NAVTEQ Network for Developers at World Congress

17 February 2009, 2:00pm

Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, Spain. Stand 1G45 Hall 1 – February 17, 2009 – NAVTEQ, a leading global provider of digital map data for vehicle navigation and location-based solutions (LBS), is showcasing its latest developer offerings and developer partner efforts at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. These demonstrations reaffirm the depth and breadth of the NAVTEQ Network for Developers™ (NN4D), a programme which provides developers and business partners with the technical and business support needed to build, showcase and launch innovative, location-enabled solutions.

Accenture: Mobile social networking, location-aware application

Accenture and NAVTEQ have developed a mobile social networking, location-aware application to be demonstrated at the Congress. The demonstration, leveraging NAVTEQ maps and Accenture’s systems integration and applications software, shows how a mobile phone user can interactively send and share blogs via a Web 2.0 application; friends can, in turn, access and read the blog on their own mobile phones. The application enables a mobile phone user to experience what his friends are experiencing within a particular city or location they are visiting. Furthermore, the demo application contains some map attributes that are particularly interesting for pedestrian navigation. For instance, the map contains bus stops, taxi stands, access points to underground stations, sidewalks, and crosswalks, all part of the NAVTEQ Discover Cities™ data features.

Potential users of this integrated offering include mobile phone manufacturers and service providers. The mobile social networking demo application was created using NAVTEQ® maps and application programming interfaces (APIs) found on NN4D. The demo application with the complete documented source code is available for developers to download for free from www.NN4D.com. The demonstration is available for viewing at the Accenture (stand CY15, Central Courtyard 3) and NAVTEQ stands (stand 1G45 – Hall 1).

Adobe: Flash-based LBS applications

NAVTEQ representatives are scheduled to present their views on LBS market opportunities and application development on the Adobe stand (Hall 1, Stand 1E05). The presentation will highlight NAVTEQ’s recent collaborations with companies using the Adobe Flash® Lite™ technology, including Sony Ericsson, whose Project Capuchin technology bridges Flash Lite and Java™ ME. Two applications featured in the presentation and showcased on the Adobe stand include the Last.fm Gig Finder developed by ustwo™ and GuideMe! developed by TikGames, a 2007 semifinalist of the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge® developer competition.

Foreca: Embedding weather forecasts into mobile applications

Also announced this week, is the collaboration with Foreca Ltd. to provide the LBS developer community through NN4D with access to the ForecaWeatherAPI, which provides weather forecasts, current conditions and optional mobile weather animations for any location in the world; and NaviFeed, which provides accurate weather information based on position. Foreca specialises in weather services for digital media and mobile.

NN4D members agreeing to stipulated licensing terms are entitled to use a basic set of NaviFeed and weather animations free of charge in commercial end-user applications and web services, giving consumers access to latitude/longitude-coordinate based weather conditions and forecast data anywhere in the world. This free “getting started” package offers quick access to basic world-wide weather data and weather codes and symbols. More information can be found at www.NN4D.com/foreca. The ForecaWeatherAPI is being demonstrated at the NAVTEQ stand (Hall 1 – stand 1G45).

Pedestrian Navigation: Resources available for developers of mobile applications

For developers looking to create pedestrian navigation applications, NN4D offers free sample data for NAVTEQ Discover Cities. This product provides pedestrian-centric content which enables people to orient themselves and navigate efficiently by foot and via public transport systems.

For application developers and device manufacturers, NAVTEQ Discover Cities provides the most accurate, comprehensive and relevant data to address the growing demand for location-aware pedestrian services on mobile devices. In fact, there are a variety of NAVTEQ Discover Cities demonstrations on the NAVTEQ stand (Hall 1 – stand 1G45); NN4D staff will also be on hand to answer application development questions. Currently, the sample data for NAVTEQ Discover Cities covers Barcelona, Chicago, Las Vegas, Munich, New York City, Paris, San Francisco/Bay Area and Singapore.

Marc Naddell, vice president, partner and developer programs, NAVTEQ, says, “The developer offerings and partner collaborations announced today reaffirm the broad capabilities of digital mapping through the use of different application programming interfaces, the power of NAVTEQ maps, and the commitment from NN4D to help drive innovation within the LBS developer community.“

About NAVTEQ Network for Developers

NAVTEQ Network for Developers (NN4D) is a dynamic online web portal and 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 the web site below.

NAVTEQ Network for Developers

Geo: International