NAVTEQ Network for Developers

Spotlight on NN4D: Partner Network --> Esri

2011-12-22T12:19:00.000-06:00

Have you seen the new Esri pages in NN4D’s Partner Network yet? The NAVTEQ Network for Developers has recently created a Esri section in our Partner Network and filled it full of NN4D and Esri created technical content! Esri’s arrival in our Partner Network is exciting for us! NAVTEQ data is integrated into much of Esri software and services and, since we also have a ton of Esri users in the NAVTEQ Network for Developers community, it makes for a perfect fit!

Example of the types of collateral found in the
new Esri zone. Go check it out!

For all you NN4D members out there, we have quite a bit of stuff you can download and learn from. Even if you are not a NN4D member, you can still download case studies and other collateral that explores Esri and NAVTEQ’s relation and mutual support. NN4D and Esri staff have worked together to come up with a comprehensive group of technical and informational documents that will help developer and BizDev types to quickly learn about the benefits of working with Esri. Make sure you visit the NAVTEQ and Esri page and browse through all the material that is gathered there.

Besides all the great resources you can find on NN4D.com, Esri.com also has much to offer the developer. Make sure to visit the Esri.com Developer Tools section and see what is available there. Between both the new Esri section found on NN4D and Esri's own Developer Tools, there is a ton of information and resources available to help you get started with NAVTEQ and Esri right away! Go check it out! (Hey, what else you got going on over Winter Break anyway?)

Win a Parrot AR Drone Quadcopter!

2011-11-21T12:15:00.000-06:00

Vote for your favourite augmented reality applications of 2011 and you could win an amazing Parrot AR Drone.

NAVTEQ Network for Developers are proud sponsors of this year’s Augmented Planet Readers Choice Awards, the Oscars for the augmented reality developer community. Along with Augmented Planet, we’re offering you the chance to win an amazing Parrot AR Drone, a remote-controlled flying quadcopter, just for voting for your favourite augmented reality experiences.

Parrot AR Drone Quadcopter

The AR Drone is equipped with two on-board video cameras that broadcast the live video feed directly to an iOS or Android device. Suitable for both indoor and outdoor flying, it’s the ultimate remote-controlled flying experience. To learn more about the amazing Parrot AR Drone, read the Augmented Planet review.

To be automatically entered in to the competition to win the AR Drone, simply vote for your favourite augmented reality experiences now. Voting closes at midnight on 4th December, 2011 UK time, so don’t delay!

Good luck!

Congratulations Echoecho, Siine and Runtastic for the AppCircus London Win!

2011-11-18T12:13:00.000-06:00

Posted by Lauren Sarno, Developer Marketing

NN4D EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) have been sponsoring local meet-ups throughout our region this year. Two of them (in Dusseldorf and London) were put on by AppCircus, who stage app showcases and competitions globally. I had the honour of representing NN4D at AppCircus London, by giving the sponsor pitch at the top of the evening (a five-minute explanation of what NN4D offers), and then serving on the jury.

If you have a chance to be on the jury for an app competition, jump on it! It’s a blast. If you’ve watched the television programmes Dragons’ Den in the UK or Shark Tank in the US, it’s just like that: For three hours, you’re a mover and shaker in the world of entrepreneurs. Fun, fun, fun.

The AppCircus format is fairly standard for the industry: App developers get five minutes to make their pitch, with the assistance of a presentation or videos. Then the jury may ask questions, such as “What is your revenue model?” or “How many customers do you already have?” or “Do you have any significant customers or partners?” The winner is entered into an overall competition, the grand prize winner of which is announced each year in a ceremony held at Mobile World Congress. The runner up gets to pitch again at another AppCircus.

The attendees at AppCircus London (which was held at technology incubator TechHub) were lively, attentive and knowledgeable, which made the event speed by. The competition was stiff, and all of the presenters should be proud of their pitches. Ultimately, however, we selected the following applications:

Honourable Mention: Runtastic, for their application Roadbike. This location-aware application, in combination with body sensors manufactured by a Runtastic partner, allows you to track all your biking stats (heart rate, speed, cadence, distance etc.) and lets others follow your progress and cheer you on. Even in the crowded field of personal training apps, this one stood out for richness of features and the quality of the user interface.

Runner Up: Siine, for their application Siine Writer – check out the video. I’ve seen alternative on-screen keyboards for Android before, but this one shone for its exuberant creativity. Although I don’t have the space here to describe everything it does, I’ll give you one example:

Siine Writer allows you to personalise your keyboard and create buttons that have multiple functions for strings of text. For instance, if you tap your “Regards” button, the word “Regards” appears; tap twice, you get “Best regards”; tap three times, you get “Warm regards”.

I can see a ten year old figuring out Siine Writer in about 10 minutes and mastering the personalisation in about 30. The rest of us may take a bit longer. This team of creative thinkers will go far.

Winner: Echoecho, for its application of the same name. I don’t know if this application will ultimately live as a stand-alone download or be snapped up by another company to be integrated into a larger platform, but we loved it for its immediate usability. It’s got a simple premise: Select one of your contacts and Echoecho sends the message “Where are you?” When your contact responds, she or he sees exactly where you are on a map and you see exactly where they are. It also offers you points of interest nearby (coffee shops, restaurants, pubs) that you can select as your meeting point. The Echoecho team is loaded with enthusiasm and drive and I’m confident they’ll make good business development decisions.

Congratulations to all! Thanks for the opportunity to see your work.

Check out the Nokia Maps API!

2011-11-10T15:05:00.001-06:00

As readers of this blog know, the NAVTEQ Network for Developers tries to keep you up to date by informing you of all the APIs and companies out there that use NAVTEQ data.

One API we have not talked about yet is the Nokia Maps API. Nokia just recently released version 2 (v2) of this web based API and it looks pretty slick!

OK, before we go on, we have a full disclaimer: NAVTEQ is entirely owned by Nokia. Yes, it is true, Nokia is NAVTEQ’s parent company, and at the end of the day, we answer to them. Also be aware that even though NAVTEQ is owned by Nokia, we are not “pwned”, and the NAVTEQ Network for Developers is agnostic when it comes to who we support and promote. As long as you use NAVTEQ data, then it is all good and we want to promote you! Nokia Maps is no exception to this rule, so that is why we are writing about them here. Does this make any sense? Ok, cool!

Nokia Maps API Playground

Now with that out of the way, you really gotta check out the new Nokia Maps API! Nokia Maps API has some nifty features that you just might be interested in!

