepest tunnel.

Other than this more traditional method of ‘positioning’, the NAVTEQ team used the same system and specialist software as always to create this new section of map. Developed exclusively for the job, the software enables the field teams to download sections of the live database to a mobile computer for updating on the road. Travelling in pairs, the non-driver constantly talks to the computer via a headset noting all the changes as they travel along.

The fast new link from Dublin Port to the M50 is designed to dramatically reduce the number of heavy goods vehicles in the city and hence reduce noise and congestion. Any driver heading in or out of the port but wanting to avoid the city centre is likely to choose the Tunnel route and therefore it is important for maps used in any kind of routing system to be as up to date as possible, added Ronan McGurren. And it’s not just for Irish drivers, the fact that the publicity campaign to be launched by the Dublin City Council and National Roads Authority will be published in eight languages, underlines the expected use by international visitors and HGV drivers.




You have to hand it to NavTeq.

Compare their Ireland mapping to TeleAtlas' answer to a mate's email re their Ireland coverage:

"Dear Mr. Xxxxxxxxx,

Thank you for your interest in Tele Atlas products.

Please be advised that starting from June 2007, our first products with full
coverage for Ireland (Northern Ireland included) will release"

[Skippy]

So I guess that will be in new Sat Nav units in about a year then? :x
_________________
Gone fishing!

[kevmac YTY]

Interesting update:

Just looking at Mapquest which has the latest Navteq maps and for example here is Ennis, Co. Clare as of now. Zoom into the town.

Navteq Ennis

Up to last week Google which uses TeleAtlas for Ireland had only a few streets in Ennis. Now it looks like this:

TeleAtlas Ennis


The new N85 dual carriageway is only being built and is not open yet – but it is open according to TeleAtlas.
NavTeq have a policy of not mapping a new road until they have actually driven it.
But this does show that TeleAtlas has finished mapping Ireland and they are ready to release in the data.

[Corkonian]

Those google maps are way off when it comes to place names - just checked my area and they've used the names of some new housing estates instead of the townland name
I'll be sticking with destinator.

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