SatNav Ties Up With AND Netherlands

SatNav, a GIS company has entered into a joint venture with AND Netherlands, an independent digital mapping company.The deal will enable SatNav to use digital data of over 200 countries from AND. Looks like a content-sharing JV. SatNav products include an online mapping site RoadsofIndia, which could have been better in terms of ease of use and interface.

Other products include a PDA software SatGuide and a Personal Navigation Device.Last year they partnered retailers to map their store locations.SatNav’s maps are mapped by SatGuide which are voice enabled and supports 8 languages:Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil, Telugu and English.

SatNav had previously raised $7 million from Sequoia Capital and used the funds for marketing, to increase the customer base, as well as for increasing the number of cities covered by the maps.

Apart from SatNav and MapMyIndia, other companies in the GIS segment in the Indian market include Google Maps, Reliance ADA Group’s BIGMaps, Rediff Maps and Nokia’s Navteq.

Ps.: the press release states that “SatNav Technologies will get access to the best mapping technologies in the world from AND and upgrade their Indian map IP in line with the standards followed worldwide.” So were they not compliant with “worldwide standards” before this JV? What are the worldwide standards?