The first thing to note (which is very useful to Developers) is the Maps API Playground. This is basically a developer sandbox that allows to you run many of the Nokia Maps API calls, and see how the map behaves. If you want to quickly check out the Nokia Maps API available features, then you will definitely want to check out the Nokia Maps Playground. You can easily see most of the available features, just by clicking each example found in the side panel. This makes it pretty simple to take the Nokia Maps API for a test spin even if you have never written a line of code. Just make sure you click on the tiny, “Example selector” text in the bottom left hand of your screen to open the Example panel as that can be a bit confusing at first. The other really cool thing about the Nokia Maps API Playground is that after you run an example, you can grab the code! Yeah, that is a handy feature that Developers have come to expect, so it is good this is included in the Playground!

The Nokia Maps API has some other notable features worth mentioning… Besides being able to do some basic things like display multiple addresses and create a route from A to B, the Nokia Maps API has the ability to make a route dragable. This is a feature many users have come to rely on, so it is good to see this included. Another really cool feature is the ability to center the map on a device’s GPS location. This is a groovy feature for all you Mobile Developers out there and is something you should really check into a bit more.

One of the coolest updates in the Nokia Maps API v2, is that it now supports KML files! As you all know, KML files are a quick and easy way to get your custom location data to display on a map. The fact that you can now use the API to drop a KML onto Nokia Maps is huge! You can use Nokia Maps to make your own map mashups using a KML file! This ability is super cool any way you slice it!

Lastly, something that really might interest you is the price. It is hard to believe, but it looks like, (at this time) is unlimited and FREE! Yes, you thought the days of unlimited and FREE use of web map APIs was over, didn’t you? Well, apparently Nokia Maps is still providing this elusive perk, unlike some other Map APIs that don't use NAVTEQ data.

Check out what it says right in the Nokia Maps API terms and conditions: “Your use of the Software may be or may become subject to charges. Nokia reserves the right to charge for the Software and to change its fees from time to time, at its discretion.”

So there you have it! As of now it seems like use of the Nokia Maps API is unlimited and FREE! Something to think about for all you start-ups out there, isn’t it? Seriously, who doesn't like a FREE map with unlimited use?

With all these things going for it, Nokia Maps API is really something you should consider checking into a bit more. No really, you should. Go check it out!

Well, what do you think, was this blog post too biased?

Ok, it might have been a bit biased, but the fact of the matter is that the Nokia Maps API is a quality product and NN4D would be doing a disservice to our readers by not letting you know about it! So go check it out and judge for yourself and see what you think.

Have you seen the new NN4D.com?

2011-11-03T15:18:00.000-05:00

The all new NN4D.com!

We have some exciting news to share! The NAVTEQ Network for Developers has a brand new website! The NN4D team has been hard at work for the last few months, totally revamping the site. What is really cool is that we pushed the “launch” button earlier this week and the site is now live!

We took all of your feedback and suggestions and rolled them into a new and super slick design. Now, it is easy to find everything you are looking for! Yes, we have consolidated a bunch of content and grouped it together and even added some new search functionality, which is pretty cool!

For all you Developer types out there, we have also gathered all our technical content and Partner resources into one, easy to use section, so make sure to visit the Developer Resources section, where you can find everything we have to offer to all you Geospatial Developers.

To get a good feel of the new site, you can watch our new overview video we have embedded below.

After you watch the video, make sure to visit the site to see for yourself and go ahead and click on over to the new NN4D.com and check it out! As always, we would love to hear what you think, so feel free to leave a comment in the comments section.

European Satellite Navigation Competition NAVTEQ Special Topic Prize winner!

2011-10-21T14:23:00.000-05:00

NN4D was very excited to participate in the 2011 European Satellite Navigation Competition. NAVTEQ was a sponsor of the European Satellite Navigation Competition and gave out a Special Topic Prize for Best Mobile Enterprise Solution. If you are not familiar with the European Satellite Navigation Competition, it is an international competition that seeks navigational concepts that harness the increased accuracy and reliability provided by Europe's satellite navigation system, Galileo.

We are excited to announce the winner of the Special Topic Prize for Best Mobile Enterprise Solution, Making Virtual Solid!

Not only did Making Virtual Solid win the NAVTEQ Special Topic Prize, but they also won the USA Regional Prize and the overall Galileo Master prize!

Our congratulations go out to Making Virtual Solid for winning all three prizes!

What did they win?

Making Virtual Solid will receive a business incubation package valued at over €75,000 in data licenses, technical consulting and business development services.Making Virtual Solid was chosen by NAVTEQ for its location-aware mobile True3D™ Head Up Display. The True3D HUD is used to safely portray objects as translucent overlays in the landscape, inside the natural field of view while driving, using an immersive augmented reality projection system. The system can pull preferences from a smartphone to display safety and navigational symbols that enhance real objects and images on the road in front of the driver.

Yeah, we are talking an augmented reality (AR) display that is a bit different than your traditional HUD so check out their website to see how it works. It is seriously very cool!

Making Virtual Solid had to beat out over 40 mobile enterprise solution ideas received from around the world. NAVTEQ evaluated these submissions using a strict set of judging criteria. These criteria included innovation, marketability, feasibility, and effective implementation of location content.

Once again, our congratulations go to Making Virtual Solid on their big win!

Now, how about some pictures of the event!

Juliana and Tom from MVS

All the ENSC Winners

Official State Reception

The Awards Ceremony

ESNC Trophies

How to get 25 hours of FREE app testing!

2011-10-19T14:13:00.000-05:00

Hi there all you LBS Developers!

Are you working on a location based app? How many devices have you tested it on?

You have tested your app on multiple devices, right?

No? You have only tested it on your personal phone that you are carrying around in your pocket? Uh oh, that is not good. You want your app to get good ratings in the various app stores out there, right? Well, if you do, you will want to make sure you test your app on as many GPS enabled devices as you can. You want to do this so you can find, (and fix) all the bugs before you release it in the wild.

How can you test your app on multiple devices? You can always go out and buy a bunch of phones for testing, but that would be a bit expensive.

NAVTEQ Virtual Developer Lab interface

Or, you can just sign up for the NAVTEQ Virtual Developer Lab and test your app on over 110 GPS enabled devices! Yes, the Virtual Developer Lab (powered by DeviceAnywhere) is a package of GPS enabled smartphones and tablets that allow you to load and test out the cool LBS app you are building.

The best part is that you can get started for FREE!

That's right, all members of NN4D get 5 FREE hours of app testing. You can get stared right away and we won’t even ask you for your credit card! You just go and sign up and start testing.

If you act now, you can even get an additional 20 hours of FREE testing, which would bring the total to 25 FREE testing hours! To get your additional 20 hours FREE, just use two free test hours before November 15, 2011 and receive 20 ADDITIONAL FREE HOURS just for completing a brief feedback survey.

Yeah, we want you to complete a feedback survey, but really, how hard is that? Especially considering you get 20 FREE testing hours for doing it.

