crossposting press release:
Tele Atlas Gains Access to TomTom’s Unique Speed Profiles Database
D Tele Atlas, a leading global provider of digital maps and dynamic content for navigation and location based solutions, has gained access to TomTom’s vast speed profiles database, which will be made available to Tele Atlas customers later this year in a uniform, global, low footprint format.
Speed profiles transform the navigation user experience because routes are calculated using real measurements instead of rough estimates. The speed profiles database is derived from almost half a trillion speed measurements that TomTom customers in 25 countries have been sharing with the company over the past two years, making it unique in terms of both size and richness. Today this speed profile database already provides highly accurate information about actual average speeds for every five minutes of the day on any day of the week on all of the roads in 23 European countries and 90 percent of the roads in the United States. To achieve this kind of accuracy, those 18 million kilometers of roads had to be driven and measured on average more than 2,000 times at different times of the day and during different days of the week.
Traditional systems use standardized estimates to calculate routes based on census data or legal speed limits, so routes are always the same regardless of the time, day or situation. “These estimates ignore many things that influence how people should drive to their destinations, such as the frequencies of traffic lights, lunch breaks at large schools, speed bumps, stop signs and awkward railway crossings, ” says Tele Atlas CEO Bill Henry. “Speed profiles actually contain this very specific and important local knowledge, enabling our customers to deliver unprecedented navigation quality—much better routes and much more accurate estimated times of arrival.”
Recent user tests with this speed profile database show impressive results. For the first time in history, the vast majority of users said that the routes produced by their navigation devices match the way they themselves would drive in areas they have known for years. “Clearly, Tele Atlas speed profiles deliver the best route to every possible destination,” says Henry.
D Tele Atlas, a leading global provider of digital maps and dynamic content for navigation and location based solutions, has gained access to TomTom’s vast speed profiles database, which will be made available to Tele Atlas customers later this year in a uniform, global, low footprint format.
Speed profiles transform the navigation user experience because routes are calculated using real measurements instead of rough estimates. The speed profiles database is derived from almost half a trillion speed measurements that TomTom customers in 25 countries have been sharing with the company over the past two years, making it unique in terms of both size and richness. Today this speed profile database already provides highly accurate information about actual average speeds for every five minutes of the day on any day of the week on all of the roads in 23 European countries and 90 percent of the roads in the United States. To achieve this kind of accuracy, those 18 million kilometers of roads had to be driven and measured on average more than 2,000 times at different times of the day and during different days of the week.
Traditional systems use standardized estimates to calculate routes based on census data or legal speed limits, so routes are always the same regardless of the time, day or situation. “These estimates ignore many things that influence how people should drive to their destinations, such as the frequencies of traffic lights, lunch breaks at large schools, speed bumps, stop signs and awkward railway crossings, ” says Tele Atlas CEO Bill Henry. “Speed profiles actually contain this very specific and important local knowledge, enabling our customers to deliver unprecedented navigation quality—much better routes and much more accurate estimated times of arrival.”
Recent user tests with this speed profile database show impressive results. For the first time in history, the vast majority of users said that the routes produced by their navigation devices match the way they themselves would drive in areas they have known for years. “Clearly, Tele Atlas speed profiles deliver the best route to every possible destination,” says Henry.
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