Navigon Licenses Data from RoadTraps.com

RoadTraps.com is missing thousands of locations from its North American database.  Yet companies like Navigon, Garmin and TomTom still charge $4.99 USA Speedcams for the In-App Purchase in the iPhone store.   RoadTraps.com is clearly operated by a company in Europe and have poor information.  The United States does not have as many speed fixed traps like Europe.  Navigon charges $44.99 for the North American app and $34.99 for the USA and Canada versions.  I commend their claim that they are the #1 Database in the World.  

Apple Needs TomTom's TeleAtlas Maps to Compete with Google Maps

The iPhone and iPad manufacturer Apple might buy the GPS navigation firm TomTom / TeleAtlas as it needs their mapping assets to compete with Google Maps. Analyst Ben Wood is out with some interesting predictions for 2011, including one that cash-rich Apple (AAPL) will by GPS firm TomTom. Wood, formerly at Gartner, is a top wireless industry analysts, and I’m not just saying that so he returns my calls. Better yet, you could expect a wave of useful location-based features to reach MobileMe, third party apps, and, of course, Apple's iAds system. And, of course, such a purchase could assist Apple should it decide to make a stab at the auto-electronics market.

Portable Navigation Device sales are apparently weak this holiday season according to the analysts. Are PND devices losing consumer interest faster than expected because of other GPS devices?  Retail strength appeared biased towards mobile phones, tablets, TVs and gaming.  iPhone and Android devices were strong and Blackberry and Nokia (Navteq) remained weak.   PND devices may be losing interest more quickly than analysts expected and the price cuts are deep expecting subscription sales to make up the difference. However, very few of them have any differentiated content strategy to sell the data.

Wedbush analysts were watching retail traffic at Best Buy where the auto/GPS section was relatively desolate looking and it took time and effort to locate store personnel.  Displacement from smartphones and in-dash navigation systems continue: Garmin nüvi 255WT and TomTom XL350TM both 4.3” devices priced at $99.99 (TomTom also includes life time maps update).  The lowest priced PNDs were the Garmin nüvi 205 3.5” for $79 and the TomTom Ease US 3.5” for $59, both at Walmart. Follow up checks showed Garmin’s priced just under $100 with competitive products priced at $79.99. At one big box retailer, we calculated allocated shelf space for PNDs as follows: TomTom 32%, Magellan 32%, Garmin 20%, Insignia 12%, and Mitac 4%. However, they saw some separate standalone displays for Garmin and to a lesser extent, TomTom. While they believe TomTom will once again garner share gains on Black Friday, and believe both Garmin and TomTom will suffer from a declining PND market. Wedbush notes that Garmin did receive additional shelf space in the Outdoor/Fitness section, though they also saw Polar making a bigger push into GPS watches with a more sleek design.  Here are the latest PNDs available on Amazon.com.

       

Still No TomTom Red Light Camera US POI Database Available

Here is an email I received from TomTom today posing the following question:  Is there a US photo enforced locations database is available on your navigation devices?  The answer was NO.  Read below. 

"Thank you for taking the time to contact TomTom Customer Support. My name is Amanda and we are always happy to help. I understand that you would like to know if US photo enforced locations database is available for developers. We understand your concern, please be assured I will do my best to answer your query. I would like to inform you that, US photo enforced locations database is currently unavailable for US developers. I regret for the inconvenience caused. We value your suggestions for improvements to our products and services. Suggestions are gathered and organized to understand the areas our customers are most interested in enhancing. Our Product Managers review all feedback to determine future enhancements and products. Many of our current products and updates offer features based on customer suggestions. We certainly value our esteemed customers like you."

The fact that no US photo enforced database is available is amazing considering PhotoEnforced.com started to receive interest from TomTom back in 2005 about licensing our database.  TomTom is known for trying to do everything themselves and that results in garbage in and garbage out.  The photo enforcement notification business is big for TomTom in Europe and probably a multiple million dollar business for them.  Why haven't they been able to get it going in the US with their mapping partner TeleAtlas?

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Garmin Red Light Camera Database is Crap
TomTom Red Light Camera Database is Crap

Here is some new technology that allows cellphones to be used as navigation devices in cars, putting more pressure on the makers of in-car satnav systems. German car industry group Consumer Electronics for Automotive (CE4A) unveiled a standard for the technology, which is being pushed by Nokia, the world's largest cellphone maker.

The personal navigation device (PND) industry, led by TomTom and Garmin, has been hit badly by competition from Google Maps navigation-enabled smartphones. When the new "terminal mode" standard is included in cars -- likely starting next year -- it enables consumers to plug a wire to their smartphones in the car and without any additional setup issues to use navigation or other features of their phones directly from a screen built into the car.