Now you might think that there is some sort of catch, or that the Virtual Device Lab is so complicated, it will take you all of the 20 hours just to learn how to use it. Fear not young Padawan! NN4D has lots and lots of Virtual Developer Lab training materials on our site to help you get started before you even use one FREE testing hour! Just visit our Virtual Developer Lab section to see them all linked on the right hand side. All these materials are available for review before you ever get started testing. This means that by the time you do decide to use your FREE testing hours, you will be prepared to make the most of it!

This is a seriously insane amount of testing hours, and it is all FREE, FREE, FREE!

Follow this link to go to the Virtual Developer Lab and get started.

Still not convinced? Check out these videos on the Virtual Developer Lab to see what it is all about.

NAVTEQ Developer Day is coming back to Silicon Valley!

2011-10-12T11:56:00.000-05:00

So far this year has been a whirlwind for the NAVTEQ Developer Day tour! The NN4D team has traveled the world bringing the NAVTEQ Developer Day to 9 cities and 6 countries throughout the globe! NN4D hosted NAVTEQ Developer Days in: Beijing, Shanghai, London, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Bengaluru, New Delhi, Chicago and Sunnyvale. Now we are back in Sunnyvale for the NAVTEQ Developer Day – Silicon Valley!

Mark your calendars, because on October 27th, 2011 from 1-7:30 pm it all goes down at the Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale, CA. If you went to our first NAVTEQ Developer Day – Silicon Valley, then you know it was a jam packed day full of presentations aimed at the Geospatial Professional and Developer crowd.

This time around, NAVTEQ Developer Day – Silicon Valley has an ALL NEW agenda and all new sponsors, with a focus on Indoor Navigation and mapping. The great indoors presents a huge business opportunity for mobile so come and learn about this exciting new frontier in mapping! This is going to be an exciting day of indoor navigation panel discussions and presentations that you won't want to miss!

We have gathered together our sponsors Plug and Play Technology Center, Sony Ericsson and Sprint as well as people from Cisco, Qualcomm, CSR and so many others, for two different panel discussions. We will have a Technology Panel and an Industry Panel, both discussing different aspects of the Indoor Location business and the opportunities available in this space. Check the agenda for the full list of participants, as both of these panels should provide some very insightful discussions!

In addition to the two panels, we will also have Developer and Biz Dev presentations from ESRI, Whatamap, Visioglobe and more.

If you went to our last NAVTEQ Developer Day in Silicon Valley, then you know it was a solid event. Make sure not to miss this all new NAVTEQ Developer Day – Silicon Valley on October 27th! This is really shaping up to be a very exciting NAVTEQ Developer Day and we know you will get a lot of value out of it. As always, this is a FREE event and space is limited, so reserve your spot today!

Looking for some good map building tools? Check out NAVbuilder Inside!

2011-09-28T21:40:00.000-05:00

OK, it is time again to highlight one of the many Partner Zones on NN4D.com!

Today we will look at NAVbuilder Inside (NBI) which can be found in the NN4D NAVbuilder Inside Zone. NAVBuilder Inside is a free LBS SDK for Developers looking to create and deploy LBS apps on Verizon and other carriers. NBI is also cross-OS on iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and BREW.

NAVbuilder Inside consists of a APIs, toolkits, and geo-content feeds that allow developers to quickly create or enable their apps with interactive maps, custom layers, directions inside their app, geo-content, and fast, accurate locatio.

NBI geo-content feeds include Navteq Traffic, gas prices, local events from Eventful, movie showtimes, and Weather. Using NAVBuilder Inside, Developers can also monetize their apps using the Couponing API. Developers gets paid 70% of the revenue. And, Verizon promotes and features apps using NBI in their App Stores and Android Marketplace.

In the NAVbuilder Inside Zone, the NAVTEQ Network for Developers also has technical documentation on how to get started with NAVbuilder Inside. NN4D has provided“getting started” sections for Android, BlackBerry, BREW and Windows Mobile. You can find these technical documents in the in the “Guides and Resources” section. Of course, before you get started, you will need to register with the Verizon Developer Community, but after that, feel free to dive on into our getting started guides found on NN4D as well as all the documentation found in the Verizon Developer Community.

But wait, that’s not all!

As a special treat for all you Chicago based Developers, you can see a live presentation and demo of the NAVbuilder Inside at the NAVTEQ Developer Day Chicago! Yes, Kris Kolodziej, Associate Director LBS, Verizon will be at NAVTEQ Developer Day Chicago, presenting the NAVbuilder Inside and will also be available to answer any questions you have.

So there you go! NAVbuilder Inside is a very cool set of tools for Developers to use to create their next LBS app, so go visit the NAVbuilder Inside zone on NN4D and get started today!

The NAVTEQ App Warehouse is not your typical App Store.

2011-09-20T17:14:00.000-05:00

Have you created a location based app that uses NAVTEQ Map Data? If so, you will want to make sure to submit it to the NAVTEQ App Warehouse! The NAVTEQ App Warehouse is not your typical app marketplace where you sell your apps to consumers. No, this is a way to get your app in front of some of NAVTEQ’s biggest customers and get your app seen by folks that matter!

If your app is in the NAVTEQ App Warehouse, NN4D can introduce you to industry movers and shakers, who might even be interested in your app!

In other words, the NAVTEQ App Warehouse connects App Seekers with App Providers.

What does this mean? Basically, it means that NAVTEQ has some important customers in industries such as car manufacturers, phone service providers, mobile device makers, and more. We here at NN4D have invited all these customers and given them access to the NAVTEQ App Warehouse, and they have accepted. These are the App Seekers.

You on the other hand, are the App Provider.

When you submit you app to the NAVTEQ App Warehouse, it gets seen by the App Seekers who, if interested in your app, gets introduced to you and your company.

We do this all at no cost for you!

The best part is that we really do have an active list of App Seekers that are ready to do business with you! This is an opportunity not to take lightly, as you never know if you app will spark the interest of one of the big players out there!

However, if you don’t put it in the NAVTEQ App Warehouse, you will never know what could have been.

So, submit your location based app that uses NAVTEQ data to the App Warehouse! Click this link to get started!

What’s The Best Way to Access NAVTEQ Data?

2011-09-16T15:21:00.000-05:00

Many Developers want to know the easiest way to access NAVTEQ Data. Well, you can always get some sample NAVTEQ Data straight from our newly expanded Sample Data page. However, for many Developers, once they download the Sample Data, they find out that it is not what they were necessarily expecting. Yes, the available Sample Data is there to download, but NAVTEQ map data is big, complicated and hard to wrap your head around sometimes!

This is how it should be! Many NAVTEQ customers demand this complexity and have whole departments dedicated to using geospatial data.

However, that is not something you really want to have to deal with, is it?

You don’t have a whole geospatial department that is running an Oracle database so you can easily use the .ODF files (or even .shp, files for that matter).

No, you have a small engineering team that is focused on creating cool mobile apps and you want something simple, quick and easy to implement!

