NAVTECH DRIVES MASS-MARKET PENETRATION OF VEHICLE NAVIGATION PRODUCTS

Posted On:
November 17, 1997

BERLIN, October 22, 1997 - In a move designed to stimulate growth inthe vehicle navigation market, Navigation Technologies (NavTech), makersof the NavTech® navigable database, today announced a new softwareproduct which is set to make the CD-ROMs used in in-vehicle navigationproducts interchangeable for the first time.

The interoperability enabled by the new software, codenamed SDAL, hasbeen welcomed by some of the automotive industry's leading playersincluding Daimler-Benz, Renault, Pioneer Electronic Corporation,Mannesmann VDO, Valeo Electronics and Magellan Systems, as a positivestep towards achieving mass market penetration of vehicle navigationsystems. In total, over the past several years, NavTech has worked with28 companies that are interested in using the software, and expects thelaunch of as many as five new SDAL-based navigation products in the next12 to 18 months.

Version 1.0 of SDAL is platform-independent software that, through theuse of a shared map database media format (ie. a physical storageformat, or PSF), enables the creation of interchangeable CD-ROMs. Thesoftware also enables in-vehicle navigation applications to read andmanipulate data from the common CD-ROM. This is made possible by theSDAL data access programming interface (DAPI), an interface layer ofaccess routines which an in-vehicle application uses to retrieve dataoff the CD-ROM, and a data access library (DAL) that executes therequests made through the DAPI.

To date, the lack of a common industry standard has required developersto create their own proprietary CD-ROM formats, incompatible with oneanother. This has resulted in numerous CD-ROM versions of the same mapbeing produced to work with different manufacturers' products,complicating distribution and confusing end-users. SDAL provides theindustry with a single solution to simplify distribution and logistics,and stimulate end-user demand.

"If you imagine your music CD player only being able to play CDsdesigned for that brand alone, then you will begin to see thedifficulties facing the in-car navigation market. Interoperability ofmap CDs across many and eventually all vendors' navigation products isessential for long term growth in the market," comments Ron Brumback,NavTech's Chief Operating Officer.

Brumback continued: "NavTech is committed to bringing SDAL in line withindustry standards upon their approval. In the meantime, SDAL providesa standard solution today to help our customers create interoperablein-car navigation products. Drivers will soon be able to buy a CDwithout having to worry about which vendor's system it was designedfor."

NavTech believes only an open, widely understood specification canachieve interoperability. To ensure that this openness is achieved,NavTech has committed to publishing the paper specification for the DAPIand PSF in mid-1998 for anyone to adopt, including its competitors. Bythat time, NavTech will have incorporated valuable feedback fromcustomers' testing.

Industry support

Reinhold Langbein, of the traffic technology department, Daimler-Benzcommented: "Interoperability of map database CDs across navigationsystems is important for Mercedes. We believe that in the future,customers should be able to select map CD-ROMs without concerningthemselves with complex compatibility issues. By providing a practicalsolution to the current incompatibilities, NavTech's SDAL represents aB step forward. The market now has an opportunity to work towardinteroperability and offer consumers greater choice."

In 1998, Renault will offer in-vehicle navigation systems in severalmodels. Philippe Challe, the company's engineering project manager fornavigation and traffic information systems welcomed NavTech'sannouncement as a positive move: "Navigation information changes quicklyin the real world. It is imperative that we limit the diversity offormats used to supply that information to navigation devices. SDALshould bring about simplicity through interoperability which will helpthe market develop. SDAL will also help clarify the relationship betweenthe map vendor and the system vendor which is also good for the market."

Pioneer Electronics Corporation, a leading automotive electronicscompany based in Japan, supports the SDAL concept. Mr Teruhito Yamaki,general manager of the navigation group, said: "When launching a productoverseas, it makes sense to take advantage of local knowledge. Theefficiencies, expertise and interoperability introduced by SDAL willhelp us offer the best navigation product overseas."

Mannesmann VDO AG, the biggest single supplier of in-car informationsystems world-wide, has already started using SDAL to develop navigationsystems, primarily for the OEM market. Dietrich Gabler, product managerfor telematics systems, comments: "We want to be able to offer our OEMcustomers systems which can use a wide variety of map CDs readilyavailable on the market. SDAL provides a means of developing our systemsto make this possible, as well as saving us years of softwaredevelopment time which we would have required to create our own format."

Valeo Electronics, a leading automotive parts manufacturer plans tointroduce an SDAL-based vehicle navigation system in 1999. PhilippeSaint-Martin, programme manager for navigation and driver informationsystems, said: "SDAL provides a solution to one of the main problemsfacing the mass market adoption of vehicle navigation systems. It is thefirst approach by any company to provide an open standard for electronicmap media which can be shared by systems manufacturers, map makers andsoftware vendors. But the greatest benefit will be to end users, sinceit will enable them to choose from a wide variety of map CD-ROMs aseasily as they currently choose a music CD, without a second thoughtabout "compatibility"."

Magellan Systems, which designs and distributes car navigation systemsfor customers which include Hertz in North America, has also committedto using SDAL in their next generation products. Roger Stevens, vicepresident and general manager of Magellan Driver Information Systems,comments: "When a market matures, standards quickly become important inorder to define how products produced by different companies can worktogether most effectively. By defining how the industry can work towardsa single interoperable CD-ROM format for vehicle navigation, SDALrepresents a natural maturing of the market which is key to rapidgrowth."

Commitment to ongoing support and enhancement

NavTech will continue to develop SDAL to meet the changing needs of theindustry and end users. This will include the addition of functionalityfor current and next generation navigation products such as support forrecorded voice guidance phrases and support for hybrid applicationswhere data is both resident in the vehicle and in a central server.

Further, and of immediate importance to end users, SDAL also supportsforward compatibility. Simply put, end users can be assured theirexisting hardware and software will work with future database products.

Commitment to Industry Standards

NavTech is also committed to the standards-making process. Since itsinception, the company has worked within the ISO community, and whilstSDAL has been under development NavTech experts have been contributingits concepts to the standards process. NavTech will continue to worktowards industry standards, a pledge which is underlined by itscommitment to publish the SDAL specification in mid 1998 and adapt theSDAL API (Application Programming Interface) and media format to ISOTC204 standards within one year of their approval.