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Tele Atlas announce high definition 3D mapping
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MikeB
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PostPosted: Wed May 09, 2007 1:09 pm    Post subject: Tele Atlas announce high definition 3D mapping Reply with quote

Last week Tele Atlas announced 3D mapping for European cities. This is the culmination of over two years work. When pocketGPSWorld.com visited the Tele Atlas offices in Gent back in August 2005 I was shown a demonstration of the 3D capabilities of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Click here to read our full Tele Atlas visit report.

At the time I was unconvinced about the usefulness of 3D imaging as a tool in navigation applications. It certainly adds a WOW factor to the navigation experience, but can it really enhance your journey and help focus your attention on the road? I was somewhat sceptical until I saw the new iGO software at CeBIT this year. Being able to tell with a quick glance what the upcoming terrain is like can give you the confidence that you are going the right way.

I expect that these maps will be more useful for users out of the car and travelling on foot (or on public transport) where the full splendour of the imagery can be fully appreciated. This, of course, can be coupled with interactive tour guides to provide a complete hi-tech tourist trail of a city.

It will still be some time before this mapping data gets into applications on the shop floor, but the technologies and data are now available for those who manufacturers who want to implement it. It will only be a matter of time before we are all treated to the wonders of 3D buildings, and we will wonder how we ever managed to survive in the "good old days" with just a line on a 2D map. In the mean time you can click on the graphic to the right to see what the 3D maps might look like in a navigation application.

Tele Atlas press release wrote:

Tele Atlas Delivers Key European Cities in 3D
High definition maps help enrich navigation devices and LBS applications
with realistic views of cities and building structures

Malta, Tele Atlas Partner Conference, May 3, 2007 – Tele Atlas (FSE: TA6, EUNV: TA), a leading global provider of digital maps and dynamic content for navigation and location-based solutions, today announced it will make available nearly 50 detailed 3D (three dimensional) city maps for use in navigation devices and location-based applications. The first Tele Atlas 3D city maps will be released in July 2007, including maps for major European cities such as Berlin, London and Rome; additional European, U.S. and Asian cities are scheduled to be released during the next year.

Tele Atlas 3D city maps are designed to help drivers and pedestrians more easily orient themselves based on the appearance of an approaching or nearby destination. With 3D capabilities, screen images in in-car and portable navigation systems and local search applications on mobile devices more closely match what users actually see in their surroundings. The detailed, navigable Tele Atlas 3D city maps available in July will cover nearly 2,000 km², or approximately 40 km² per city. In addition, they will feature complete, textured city centers modelled in 3D and Tele Atlas’ unique 3D landmarks of notable structures, including Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, the Tower of London and the Colosseum in Rome.

Based on a recent Tele Atlas Advanced Display Research Study, conducted to determine consumer interest in 3D and enhanced image offerings by current and potential navigation system users, a compelling 81 percent of consumers expressed a preference for 3D display over 2D display offerings. The study also indicated a strong willingness to pay for additional 3D city map content.

“Three dimensional digital maps deliver a navigation experience that is even more tangible and realistic, with features that can ultimately help improve map usability,” said Basak Ozer, vice president, global product marketing, Tele Atlas. “As we have found from our experience in Asia, navigation systems equipped with 3D images are fueling global demand for richer, more realistic map content. We’re committed to being the first to deliver these capabilities to our partners.”

By leveraging Tele Atlas 3D city maps, developers can add recognizable building representations with excellent optical quality while maintaining a low volume of data. This ability to present the highly detailed, true-to-life 3D models at exceptionally low data volumes was achieved through a new parametric texture technology developed by GTA Geoinformatik GmbH, a German company with extensive experience in 3D geo-referenced visualization and modelling. With this technology, application developers are provided a range of options, from colored block models to colored facades and roofs with detailed texture.

To facilitate the arrival of 3D city maps on navigation devices and applications, Tele Atlas also is collaborating with leading 3D-modelling software companies, including Germany-based PIXEL and Great Britain-based AGS and 3DLABS, as well as leading hardware companies.