Enhanced 3D City Model and Destination Maps in the VisioDevKit

Since that is the case, you will really want to check out VisioDevKit, which is one of the third party enablers you can find here on NN4D.com!

Want to start to use NAVTEQ Enhanced 3D City Models and NAVTEQ Destination Maps data in your mobile app? Well then, the VisioDevKit is the thing for you! The good folks at Visioglobe have included both NAVTEQ Enhanced 3D City Models and NAVTEQ Destination Maps data in their SDK.

Enhanced 3D City Models is a complete 3D model of entire city areas including navigable roads, parks, rivers as well as textured buildings. When you download the VisioDevKit SDK, you will find Munich sample NAVTEQ Enhanced 3D City Models data to use.

In the VisioDevKit, you will also find NAVTEQ Destination Maps. Destination Maps is one of NAVTEQ’s many new products and it is a set of interactive and detailed maps of frequently visited indoor and outdoor locations with navigable map data and rich POI content in GML format. You will find a Destination Maps sample indoor map of Newport Centre, Jersey City in the VisioDevKit SDK, which will give you an idea of all the cool pedestrian data you can include in your app by using the Destination Maps data via the VisioDevKit.

Of course, the sample data included in the VisioDevKit is only a small subset of the data so you can get a look and feel of these two products. Remember, the entire NAVTEQ data set of both Destination Maps and also Enhanced 3D City Models is available through the VisioDevKit for paying customers!

Visit the Destination Maps, Enhanced 3D City Models and the VisioDevKit Zone for more info.

Even More NN4D Events in September!

2011-09-12T16:53:00.000-05:00

The NAVTEQ Network for Developers has a ton of events coming up in September. We have already mentioned Futurecom (going on now) and NAVTEQ Developer Day – Chicago (Oct 6), but there is even more NN4D sponsored events coming your way in September!

First up on September 17th, is a awesome Chicago based event, Windy City Rails. This event is already sold out, but there is a waiting list you can get on. This will be an amazing gathering of Ruby on Rails experts and will include 6 full length sessions, 7 lightning talks as well as many hands on activities throughout the day. The NAVTEQ Network for Developers is excited to be a sponsor and help foster the Chicago Developer Community.

On Monday, September 19th , NN4D team member Ashish Bedekar will be presenting at Mobile Monday Seoul! Yes, that is Seoul, South Korea and we are very excited for this opportunity to introduce the NAVEQ Network for Developers to the tech crowd in Seoul! As with all Mobile Monday events, this one is FREE and you can follow the link to register.

Wednesday, September 21st is another great Chicago based event, JavaScript Hack Night! This is a meeting of JavaScript folks and is being hosted by NAVTEQ. That means the meeting will be in our Chicago offices (which are very swank!) and we also provide the refreshments! If you are a JavaScript Developer, click on over to the link and sign up, as this event is FREE!

On Thursday, September 22nd, the NAVTEQ Network for Developers will have a presentation as part of the Plug and Play Fall EXPO in Sunnyvale (Silicon Valley), California. NN4D is a Gold Sponsor for the Fall EXPO and we are going to be out in force at this event! The Plug and Play Fall EXPO “features 30+ promising startups gaining exposure to over 60 top-tier VCs, investors and corporate players.” This is a seriously cool event and full of cutting edge startups looking for funding. NN4D will be there talking to Developers and startups about all NN4D has to offer and we hope to see you there.

Finally, on September 26th, is Mobilize. Mobilize is organized by Gigaom and is shaping up to be quite an impressive event focused on mobile devices. NN4D’s own Marc Naddell will be speaking on Monday, September 26th at 5:05 PM on the topic “Building a Robust Developer Community”. Also, since NAVTEQ is a Prime Time Sponsor of Mobilize, the NAVTEQ Media Solutions team will have a workshop called, “Location Based Incentivization: Practitioners’ Insight”. This workshop will be on NAVTEQ LocationBased Advertising™ and will give you a good overview of why you should choose NAVTEQ LocationBased Advertising™ for your next app.

Wow, September is going to be busy with NN4D events all over the world! If you are a Developer and you are close to any of these venues, we hope you sign up and join us!

More cities added to NN4D Sample Data page.

2011-09-06T17:18:00.001-05:00

Good news everybody! We have added more cities to our Sample Data page, bringing the total number of available cites up to 18!

To be more specific we have actually added 5 NEW cities. What cities you ask? Well, they are: Southern California, Phoenix, Washington DC, Mumbai and New Delhi.

For those of you that are not familiar with our Sample Data page, the NAVTEQ Network for Developers has gathered together sample data clips of the many NAVTEQ data products and bundled them together especially for our NN4D members to download and review. Yes, all members of NN4D are qualified to download the Sample Data for any of our 18 cities. However, the rules are that you can only download one Sample Data set per NN4D member, so make sure you choose wisely!

Also please be aware that not every sample data set has all the NAVTEQ products. So, before you do anything, you are going to want to download the “Showcase Cities Overview - Q2 2010" document. This very important piece of information gives you the breakdown of what data is included in which city downloads.

Let me repeat this… Your very first step you should take is to download the “Showcase Cities Overview - Q2 2010" document to see what products are included in the different city downloads. Once again, please be aware that all available sample data is not included in every sample data download, so check out the link first and then choose your city.

Once you have reviewed this document and figured out what city you are interested in, then click on the hyperlinked city on the Sample Data page. This will trigger a request email to be sent to our Data Download team and they will set you up with a download account. This process usually takes a couple of days, so please be aware of this.

Not only will you find city sample NAVTEQ data on this page, we also have specific place sample data from Destination Maps! Destination Maps is one of NAVTEQ’s newer products and is “a set of interactive and detailed maps of frequently visited indoor and outdoor locations with navigable map data and rich POI content in GML format.” This Destination Maps downloads are separate from the city specific Sample Data and are available for immediate download from NN4D.com, so click the links to download them.

Of course you need to be a member of NN4D to download any of this, so make sure you register before you request any of the Sample Data.

Enjoy these new resources!

NAVTEQ Developer Day - Chicago

2011-09-02T16:25:00.000-05:00

The NAVTEQ Developer Day "world tour" is coming toChicago!

Yes, the NAVTEQ Network forDevelopers is hosting our next NAVTEQ Developer Day on October 6^th atour headquarters in Chicago. This will be our sixth Developer Day so farthis year, and it is shaping up to be an exciting event!

What exactly is NAVTEQ Developer Day? Well, it is a chance for you to learn from a roomfulof experts on how to add a map to your app. Oh yeah, this is a FREE event and we are evengiving away some cool prizes!

