Plans for “NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge® CHAMPION"

10 August 2009, 11:00am

August 10, 2009 – NAVTEQ, the leading global provider of digital map, traffic and location data for in-vehicle, portable, wireless and enterprise solutions, today announced that it will, for the first time, conclude the 2009 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge® by holding a separate evaluation round to select an overall global winner. The Grand Prize Winners from the three regions (EMEA, Americas and APAC) will compete against each other for the title of “Global LBS Challenge CHAMPION” and a $10,000 (US) cash prize, to be awarded in addition to the previously received Grand Prize winnings from the regional competitions.

This additional competition element will be held in London on September 23-24, 2009 in conjunction with the European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) International Evaluation Meeting. The regional Grand Prize Winners will demonstrate their mobile applications, which use dynamic positioning technology and NAVTEQ® maps, to a panel of judges gathered by the ESNC. This panel of judges will include 25 experts – one from each of the 18 ESNC regions and the different ESNC special topic prize sponsoring partners (NAVTEQ excluded).

“Feedback from developers tells us that industry exposure to decision-makers and match-making opportunities are extremely valuable,” said Marc Naddell, vice president, partner and developer programs, NAVTEQ. “By introducing a grand finale element in this year’s competition, we will not only be able to award a global winner but also give the regional winners of the annual NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge an opportunity to present their applications to additional decision-makers from across the satellite navigation industry responsible for business incubation initiatives.”

The ESNC expert judges will be individually tasked with reviewing and scoring the three applications based on the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge final judging criteria, grading the level of commercial appeal, indispensability, innovativeness and aesthetic appeal of the demonstrated application as well as how effectively it uses NAVTEQ maps and content. The NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge CHAMPION will be announced during an awards dinner in conjunction with the ESNC International Evaluation Meeting.

“We are very excited about the opportunity to help crown an overall global CHAMPION for the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge and I know that the ESNC experts will take their judging task very seriously. They represent a cross-section of well-networked influencers in the satellite navigation industry with a wealth of knowledge in helping smaller companies grow their business,” commented Thorsten Rudolph, CEO of ESNC organizer Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen.

The three regional Grand Prize Winners from the 2009 Global LBS Challenge who will be competing at the ESNC International Evaluation Meeting are:

· skobbler GmbH, Germany – Grand Prize Winner EMEA: skobbler is a mobile application which allows young, urban consumers to share information, personal comments, useful tips and recommendations on places and activities around a city in real time. The application combines, for example, local search of NAVTEQ dynamic content, such as events or movies, with sponsored advertising links and fully-fledged GPS navigation.

· T+1 Solutions, Estonia – Grand Prize Winner Americas: Taxi4me is a mobile taxi ordering service that helps consumers anywhere in the world connect with trusted taxi companies. The desired time and destination is sent from a user’s mobile phone to a taxi brokering server. Local taxi companies then submit competitive bids and proposed routes back to the consumer.

· NAVITIME Japan Co., Ltd. – Grand Prize Winner APAC: NAVITIME is a point-to-point route search and multi-modal navigation service allowing users to get to their destination by any major transportation method – walking, driving, trains and subway, buses, taxis and airlines – and to explore cities visited through NAVTEQ Discover Cities™.

Now in its seventh year, the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge is the premier event in the location-based services (LBS) industry. It is a world-wide competition conducted by NAVTEQ Network for Developers™ (NN4D), NAVTEQ’s global community and support programme for LBS developers and business partners.

NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge

European Satellite Navigation Competition

Geo: International