TeleAtlas 3-D Buildings in US

Who wants 3-D images for the US? Yea, I do. Well TeleAtlas is working on it with a few hundred landmarks in the US for us to start one. Now we just need a faster processors and huge memory chips, and we'll be all set for the whole country's worth of 3-D buldings.

GPS users will soon see the shingles lining historic ballparks, windowpanes stretching above the Manhattan skyline and the smile on Abraham Lincoln’s face more clearly. Tele Atlas, a leading global provider of digital maps and dynamic content for navigation and location-based solutions, today announced it will make available more than 400 detailed 3D (three dimensional) landmarks of notable North American structures for use in navigation devices and location-based applications, including Fenway Park, the Empire State Building and Lincoln Memorial.

Tele Atlas also announced the availability of its Digital Elevation Model for North America, which follows last month’s launch of the Digital Elevation Model in Europe and is designed to help deliver an unprecedented degree of image quality for navigation offerings.

By leveraging highly detailed Tele Atlas 3D landmarks and elevation models, developers can add recognizable building representations that enhance screen images in in-car and portable navigation systems. Also, the 3D content enables local search applications on mobile devices to more closely match what users actually see in their surroundings.

Currently, Tele Atlas 3D landmarks in North America are available for more than 400 structures in 14 major U.S. and Canadian cities including: Boston , Chicago , Milwaukee , New York , Toronto and Washington , D.C. , with images spanning from the legendary Fenway Park in Boston to the historical Washington Monument in D.C. These landmarks are designed to help drivers and pedestrians better orient themselves in their surroundings; for example, when passing the Empire State Building in New York , users can view the building’s exterior and see detail such as the curve in the archway at the entrance. Tele Atlas will continue to expand this offering in Q4 2007 to deliver additional landmarks in cities such as Los Angeles , Orlando and San Francisco ; more than 1,400 total 3D landmarks are currently scheduled to be available during 2008.

“Three dimensional map features deliver a more tangible and realistic navigation experience, in both personal and in-dash systems, and ultimately improve overall map usability,” said Bill Lucey, global enhancement products director, Tele Atlas. “As we extend our 3D offerings globally, we’re pleased to offer the features our partners require and to help spur further development of visually enhanced, innovative navigation capabilities that consumers will use to enrich their navigation experience.”

The Tele Atlas Elevation Model is designed to help deliver an unprecedented level of image quality, with displays now able to show highly realistic landscapes with contours at scales up to 1:50,000. More detailed contours will allow users to see the road network in much greater detail to better orient themselves with a visual experience that depicts geographic elevations. To create the Digital Elevation Models, Tele Atlas leveraged content from several key sources including, the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission of NASA (SRTM) and the GTOPO project led by the U.S. Geological Survey. Tele Atlas will be extending coverage of the Digital Elevation Model around the globe and refining resolution to the point where eventually it can be integrated with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), further enhancing safety and economy.

The launch of 3D features for North America also follows the recent opening of the Tele Atlas’ Display Technology Center in Shanghai , which will focus on producing visual enhancements such as 3D landmarks, 3D city maps and crossing magnifications designed to help make navigation systems clear and compelling to end users. The Center is currently producing display features for navigation and local search products in the Asia Pacific region and Tele Atlas expects it to become the company’s global center for display production in the future.

September 25, 2007

TeleAtlas 3-D Buildings in US