We have put together another great line up of partnersincluding Bing, deCarta, ESRI, Nokia and Verizon. Each of these partners has compelling mapproducts for Developers to use, and this is a unique opportunity to learn aboutthem all in one day! In addition to allour partners presentations, NAVTEQ will present on NAVTEQ LocationPointAdvertising™. (or LPA) NN4D,NAVTEQ and the LPA team will combine forces in a technical session that showsyou how to get started using NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ advertising. ImplementingLPA takes about 10 minutes and we will go through this process and show youjust how easy it is!

Finally, we will be having a coding session where you canimplement what you learned. You willhave access to all the presenters who will be ready to help with any and all questionsyou have. Make sure you stay to the veryend, as we will have a ‘pitch session’ where you can show off your stuff! This is the most fun part, as you just mightget to see some really cool LBS start-ups and apps!

Here are the details:

NAVTEQ Developer Day – Chicago
October 6, 2011
8:30AM- 6:30PM
425 West Randolph Street (NAVTEQ HQ)

Register today, as space is limited!

Still not convinced? Check out some of these videos from our previous NAVTEQ Developer Dayevents and visit each venue’s “Post Event” page for even more Developer Day goodness!

We are looking forward to seeing you in Chicago, so go hurry up and register right now!

NAVTEQ Developer Day - India

NAVTEQ Developer Day - Silicon Valley

NAVTEQ will be at Futurecom!

2011-08-29T16:37:00.000-05:00

All of Latin America, and Brazil in particular, is an important market with a vibrant Developer and Tech scene. The NAVTEQ Network for Developers has been engaging with the LBS Developer community in Latin America for a few years already. We even held our 2010 LBS Challenge South America awards ceremony last year in São Paulo and connected with many Brazilian developers.

Because of this, when we heard about Futurecom (the largest communications industry event in Latin America) we knew we had to participate!

When you go to Futurecom, make sure to visit the NAVTEQ booth and check out some of NN4D's offerings! NAVTEQ will be at booth number A54 in Pavilion “A”. Make sure to stop by and say "howdy" as you ramble around the Exhibition floor.

Not only will NAVTEQ have an exhibition booth, but we will also be participating in a really cool panel discussion titled: “World of Mobile Ecosystem: Developers, Operating Systems, Applications Shops, Operators, Content Distributors.” This pannel takes place on September 14, 2011 at 16:00 in the Main Pavilion and will discuss the “interrelationships of the multiple links between the Ecosystem Value Chain of Mobile Communication Systems, production applications, and the role of developers in this space”. This panel will have some major regional and local players on it, including NAVTEQ’s own Helder Azevedo who is Sales Director for all of Latin America. This should be a very lively discussion, so make sure you attend this panel at Futurecom.

Futurecom is going to be huge! It is most assuredly one you will want to try to attend if you can! So if you do go to Futurecom, we will see you there!

Looking for a list of available NAVTEQ products? Check this out!

2011-08-23T14:21:00.002-05:00

As you know, NAVTEQ has a ton of different products that are available. What? You are not familiar with the extensive portfolio of fine, location based data products that NAVTEQ creates? Well, we need to remedy that immediately!

Click yourself on over to the newly enhanced Product Catalog page and check out all the nifty products NAVTEQ has! The NN4D team has been hard at work reorganizing and adding to this section to make it quick and easy to find out more about all of the NAVTEQ products.

Since NAVTEQ has a ton of products, we have grouped them into 5 distinct categories: Visual Content, Points of Interest (POI) NAVTEQ Transport, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Pedestrian Content.

You should really visit all the sections, as there are a bunch of products and we have updated information on all of them. We even have a nice section on one of our newest products, Destination Maps! Destination Maps includes indoor maps of places like malls and sports complexes. Indoor location mapping is very hot right now, and this product will let you develop apps for that space. See the video embedded below for a cool demo of this product.

Also, make sure to check out the Visual Content section, as this really highlights all the great 3D content NAVTEQ has. We have fixed this section up, so make sure you check it out.

We are very excited about this NAVTEQ product catalog, and NN4D is stoked to be the destination to go to view NAVTEQ products. Make sure to keep an eye on this section as we will be adding more and more NAVTEQ products to this section as they become available.

NN4D Partner Zone Spotlight: Skyhook Wireless.

2011-08-17T14:27:00.001-05:00

We have lots and lots of information on NN4D, so we want to take this opportunity to put a spotlight on our Skyhook Wireless partner zone, just in case you have not checked it out yet.

The Skyhook Wireless partner zone has some good overview information about Skyhook Wireless and their technology, and is a good place to start. Another page to visit, if you are not that familiar with Skyhook Wireless, is the Videos page. You can find a couple of cool vids there, including a “How it works” video and the “Maps Booster” demo. The Maps Booster demo really shows you the power of incorporating Skyhook Wireless technology into your location based app, so make sure to check it out.

Skyhook Wireless is used by many of the top LBS focused apps, including the likes of Gowalla, Yelp, Foursquare and more. Visit the Success Cases section for the full list.

You do want to use the same technology in your location based app that these major player do, don’t you?

Well then, make sure to visit the Skyhook SDK section so you can incorporate this amazingly cool technology into your app!

While you are on the Skyhook SDK page, make sure you don’t miss our Getting Started section! Here you can find "Quick Start" guides that show you how to integrate the Skyhook SDK 3.5 with supported platforms. We have guides for the following platforms: Android, Linux, Symbian, Mac OS, and Windows. These guides really are useful, so if you are a Developer who is just getting started with the Skyhook SDK, you will want to read them for sure!

There you have it! Hopefully this little blog post has alerted you to the Skyhook Wireless partner zone and all it has to offer. Go check it out and start using the Skyhook SDK today!

Developer Program Overview- from Mobile Developer.TV from Maggie Taylor, Skyhook Wireless on Vimeo.

Check out the latest "NAVTEQ Virtual Developer Lab" technical resources!

2011-08-11T18:27:00.000-05:00

Have you checked out the NAVTEQ Virtual Developer Lab yet? The NAVTEQ Virtual Developer Lab, or VDL, is a way for you to test your LBS app across a variety of devices. Why is it important to test your app? Well, for one thing, if you launch an buggy app that is not tested, you will not get a high rating in the various app stores. If you don't get a high rating, nobody will download your app! (insert sad trombone sound here)

You don't want that to happen, do you?

NAVTEQ Virtual Developer Lab

What is unique about the VDL is that it allows you to physically view how your app will look (and run) on a ton of different phones across multiple carriers in different countries. Using the VDL, you are able to load your app onto different physical devices and run it through it's paces. No emulator can come close to testing on a real device, and the VDL allows you to do just that.

Ok, so how do you get started?