The 3D city maps product complements Tele Atlas’ existing 3D offerings, available since early 2006. Tele Atlas currently markets more than 1,000 landmarks in 30 European cities. Pioneer’s recently launched AVIC-HD3BT is the first commercial navigation system to include Tele Atlas 3D landmarks; the automotive entertainment system’s navigation offering includes 518 European landmarks in 21 cities. Tele Atlas plans to launch more than 1,000 3D landmarks for the U.S. in more than 30 major cities in 2007.

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NickG
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PostPosted: Wed May 09, 2007 1:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What a stupid idea. Have they actually asked their users if they would rather have big 3D buildings on their maps in preference to spending that same time and money fixing the 2D maps which contain millions of errors, some reported several years ago? I know they've done a survey and users have asked for this, but surely most users would rather they fix the 2D maps first rather than spend time on 3D buildings, which are of little use for road navigation.

The buildings will get in the way and prevent you from seeing where the turns actually are, so as the original post says, this is probably more useful for 'walking' type GPS systems than for example, a TomTom.

Why not add something USEFUL to the data like the REAL (measured) average speeds for each road at various times of day instead of assuming every single A road in the world has an average speed of x MPH at any time of day. This would make routing MUCH more accurate. This would make it not route you past two primary schools at 8:45am when a road running parallel to it that's 2% longer goes to the same place but with no traffic! If they did a deal with (eg) TomTom, it could collect and anonymously upload this data whenever you sync. Millions of sensors already installed!

Fundamentally, you shouldn't even be LOOKING at your sat nav while driving! I think the map should be as basic as possible so you need to look at it for the smallest time possible for you to work out which way you should be going at the junction. Adding more eye candy to the map will only make using sat-nav more dangerous.
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jamiepyoung
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PostPosted: Wed May 09, 2007 2:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

as much as i love the look of it, I have to agree with the previous post.

more time should be spent getting the useful stuff right like traffic, and actual road speeds.
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MaFt
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PostPosted: Wed May 09, 2007 2:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

the use of the data will be entirely dependant on the device/software manufacturers. for example the iGo My Way 3d buildings fade out as you get near them so you can still see them but can also see the roads nearby.

ok, you shouldn't be looking at the satnav while driving so why even bother having a map display at all? surely just voice commands would suffice? in reality voice commands need to be backed up by visible data - if you have to spend 20 seconds working out how the 2-d map compares to the real road then surely if you have a 3d map showing you the lay of the land and buildings then that would cut the comparison time down considerably actually making it safer?

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iancjc
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PostPosted: Wed May 09, 2007 2:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

at least we know why the maps from the past 2 years are so woefully out of date.......

what a waste of time and money - if I want to see what the building next to looks like I'll look at it - not at a stupid "£$^&*ing image on a 4" screen.

If this had been posted on April 1st I'd have laughed.
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Almahadeus
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PostPosted: Wed May 09, 2007 2:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Have to strongly agree that they should first sort out the problems with their 2D maps before going onto this gimmicky waste of time and money.

Just imagine now driving into buildings instead of dead-ended roads or the wrong way of a one-way road. Just the other day Teleatlas got me onto a route that was strictly for buses in London.
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MaFt
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PostPosted: Wed May 09, 2007 2:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Almahadeus wrote:
Just the other day Teleatlas got me onto a route that was strictly for buses in London.


have you reported it here: http://mapinsight.teleatlas.com/ ?

it may be that the data is updated but tomtom (or whoever) is issuing old versions of it?

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NickG
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PostPosted: Wed May 09, 2007 3:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

MaFt wrote:
ok, you shouldn't be looking at the satnav while driving so why even bother having a map display at all? surely just voice commands would suffice? in reality voice commands need to be backed up by visible data - if you have to spend 20 seconds working out how the 2-d map compares to the real road then surely if you have a 3d map showing you the lay of the land and buildings then that would cut the comparison time down considerably actually making it safer?


No. It's much MUCH faster to interpret a basic 2D map than to figure out a 3D one. The less data, the better (I studied HCI and degree-level user interface design). Why do you think many sat nav devices switch to an extremely basic "Safety View" over a certain speed?

