science

Tele Atlas

Tele Atlas is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Tele Atlas rather than just read about it. In short: Tele Atlas is a Netherlands-based company founded in 1984 which delivers digital maps and other dynamic content for navigation and location-based services, including personal and in-car navigation systems, and provides data used in a wide range of mobile and Internet map applications. Since 30 July 2008, the company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of automotive navigation system manufacturer TomTom.

Key takeaways

Tele Atlas belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Tele Atlas to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Tele Atlas from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Tele Atlas is a Netherlands-based company founded in 1984 which delivers digital maps and other dynamic content for navigation and location-based services, including personal and in-car navigation systems, and provides data used in a wide range of mobile and Internet map applications. Since 30 July 2008, the company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of automotive navigation system manufacturer TomTom.

Operations The company provides maps, some sourced from other mapping companies, covering two hundred countries around the world, providing mapping data and "Map Enhancement Products" such as points of interest and address points. Clients of Tele Atlas include makers of automotive navigation systems as well as mobile and internet companies which provide mapping services. The firm also supplies data to clients in the public and private sectors who rely on geographic information.

Mapping vans

The company keeps its data up-to-date in part through a fleet of dozens of mapping vans equipped with "six cameras, two side-sweeping lasers and a GPS navigation device." The vans capture about three photos per second while traveling at normal speeds, resulting in more than 100 million images per year from each van; the images are stored on one of two hard disk drives within a metal cabinet inside the van, drives that hold about two weeks of data. Meanwhile, the 3-D scanning lasers record the width, height and contours of the first reflective surface they encounter, producing data that when combined with the images create a three-dimension representation. Three-dimension representations are already available in Japan and Western Europe; employees at the company's U.S. headquarters in Lebanon, New Hampshire, near Dartmouth College, expected in August 2009 that by the beginning of 2011, devices based on Tele Atlas data would be able to depict the surroundings in photo-realistic detail.

Map error handling Map errors are handled using Tele Atlas Map Insight, described as "our consumer map feedback and change reporting system". The idea is to let end users report errors directly to Tele Atlas, not via the technical support of the manufacturers of products using Tele Atlas maps, and thereby reducing support costs. Map errors are reported using the Tele Atlas Map Insight map feedback web page, to which there can be links from the supports pages of the products. Company is provided the 25% quality in their geospatial database.

Acquisitions

Etak In May 2000, Tele Atlas acquired Etak, Inc., a United States-based vendor of automotive navigation system equipment, digital maps, and mapping software, from Sony Corporation, which became Tele Atlas North America. Etak, Inc. ceased to exist as a separate company soon after.

GDT On 29 April, 2004, Tele Atlas acquired GDT (Geographic Data Technology, Inc.), a digital map supplier in New Hampshire.

TomTom On 23 July 2007, a €2 billion offer for the company by navigation system maker TomTom was accepted by the Tele Atlas board. This was then trumped by a €2.3 billion offer from US-based rival Garmin on 31 October 2007 initiating a bidding war for Tele Atlas. TomTom responded by upping their bid to €2.9 billion, an offer which was again approved by the board of Tele Atlas. Garmin had been expected to counterbid once again: with Tele Atlas' main global rival Navteq subject to a takeover bid from Nokia, the company had stated that it did not wish both companies to fall into the hands of rivals. However, after striking a content agreement with Navteq through the year 2015, Garmin withdrew its takeover offer, clearing the way for TomTom. On 4 December 2007, TomTom shareholders approved the takeover. The European Commissioner for Competition cleared the takeover in May 2008, and it closed in June.

Internet mapping agreements Historically, Internet mapping providers have utilized map data from a variety of vendors. Given the growth in usage of Internet mapping portals, the map suppliers have competed fiercely for that business. On 30 June 2008, Tele Atlas announced a five-year agreement to continue to supply data to Google Maps. Under the deal, Tele Atlas was to have access to corrections and updates to the data made by the Google Maps community. Roughly a year later, in October 2009, Google discontinued using Tele Atlas maps in the United States and began collecting map feedback from consumers for their own use. Shortly thereafter, Google announced Google Maps Navigation for Android, which provides turn-by-turn navigation, similar to the functionality provided by TomTom devices, for free as part of Android. In May 2008, Mapquest announced that it had expanded its agreement with Navteq to use Navteq map data in 73 countries. In January 2009, Microsoft announced that it had expanded its agreement with Navteq to utilize its map data for 74 countries, in addition to licensing a variety of additional content. As a result, consumers in the Internet segment are likely to be exposed to Tele Atlas data less frequently.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tele Atlas

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tele Atlas claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Tele Atlas before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Tele Atlas ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Tele Atlas

In research: Tele Atlas appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Tele Atlas in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Tele Atlas is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics GIS companies, Map companies, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tele Atlas outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Tele Atlas in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Tele Atlas means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Tele Atlas out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tele Atlas in simple terms?

Why does Tele Atlas matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Tele Atlas?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Tele Atlas.