Glad you asked! The easiest way to get an idea of what the VDL can offer is to read our "Getting Started" guide that walks you through the testing process. It goes through all the steps needed to get up and running with the VDL. This guide really is an easy way to get a feel for what the VDL provides you. If you are at all interested in the VDL, this is a good first step . Are you sold yet? If so, Just click here to download the Gettting Started guide (NN4D membership required)

Once you read through the "Getting Started" guide, you will want to make sure to check out our NAVTEQ Virtual Developer Lab Training Video This webinar will give you a deep understanding of how to get the most out of the Virtual Developer Lab and therefore allow you to get the most of your 5 free hours.

Five free hours? Yes, you heard that right, five FREE hours!

Oops, almost forgot to mention the fact that all members of NN4D get 5 FREE HOURS of the NAVTEQ Virtual Developer Lab to test out your app. The five free hours, combined with the above technical resources, equals some serious benefits to you! The secret is that first you read the Getting Started guide, and then you watch the Training Video. Then, when you go to use your 5 FREE HOURS, you are all ready to start testing. You will be able to get up and running immediately, and be able to use your time to it's fullest.

If you do a bit of testing, your users will thank you later for spending the time on this important step. Seriously, who wants to use a buggy app because the developer did not spend time testing before launch? Pretty much nobody does, that is who.

So what are you waiting for? Check out these new resources and start testing your app in the VDL today!

Guest Blog - Tagwhat: "Great Stories at Places"

2011-08-08T17:17:00.000-05:00

Hi all you NN4D blog readers! Today we have a guest blog for you! Our guest blog is from Tagwhat, who will be telling you a bit about their vision of the future and what they are all about. We are excited to have Tagwhat submit this blog! Why are we excited? Well, we hope this post gets you fired up about seeing Tagwhat participate in the upcoming NN4D sponsored WCA LBS SIG event, LocationPalooza - Who Let the Apps Out! Tagwhat will be one of the many cool location based startups to be presenting at LocationPalooza - Who Let the Apps Out?, so come on out this Thursday, August 11th to the Nokia Silicon Valley facility to see them all. (Of course you have to register first, but then, come on out!)

Now without further adieu, check out the guest post from Tagwhat!

Great Stories at Places

By Tagwhat

The web is exploding with location-based content. And I'm not talking about check-ins or "The burgers here are terrible." I mean real location-based media: Interviews with chefs, videos of public artists, galleries of museums. The problem is that the mobile experience today is just a mini version of our online experience. Why is accessing web content about a museum the hardest to do for the person standing right outside of the museum?

According to Smaato, 1 in 2 Americans will own a smartphone by next year! So with all these slick, dual-core processor beasts tied to our hands, shouldn’t there be a better way to access and experience multimedia content about the places around us? Of course.

Tagwhat is "Great Stories at Places." We geo-locate and deliver multimedia content to the mobile. The Tagwhat interface looks to maximize the precious real estate on a mobile device by filling the screen with “tappable” images supported by text snippets. With this highly visual layout, a user is able to very quickly determine which Tags they’re interested in and ignore the ones that they aren’t interested in. Each Tag also displays a real-time directional arrow that shows the user where the story is with respect to their location.

All Tagwhat Tags are organized by channels, just like television (Movies, Sports, Heritage, Art, Music, Nature, Food). But instead of watching one channel at a time (a siloed data approach), we felt it was very important for users to be able to explore Tags from all of their favorite channels inside a single view. As we walk down the street, we don’t choose to only see buildings OR trees OR cars OR people, so we feel that location-based content should work the same way. But how do you manage the “noise” of all this information? With Tagwhat, just tap on a channel icon to turn that channel on/off and those Tags will appear/disappear from the screen. You have full control over the types of stories you see as you move through the world without having to jump in and out of views to pull in new content. Each of Tagwhat's visual indicators have been carefully designed to provide the immediate spatial awareness and quick content management necessary for a user on the move.

Tap on a Tag and you’re thrown into the meat of that story. Each Tag contains up to 6 different multimedia items including images, video, audio, and text that have been woven together to form a cohesive experience. Swipe left and right to easily “flow” through the media. Each tag also includes any number of relevant actions directly associated with the content like browsing related websites or viewing the tag location on a map to find out its exact location. At the bottom of this view, you can collect a digital “postcard” of that story. Learn all about the club where Janis Joplin first got her start and snap a photo of yourself standing on the same stage and send the postcard to your friends via Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail. A cure for the common check-in and painful screams of “I’m here!” that echo through the night, Tagwhat postcards look to cultivate a new breed of location-based storytelling rooted on sharing interesting stories tied to your personal experiences.

This is just the beginning. Every day, our team works feverishly on making the app smarter and faster with user customization and behavior analysis. We're extremely thankful for the wonderful feedback we've gotten from all our users as we work together to create a new mobile medium.

Learn about NAVTEQ 3D data at SIGGraph 2011!

2011-08-05T14:54:00.000-05:00

Are you headed to Vancouver next week for SIGGraph 2011?

If so, you need to stop by the Imagination Technologies booth (Booth 129, West Building, Exhibit Hall C) and check out all that is going on. Imagination Technologies will be showing off their PowerVR graphics technologies and NAVTEQ will be there talking about it too!

PowerVR Insider SDK sample app screenshot

As you are aware, you can find sample NAVTEQ 3D map and visual content inside the PowerVR Insider SDK. The POWERVR Insider mobile 3D graphics SDK is used to build advanced LBS applications with smoothly rendered 3D mapping and navigation features using 3D visual content from NAVTEQ.

Imagination Technologies will have a mini theater for presentations at its SIGGraph booth. Marco Tillmann, Product Manager, 3D Visuals, NAVTEQ, will be there giving a 15-20 min presentation about 3D Mapping / Next-Generation Visual Content every day of the show. This is a great opportunity for all you developers out there to come by and get your questions answered about NAVTEQ 3D map data. This is going to be a great show and we look forward to seeing you there!

Publish your app in the App Warehouse and you could win $5,000!

2011-08-03T16:44:00.000-05:00

Have you developed a location app using NAVTEQ map data and content – either directly from NAVTEQ, or through one of our API partners? If so, publish it to the NAVTEQ App Warehouse before August 31st and be entered into a contest to win $5,000 CASH!

You do know about the NAVTEQ App Warehouse right?

The NAVTEQ App Warehouse is a place where App Seekers connect with App Providers to make business deals. The App Warehouse is not another App Store, but it is a catalog of NAVTEQ powered location based apps. This catalog gets browsed by top industry players looking for apps as well as internal NAVTEQ sales staff looking to evangelize location based apps. The NAVTEQ App Warehouse is a great way to get your LBS app in front of these key business players. Visit the NAVTEQ App Warehouse page for more details on how this all works.

Yes, but what about the $5,000?

Well, to get you fired up and motivated to quickly get your app into the App Warehouse, If you act now, you can win $5,000! Yes, it is true; we are really giving away $5,000 CASH to one lucky submission this month! That is some serious cash, so submit your app today! (Full rules here) What do you have to lose? It only takes a few minutes to submit your app, so do it now. You just might be the next winner!

