NAVTEQ, the Nokia owned maps and location service company, has announced the availability of new content, including Motorway Junction Objects, Sign-as-Real and 3D Landmarks, for its NAVTEQ maps for India, in the top eight cities in India. The company feels that the integration of the new visual objects with maps will offer a better navigation experience, and cites its own proprietary research which indicates that users want at-a-glance visual cues as part of the ideal navigation system. NAVTEQ says that this is particularly important for India, where typical guidance cues such as road names are not always prevalent. It claims that its latest commercially released version of the map covers more than 2000 cities throughout India with 1.15 million km of road networks. New Visual Content: - 3D Landmarks: Monuments, buildings and other places of interest will be visualized as full 3D representations in NAVTEQ maps, since these are easily recognizable due to size, history or local appeal. Examples: Hotel Taj (Mumbai), Clock Tower (Hyderabad) and Fortis (Noida) - Motorway Junction Objects: 3D animations of complex junctions such as fly-overs with different lanes and exits. The maps will offer situation-specific 3D context to closely matches what is outside the windshield, for guiding drivers. Examples: Hebbal Flyover (Bangalore), AIIMS flyover (Delhi), and Western Express Highway (Mumbai) - Sign-as-Real: Realistic representations of key road sign boards for guided navigation will be offered. More than 300 key motorway signs have been made available in major cities like Mumbai and Delhi. NAVTEQ competes with…