Consumer adoption will however take time, industry players and analysts say. "Immediate impact of this is limited, but if you get a credible, good enough experience from the phone navigation in the car -- it removes the need to have any PND," said Tim Shepherd, analyst with research firm Canalys. Navteq, the world's largest digital mapping firm, said it was seeing interest in the new technology across the industry. "We have seen a lot of interest in terminal mode from system vendors and OEMs (original equipment manufacturers)," Navteq's Chief Executive Larry Kaplan told Reuters in a recent interview.

We receive emails everyday from frustrated TomTom users who would like to use our database and yet we can't seem to get any follow through from the company about actually licensing our database. We have met with the TomTom management team over the last few years and like them a lot.  However, it seems that the European office is calling the shots and they seem content building their own database "through their customers".  As long as TomTom's executive and marketing team are satisfied with having a crap database and being behind the curve, that is what their customers will get. TomTom's safety camera database in Europe is notorious for having crappy data because they rely on users who input data on their devices.  Garbage in and garbage out.  

Please retweet and post a comment this post if you would like to see our red light content added to the TomTom platform. I don't think management is going to change their data provider unless consumers protest.

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Garmin Red Light Camera Database is Crap

The Garmin Nüvi for navigation must be a holiday retail success story because we are getting lots of emails from customers asking for our red light camera database. We do not currently license the database directly to consumers because we do not have the infrastructure necessary to deal with customer service.  We prefer to license our database to vendors like Garmin who can add our database as a feature.  After my brief review it appears based on the product that traffic is an additional service option that can be added on as well as a number of Points of Interest as seen below.  There are many other points of interest like banks, restaurants, shopping, parking, gas, entertainment but nothing to help you driver more safely.  Safe driving is a hot topic this year and we have a database that can help Garmin  customers.

We met with Garmin management and they seemed content sourcing red light camera data from an unamed company in Europe that provides no sources for its database.  As long as Garmin's executive seem is satisfied with being behind the curve and not having a complete dataset that is what their customers will get.  Please retweet and post a comment this post if you would like to see our red light content added to the Garmin platform. I don't think management is going to change their data provider unless consumers protest.

See related story:
TomTom Red Light Camera Database is Crap

Google announces turn-by-turn GPS navigation today for the Android. It’s currently in beta testing, and will be available for FREE on phones using Google’s Android 2.0 operating system. The GPS navigation includes a tons of unique features (many of these are part of the features you’d see planning a route using Google Maps through a regular web browser).

Google just forced the traditional GPS navigation companies to rethink their business models releasing what may be a far superior product for free. It is not a standalone navigation app. Rather it taps into a lot of the resources Google makes available on the Web, including Google Maps, Streetview, voice recognition, and sophisticated search. Google is happy to give its navigation app away for free because it leverages many existing technologies it has already built for the Web, and it encourages more people to use Web-capable phones and do local searches on them. Its strategy is to give the software away for free, and make money on the search ads.

GPS navigation apps are among the most expensive, and most lucrative, of all mobile apps. However, these paid navigation apps (Navigon, TomTom, CoPilot, MapQuest, GoKivo and Sygic Mobile) are at an immediate disadvantage.  Maybe the race will become which company starts licensing the most useful third party data to differentiate themselves?  The big question is when does Google Maps start incorporating points of interest features from users?  PhotoEnforced.com is an example of a map data source where the advertising business model is completely aligned with Google Maps.

Google could very well make it available to other phones as well, and that is what has investors worried. The new Google Maps Navigation app will be included on Motorola's upcoming Android phone, the Motorola Droid, and will provide turn-by-turn directions based on up-to-date maps and business listings from Google Maps. The Google Maps Navigation software will also be made available to other Android devices running the newly unveiled Android 2.0 software.

Shares in GPS manufacturers Garmin and TomTom fell today following the annoucement from Google that upcoming Android handsets will include free navigation software.  Following the announcement shares of Garmin fell 17.2% to $31.88 and TomTom shares fell more than 20% to €8.11.

I was watching an interview with the TomTom CEO on CNBC World the other night and heard an interesting fact about the safety of GPS navigation systems. Like cell phones, many people tend to get distracted and too dependent on their GPS navigation system while driving. Accident history is starting to show a high correlation with GPS navigation users and drivers who are making sudden driving decisions. I am not someone who blames the device manufacturer for these accidents but I do think the utility of GPS navigation devices will need to improve in order to save publicity nightmares. These devices may be teaching bad driving habits enabling users to get too dependent on turn by turn directions which often leads to confusion when presented with an obstacle in the road that doesn't exist on the map. I think the market and utility of GPS navigation systems will evolve into "GPS warning systems" for traffic accidents ahead, red light cameras, speed cameras, school crossings and routes with lots of bicycle rides.