Monday December 3, 9:39 am Eastern Time Press Release SOURCE: Tele Atlas North America Tele Atlas North America Raises the Bar On Positional Accuracy Tele Atlas Repositions Urban America in Response to Surveys of More Than 200 Companies Showing Positional Accuracy as Most Important Factor MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 3, 2001-- Tele Atlas North America, a unit of Tele Atlas NV and a leading provider of digital map databases and real-time traffic information for the U.S., announced today that it has recently completed the repositioning of its street map data in 93 of the top 100 U.S. Census urbanized areas. The repositioning effort improves street data for 92 percent of the population living in these areas.
The data repositioning not only makes Tele Atlas the first in the industry to achieve this, but also further strengthens the company`s position as the premier provider of digital map databases. Respondents to independent surveys of more 200 companies chose positional accuracy as the most important data feature.
``More accurate map data saves our customers money and increases the effectiveness of their applications and processes,`` said Richard Selmeier, president and COO of Tele Atlas North America. ``High data quality coupled with superior client service is at the center of our strategic focus. Our mission is to enable all our customers` success on a global scale,`` added Selmeier.
The repositioning effort involved tasks such as moving road geometry to match the shape and position of roads as represented in source material including ortho-rectified imagery and field-collected data, adding any new geometry, removing spurious geometry in the Census TIGER data, and enhancing dual carriageways that were represented in TIGER as single digitized lines.
Survey Findings
Through an independent research company, Tele Atlas North America completed market studies of more than 200 companies in the fields of business support systems, telecommunications, utilities, risk management, fleet management, public safety and location based services to ascertain their critical factors in choosing a digital map provider.
The survey asked customers to rate the importance of data features on a scale of one thru five (five being the most important). Customers found Positional Accuracy the most important factor in selecting a provider of digital map databases by rating it a 4.5. Geocoding Success Rates, which are highly dependent upon Positional Accuracy, naturally followed closely, and Price came in third. Regular Updates and Complete Nationwide Road Network rounded out the findings.
Measuring Data
Tele Atlas North America focuses on attaining a high level of positional accuracy across its comprehensive road network and routing attributes that are collected and verified through field data, and real-time traffic including road construction updates. In order to objectively measure the amount of repositioning work completed by the company, Tele Atlas commissioned the development of a GIS analytical program from an independent company, Idea Integration(TM) Corp. As part of an effort to provide objective information, Tele Atlas is offering a free positional accuracy report that compares Tele Atlas data to a leading competitor. Interested companies can request a copy of a report customized to areas of interest at http://www.na.teleatlas.com/freedatareport.
About Tele Atlas North America
Tele Atlas North America, headquartered in Menlo Park, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tele Atlas NV, the world`s largest provider of digital map data. Tele Atlas North America had its beginnings in 1983 as Etak, Inc. with an innovative vision to provide geographic information in digital form. Today, the company enables its customers` success through unsurpassed leadership in delivering both high-quality spatial data and, in an alliance with Westwood One, real-time traffic information for business and consumer applications. The company focuses on providing content three key areas in the geo-referencing market including Location Based Services (LBS), Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Automotive Navigation. For more information on Tele Atlas products and services, please visit http://www.na.teleatlas.com. |