I agree that you have to look at the screen while driving. It's precisely for this reason that the map needs to be very basic. A basic plan view which shows you which exit you need is far more useful than a complex 3D isometic view with textured buildings, POIs, trees, street lights and all sorts of other rubbish displayed on it. If you've got 2 seconds to look at a map, you need it to be as basic as possible. The demo screen shots and video further complicate this by making the direction arrows go THROUGH buildings which is even more confusing!

MaFt wrote:
surely just voice commands would suffice?

They would suffice if they were correct (most of the time). I personally find they are often wrong (eg it says to take the 3rd exit on a roundabout when the screen clearly shows it's the 4th). Why does it make these mistakes? Because the 2D map data is incorrect!!!. It needs fixing before they waste their time on this 3D eye candy rubbish. Sat Nav is NOT a computer game!

I've reported 4 map errors several times using the mapinsight website and NONE of the mistakes have ever been corrected. Many of the mistakes are major, like incorrect one-way designations!
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HielandLad
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PostPosted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I disagree with what has been said.

I for one am looking forward to having 3D topographical data displayed out of town. Living in a rural area I think that this is an excellent way of orienting yourself. The demo pics from Cebit of the IGo implementation are exactly what I am looking for.

As for cities, I think the jury is out. Firstly though we can't judge it by the demo that Tele Atlas used to show off their data. It is not a real sat nav programme, and I am sure that much more thought would go into implementation. The arrows through buildings would be distracting, but as someone pointed out earlier the IGo implementation had the buildings either disappear or become translucent nearer the corner.

Whether having all buildings mapped is a good idea or not, I think that having landmarks mapped would be very helpful. The London Eye, Edinburgh Castle, etc. These help to orient us when there are multitudes of roads.

Of course the data should be up to date, but road maps are like painting the Forth Bridge. If we waited for it to finish before we considered the future we would never have any new ideas.
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xspartx
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PostPosted: Wed May 09, 2007 11:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Its all a bit silly really.

I can see lots of accidents from people looking at their Sat Nav and ensuring that it "matches" their surroundings.

Inevitable though as the map makers seek to keep their sales turning over.
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GPS_fan
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PostPosted: Thu May 10, 2007 8:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

OK, so now we have to watch out for changes to the building layout as well as the road layout.

I'm definitely a 2D map person - you never see AA or Ordnance Survey (et al) pop-up maps showing towns on 3D because they concentrate on the accuracy of the 2D mapping
for roads with contour lines showing the lumpy bumpy bits.

I agree with previous posts - people will be busier looking at their GPS instead of watching the road - a recipe for accidents and playing right into the hands of those legisators who will try to outlaw GPS.
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jonandmarkuk
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PostPosted: Thu May 10, 2007 9:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I fail to see how smooth the display will be, some GPS units seem to struggle with the 3D mode they already have so how is the same processor going to be able to cope with 3d with buildings?
Nice idea but I would prefer to see more detailed roads than buildings. i.e a display which shows all 3 lanes of the road and clearly shows which one you should be in.
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MikeB
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PostPosted: Thu May 10, 2007 9:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

jonandmarkuk wrote:
Nice idea but I would prefer to see more detailed roads than buildings. i.e a display which shows all 3 lanes of the road and clearly shows which one you should be in.
This is already available in the data, but so far has only been implemented by Navigon (using the Navteq data)
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philpugh
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PostPosted: Thu May 10, 2007 2:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Which brings us neatly back to Nickg's first reply to the original post - spend the money getting the mapping (and routing options) correct on the units we already have.

The only use for this sort of thing I can think of is to help strangers walking about a big city - coupled with something like GARMIN's Tour Guide facility it could be useful - but for driving - forget it - too much data on a small screen when what you really need is simple information about up coming turns etc.

But I suspect they will sell thousands - then there will be lots of support issues raised - the building is the wrong colour/shape.....
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mostdom
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PostPosted: Thu May 10, 2007 4:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just looking at the first picture and the junction in the distance. If you take the buildings out and just leave the detailed road layouts it could be quite good. Who knows how many times my gps tells me to turn at complicated junctions when in reality that turn could be one of many, wrong lane, filter lane, etc...


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