Google the Great!!!!!!!!!!!
Google up its position in the digital navigation world by signing a long-term agreement with Tele Atlas that gives the search engine company access to Tele Atlas maps and content in more than 200 countries.
The deal, announced Monday, could also eventually place Google and its Android Open Handset Alliance in stronger competition with Nokia .
"This agreement ... gives us access to input from a significant online community of map users, whose feedback can help us keep our maps fresh and accurate," Tele Atlas CEO Bill Henry said in a statement . Atlas noted that by increasing geospatial data, global search is enhanced by organizing data and delivering results on location.
A subsidiary of TomTom, Tele Atlas has some 2,500 staff members and contract cartographers in 24 countries. With the help of millions of GPS globally, these workers track and validate changes in real time to develop and enhance accurate digital maps and dynamic content.
TomTom recently received approval from the European Union to acquire Tele Atlas , setting the stage for competition with Nokia's Navteq navigation operation. Nokia recently unveiled a partnership with France Telecom's Orange with a goal of signing up 10 million Mobile Maps users by 2010.
The TomTom-Tele Atlas union had been aimed more at automotive navigation, while Nokia-Navteq seemed to address the pedestrian side of navigation. As the navigation market advances quickly, the two groups seem to be seeking to become major players in both the automotive and pedestrian markets.
