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Questions & Answers About SDAL Format
Q: NAVTEQ created SDAL Format to deliver map media compatibility. Why is a standard for map media compatibility so important?
A: Standards are important because they enable technologies and even industries to develop faster than they would on their own. Today, the navigation industry lacks a standard to enable the compatibility of map media among different vendor's systems. The absence of a standard slows and complicates every stage of development and distribution inhibiting overall market growth. System manufacturers require a standard to avoid costs and complications related to creating and maintaining proprietary formats. Publishers and distributors of map media require a standard to avoid the costs of managing small inventories of multiple products in incompatible formats. Consumers require a standard to ease the task of selecting the right CD for their system.
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Q: Is SDAL Format an open standard?
A: Yes. SDAL Physical Storage Format Specification is now publicly available for review. Interested parties can register online to request a copy. If manufacturers wish to implement the SDAL Format PSF Specification, they will be able to do so royalty-free.
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Q: What are the benefits of compatibility via SDAL Format?
A: Compatibility benefits every link in the supply chain. It saves time and money for system manufacturers, opens up supplier competition, makes inventories easy and cost effective to track, and makes it easy for consumers to buy map media. In Japan, where the navigation market is more mature than in North America and Europe, car models, even within a product line, are likely to come with navigation products from different manufacturers and are incompatible between models. As a consequence, retailers frequently have to stock up to a hundred different map media titles. SDAL Format removes these obstacles and makes the supplier chain easier, faster, and more cost effective to navigate.
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Q: What is SDAL Format and how does it work?
A: SDAL Format is a fully open format in commercial use today. SDAL Format provides a common Physical Storage Format (PSF), the way in which data is organised on the map media. There's no software on the map media to load into the navigation system, so the media can be used in any SDAL compatible navigation system. Manufacturers and publishers can use this format to create map media products that work in SDAL compatible navigation systems.
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Q: Why is the PSF key to compatibility versus other proposed approaches?
A: The PSF is the best and most direct route to compatibility. It's the simplest route in that it results in a map media that is 100% content - free of the burden of carrying code to work with the full range of ever-changing platforms. This is in contrast with other compatibility proposals to achieve compatibility that would require compatible software for every manufacturer's proprietary platform to be distributed. Given that this proprietary software is constantly changing, with new ones emerging and existing ones evolving, this represents a costly and logistically hazardous path to achieve compatibility.
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Q: How will SDAL Format help reduce time and cost to market?
A: The reduction of time and cost to market is a significant benefit of SDAL Format. It is estimated that developing and maintaining software for making map media accounts for as much as 60% of the effort to develop navigation systems. By delivering this essential piece, SDAL Format eliminates this work, saving time and money.
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Q: What benefits does SDAL deliver to manufacturers that have already invested significant time and money in developing their own proprietary formats?
A: NAVTEQ is first and foremost in the data content publisher business and is fully committed to providing digital map data to system manufacturers in support of whatever format they choose. However, for veteran manufacturers, SDAL Format can reduce the burden and cost of compilation and compiler maintenance. Additionally, SDAL Format provides the option of joining a growing pool of suppliers whose map media are compatible, and offers them the opportunity to reap the benefits that compatibility brings. NAVTEQ will continue to support both users of SDAL Format and users of proprietary formats.
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Q: Who has adopted SDAL Format so far?
A: SDAL Format is the only compatibility solution that is commercially used today on two continents, North America and Europe. Customers include Magellan, Pioneer, Panasonic, Microsoft, Clarion, InfoGation, among others who are scheduled to launch products in the coming months.
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Q: What has been the response to SDAL Format among car manufacturers?
A: Car companies are among those who are the Best proponents of finding a solution to map media compatibility and were, in fact, among the first companies to encourage NAVTEQ to pursue a solution to the issue. They are experiencing the problems associated with multiple proprietary formats and handling small inventories with high costs. Several carmakers even pre-viewed the SDAL Format specification to help the process along.
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Q: Where does NAVTEQ stand with regard to ISO efforts?
A: Industry stakeholders have recognised the need for a standard PSF and are working together in the International Standards Organization (ISO) to create one. NAVTEQ has always been and still is deeply committed to the ISO process and its objectives. However, this international consensus building effort is a lengthy process. As creators of the NAVTEQ database, the common denominator of the great majority of systems at the start of SDAL development, and even more today, we were in a unique position to create an interim solution to media compatibility.. While we believe in the soundness and merit of the SDAL approach, we will support any effort that delivers genuine compatibility.
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Q: How will SDAL Format change the competitive landscape among suppliers of navigation map data?
A: A solution to compatibility will level the playing field among suppliers of map data. In effect, it will remove the constraints upon system and car manufacturers to continue to use a particular map data supplier due to high switching costs. Map suppliers will have to compete on quality and content of their data.
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Q: Will the SDAL Format PSF Specification document enable any map data supplier to create a compatible navigation map data product with their data?
A: In this initial published form, the document won't constitute a "blueprint" as such. However, by publishing this detailed specification, NAVTEQ is laying the foundation for a future blue print to media compatibility, independent of specific map data or system suppliers. The feedback on the document has been that it is more detailed and complete than any other proposed PSF solution to date. Given that NAVTEQ is actively working to establish an "SDAL Forum" consisting of a wider array of industry players, we expect to see a true blueprint document to emerge from that activity.
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Q: Does SDAL Format allow for product differentiation?
A: Yes. SDAL Format provides the flexibility product developers need to create competitive products in their market segments. SDAL Format was designed to offer a broad spectrum of functions, providing software manufacturers freedom to select those features which best suit their product plans. Proof of this flexibility can be seen in the commercial products already available using SDAL Format.
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Q: Is SDAL Format competitive with proprietary PSFs in commercial use today?
A: Definitely. SDAL Format delivers a common PSF solution that is competitive today and will grow more so over time.
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Q: Could you tell me more about the SDAL Format specification and how it will evolve over time?
A: Several system manufacturers and car companies previewed the SDAL Format specification and provided positive feedback regarding content and constructive feedback on document structure. Our goal is to continue to improve the document to make it more user friendly, easier to follow, and reflective of an even broader constituency. Going beyond simply opening the format specification, we are actively working to establish an SDAL forum consisting of a wider array of industry players to also open the process by which the specification will evolve going forward.
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