NAVTEQ announced today at Futurecom 2009 that it has reached a major pedestrian milestone of one hundred cities for its NAVTEQ Discover Cities product including coverage for Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
As the largest cities in South America, home to approximately 10% of the Brazilian population, and key destinations for business and pleasure, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are a natural extension of the NAVTEQ Discover Cities coverage footprint. For a business traveler, tourist or local resident, Discover Cities enables unique pedestrian navigation experiences by adding detail to the NAVTEQ Map. This exclusive combination of pedestrian geometry and pathways, Points of Interest and transit data enables development of applications to help pedestrians navigate to their destinations via a variety of pedestrian specific routes, including those entirely on foot.
NAVTEQ works closely with public transit operators to source information on schedules and the entrances and exits to transit stations to help application providers deliver the best routing options. For example an attendee to the Formula 1 – Grande Premio do Brasil held each October in Sao Paulo could receive instructions to take the G train from their hotel on Berrini Avenue to the Interlagos Circuit that includes the train’s timetables. Upon exiting the hotel lobby they would also be provided turn-by-turn pedestrian directions to the metro entrance.
This achievement is also significant given the sheer depth and complexity of the pedestrian navigation data NAVTEQ specialists collect, based on a single, global specification. While walking the world’s cities, these specialists meticulously collect more than 50 pedestrian-specific attributes.
A key benefit of NAVTEQ’s robust specification and "feet on the street" is the inclusion of pedestrian "shortcuts" that can be used to save time. These shortcuts may be via unmarked paths through parks, plazas or even publicly accessible buildings. Without this additional data, applications may generate a route that involves only sidewalks when significantly shorter options are possible in reality. For example, a pedestrian walking to an address on Avenida Sao Luis would be provided directions that illustrate a path through Praca de Republica to Avenida Ipiranga.
This short-cut saves the traveler both time and energy. Additionally the pedestrian map would display a 3D Landmark representation of the Italia Building adding to the pedestrians’ confidence that they are heading in the right direction to their final destination. While seemingly simple, the content and data representation required for this type of routing represents a formidable challenge and is only possible with Discover Cities.