Navteq maps Africa

By Siyabonga Africa, ITWeb junior journalist

Johannesburg, 05 Nov 2008

Navteq is moving up the continent and mapping the streets of Nigeria, Kenya and Morocco.

The digital mapping solutions company says it has already mapped more than 500 000 streets in SA.

"We have all the streets in SA," says Navteq EMEA VP for business development Yiannis Moissidis. "We have extended our services to other parts of Southern Africa and are currently opening offices in Kenya, Nigeria and Morocco."

Navteq is wholly-owned by Nokia, yet operates as a standalone company, says Moissidis.

The digital mapping company says it will add prime coverage and off-road tracks for many national parks and nature reserves in SA. This is due to the growing tourist trade, which led Navteq to capture further points of interest and 3D content for more functionality, such as advanced navigation content and speed limits into developed markets such as SA.

Driving the streets

Moissidis says Navteq updates its database constantly due to the ongoing name changes and major road improvements in the country. "We see an increase of 15% to 20% in changes to the streets in this country," he adds.

Navteq states it has more than 1 000 geographic analysts located around the world. Moissidis explains that these geographic analysts drive the roads, verifying and updating information in the Navteq database.

"We communicate with local governments and municipalities if there are any changes to the roads, yet we also go out there and verify the information for ourselves."

Out of date maps

Digital cartographers have stated, in past media reports, global positioning system users will have to update their units more frequently and at greater costs.

"Most people tend to update their GPSes every so often and some are using units with maps that are over a year old," says Tracks4Africa spokesman Johann Groenewald. "The problem will be that during 2010, tourists might not be clued up on the various name changes and new streets."

Moissidis says any database older than five years should be scrapped as it would be useless. He agrees that a constantly updated mapping system is the best way to ensure tourists will not be left in the dark when they visit SA in the future.