WCA LBS SIG presents, LocationPalooza: Who Let the Apps Out?

2011-08-01T16:18:00.000-05:00

Locationpalooza is back! Yes, the WCA LBS SIG’s most popular event is back with an even more impressive lineup of presenters than ever before!

This year’s installment is called “LocationPalooza: Who Let the Apps Out?”

Locationpalooza will be held:
August 11 2011 from 4:30-7:00
Nokia Silicon Valley, 200 S Mathilda Ave, Sunnyvale CA
http://ovi.me/2CpBU (map)

This is going to be a not-to-miss event, as it includes an impressive list of speakers from some of the hottest location based startups in Silicon Valley.

Who exactly will be there? Check out this amazing lineup!

Moderator:

Marc Kleinmaier, Business Development & Evangelism – LBS, Nokia EDX

Speakers

Bryan Trussel, CEO & Co-Founder, Glympse
Dave Elchoness, CEO & Co-Founder, Tagwhat
Nick Bicanic, CEO & Co-Founder, EchoEcho
Bart McCormick, VP of Business Development, Poynt
Richard MacKinnon, CEO, ChimpIt
Lawrence Coburn, CEO & Co-Founder, HYVE by DoubleDutch
Liz Rice, Vice President, Thrutu
Ankit Agarwal, CEO, Micello
Sunit Lohtia, CEO, GeoQpons by XYMOB
MORE to be announced…

There will be some major LBS expertise in the room that night, so don’t miss this opportunity to network with movers and shakers in the mobile app industry. You do not want to pass this one by!

Last year’s LocationPalooza was a very fun and educational event (as the below video of Skout.com shows), so make sure to register now for the August 11th event, LocationPalooza: Who Let the Apps Out!

See you there!

Getting started with the VisioDevKit.

2011-07-29T16:15:00.000-05:00

Have you seen the new webinar on the VisioDevKit 1.1 SDK we just published to NN4D? If you are a iOS developer, you should really check this out. In the webinar, Hector Briceño takes you step by step through the process on how to get the VisioGlobe sample demo app (included in the SDK download) up and running using Xcode. What is really great about this webinar is that it covers the newest version of VisioDevKit, version 1.1. VisioDevKit 1.1 now includes NAVTEQ Destination Maps™ indoor data. The VisioDevKit 1.1. also has a sample indoor navigation demo app also included in the download. The webinar takes you though the steps needed to get this up and running also. This is a seriously good webinar to watch and is the best way to quickly get started with the VisioDevKit 1.1 SDK.

You can find the webinar on this page . It is called “3D Rendering & Indoor Navigation Video Tutorial”. Of course, you will need to download the VisioGlobe SDK (NN4D Membership required) and have a copy of Xcode handy. The SDK registration and download process is quick and easy and you can get developing with this awesome SDK it right away.

Have you created any cool apps with the VisioDevKit yet? If so, leave a comment below, as we would love to check out what you built!

NAVTEQ Product Spotlight: Dynamic POI Content.

2011-07-28T13:55:00.001-05:00

NAVTEQ has a ton of products that you can browse through and read about on NN4D.com. One of the more interesting and relevant products for mobile developers is Dynamic POI Content. Dynamic POI Content is basically Points of Interest data that is constantly changing and updating. Currently NAVTEQ has 4 products available that fall into this category and they each have their own API. The data is in XML format and is delivered via a REST web services API. NAVTEQ also provides the XML data via FTP if that is your thing, but the choice is yours.

What Dynamic POI Content do we have available?

We have…

Movie and Event Listings
Offers updated information on movie times, sporting events, concerts and more.
Fuel Prices
Provides continuously updated fuel prices. Now, consumers can search for the lowest price near them at any point in their travels and navigate to the chosen station.
Air Travel Status
Offers travelers an array of critical details, ranging from airport weather conditions to flight arrival and departure information.
Parking Preview
Provides travelers a preview of parking space availability, forms of payment acceptance and more, including pricing by time, updated space availability and opening hours.

For the Developers out there who want to get a better handle on how to use the APIs NN4D has posted technical content. (NN4D Membership required to view). This technical content includes: NAVTEQ Events search Programmers Guide and also Air Travel Status Programmers Guide and Asynchronous Content Delivery Interface

If this looks like something you are interested in, we are glad to help you get started! All you have to do is log into NN4D and contact us. Just make sure you choose “Sales / Pricing” in the query dropdown so your email can get fast tracked to the appropriate team. We look forward to hearing from you!

Check out the NaviGenie SDK for 3D map data!

2011-07-26T16:39:00.002-05:00

It is getting more and more apparent that 3D navigation and 3D map data really is the future! We here at NN4D are helping our customers lead the way by enabling them to provide developers with the latest NAVTEQ 3D map data! To see an example of this, you have to look no farther than Hungary-based Kishonti Informatics and their NaviGenie SDK.

The NaviGenie SDK provides optimized, scalable data services and a high-performance hardware accelerated map visualization engine, allowing you to add 3D NAVTEQ maps® and routing to your mobile applications and get to market faster on multiple platforms.

Advantages of NaviGenie SDK:

Multi-platform support: Easy to integrate with native UI controls on iOS®, Android™, Linux™ and Windows® platforms.
Fast to market: Fully featured reference application minimizes development time and cost.
On- and off-board: Efficient data compression requires minimal bandwidth and/or storage space.
Cloud-based maps: Instant global coverage for off-board services.
Performance: Hardware accelerated, customizable fully 3D map engine on all platforms.

Features and Services

NaviGenie SDK includes the standard location-based functionalities such as:

Map visualization
Routing
Geocoding
Address lookup
POI search

These features are configurable independently from each other to operate on-board or in the cloud.

Yes, you heard that right, by using the NaviGenie SDK it is possible to create apps that includes both on- and off-board services in the same application. This allows you to do all kinds of cool things such as start with a small off-board application and download on-board data sets incrementally over the air later when required.

NN4D really likes the NaviGenie SDK, as this was one the third runner-up prize in the 2009 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge®, so it is great to see that this SDK is now available for developers to download and use.

Check out the NaviGenie SDK and give it a whirl! You will soon find out how easy it is to create some really cool 3D apps using the NaviGenie SDK!

Are you taking full advantage of the Virtual Developer Lab?

2011-07-19T14:41:00.001-05:00

Do you know about the Virtual Developer Lab found at NN4D? This is a really cool service, as it allows you to test your app on live devices (hooked up to carrier networks) to see how it works. Yes, the Virtual Developer Lab is powered by DeviceAnywhere and is a testing service that uses actual phones/devices that you control virtually via your computer. Read more about the details of the VDL here!

Best part is that all NN4D members get 5 free Virtual Developer Lab testing hours! This is some serious time, and you can load your app and test it on quite a few devices in five hours! This is entirely FREE for members of NN4D. Not an NN4D member yet? Well, join now!

We are also always adding devices to the VDL! For example, during June-July 2011, we have cleared out some old GPS devices that were not being used for testing anymore and added 17 new devices − based in the DeviceAnywhere Test Center™ in the UK and San Mateo (CA).

Highlights of this updated include:

Two new tablets from BlackBerry and HTC
11 of the latest Android phones from HTC, LG, Motorola, Pantech, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, including the very cool Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY (perfect for creating new, advanced 3D games based on NAVTEQ 3D visual content)
Two new Windows Phone 7 devices
New HP smartphone based on webOS
Java ME/BREW feature phone from Motorola

We have also published some resources to help you get up and running with the Virtual Developer lab, included the embedded video below.

Not only do we have resources on the site, but we are having an upcoming webinar on August 1st, 2011 at 8:30am PST / 4:30pm UK / 5:30pm CET.
If you are looking to get started (or to expand your knowledge of the VDL), then you will want to tune in for sure. This is going to be a very useful webinar as you will learn how to enhance and streamline your manual application testing on real handsets through the NAVTEQ Virtual Developer Lab (VDL), using DeviceAnywhere Test Center.

So, basically, this webinar is going to be an awesome “cheat sheet” to give you some tips and tricks on how to get the most out of the VDL. This will be very helpful so you can fully take advantage of your 5 FREE hours testing you get on the Virtual Developer Lab from NN4D!

Make sure to register now for this webinar and also make sure to sign up and use the Virtual Developer Lab on NN4D!

In the meantime, take a look at the "NAVTEQ Virtual Developer Lab: LBS App Testing Demo" video below to give you an feel of what the VDL is all about.

There’s always something new on NN4D!

2011-07-15T13:55:00.000-05:00

We launched a couple of new things on NN4D that you might want to check out.
First of all, we are very excited to announce that we have a upgraded our site search function! This is exciting news for us, as it will help you find information more quickly and easily on NN4D.com. What exact updates have we made?

Predictive Search lists of query options are displayed to users before they even finish entering their search terms.
Advanced Search is now right at the top! Right there, always ready and easy to find!
Search Tips are detailed explanations of the options for advanced search are provided, as well as some examples of query definitions.
Presentation of Search Results. Search results are organized by type, i.e., content page, file, video, forum, blog, FAQ and Knowledge Base.
Updated Breadcrumb Trail offers a navigation aid that allows users to keep track of their locations on the website.

Destination Maps

We have also just launched the “Destination Maps” section on NN4D. Destination Maps is a set of interactive and detailed maps of frequently visited indoor and outdoor locations with navigable map data and rich POI content in GML format.

GML format? Yes, this is Geography Markup Language, an open interchange format for geographic transactions on the Internet. The GML standards are kept by our good friends over at the Open Geospatial Consortium, so that is a good thing!

For those developers that don’t want to deal with GML files, fear not! The latest release of the VisioDevKit 1.1 includes some pre-compiled Destination Map data, so you can get up and running with this new product right away!

Well, there you have it, a couple of new updates for you to explore! Let us know what you think!

Check out the latest version of VisioDevKit!

2011-07-13T14:42:00.000-05:00

The good folks over at Visioglobe have been busy! They recently released the latest version (1.1) of the VisioDevKit. The VisioDevKit was already very cool, as it gave developers the ability to create awesome location-based apps that use NAVTEQ 3D data, but now it is even cooler!
The latest release has a ton more awesome stuff and we are very excited about it.

What kind of awesome stuff?

VisioDevKit "sample app" screenshot

Well, first of all, VisioDevKit 1.1 now supports indoor navigation! Yes, Visioglobe has included indoor data via “NAVTEQ Destination Maps”, which is NAVTEQ’s indoor data product. Now, you can create a 3D navigation app that will actually take you inside buildings! The VisioDevKit 1.1 integrates sample data from NAVTEQ Enhanced 3D City Models for Munich and currently includes a sample indoor map of Newport Centre, Jersey City, NJ, USA in pre-processed format. Not only that, but the VisioDevKit also includes an indoor navigation sample application (using the included Newport Centre sample data), so you can quickly get an idea of what it is possible to create in an indoor navigation app and, at the same time, take the NAVTEQ Destination Maps sample data for a spin.

Another very cool feature of the VisioDevKit 1.1 is that it now supports Android app development! Yes, you heard that right, VisioDevKit 1.1 now supports both iOS and Android! This is awesome news for all you Android developers out there!

That is two very major updates for this version! Add that to all the other features of the VisioDevKit and you can see, the VisioDevKit is something you need to download and test out!

Still not convinced? Check out this list of some of the major features already available in the VisioDevKit…

Create and add a 3D map view to your application.
Sophisticated rendering of 2D and 3D maps.
Easy to add interactive elements to the 3D environment (clickable images, dynamic POIs).
Easy to integrate additional content offerings into the app, such as routing, NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ Advertising, traffic, or other services from NAVTEQ or other content providers.
Can be used for both on-board data (typically 3D content which is large in size) and off-board data (other services, e.g. routing).
High performance and scalability − can scale up to very large cities represented in 3D.
Advanced camera handling and manipulation features allow developers to control the camera position and connect it to existing routing solutions as well as connect the camera with compass to create advanced 3D-enhanced navigation solutions.
Customize place names and icons on 2D maps.
Compute routes and customize route rendering between places on 2D maps.
Collision control with buildings.
Easily integrate any positioning technology as the NAVTEQ maps are already geo-referenced.
Making the most of hardware-accelerated graphics on mobile devices, the SDK delivers advanced image quality and fluidity to applications developed.

The VisioDevKit is very exciting, and with these new update, it is just getting better and better! Visit the VisioDevKit page on NN4D to download this SDK as this is the only place you can get this awesome 3D rendering engine and SDK!

VisioDevKit 1.0 demo at Mobile {Dev} Sync

NN4D will be at TechWeek!

2011-07-11T15:25:00.001-05:00

The NAVTEQ Network for Developers will be at TechWeek! The TechWeek Conference is taking place in Chicago, July 22-29, 2011 and is shaping up to be quite an event! TechWeek will have a whole range of keynote speakers, everyone from Aneesh Chopra, CTO of the United States, to Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist. This sounds like it is going to be a must-attend event!

We think this is going to be such a cool conference that NN4D is a Contributing Sponsor of TechWeek! Not only that, but NN4D’s own Tom Tierney - Director, Partner and Developer Programs, will be participating in the Social Local Mobile panel on July 24 at 11AM.

What is the Social Local Mobile panel?

From the website…

“How do you connect to the people, places, and things around you right now? From mobile daily deals to social check-ins and local point-of-sale, there is an entire industry of social-local-mobile that did not exist 5 years ago. What are the new business models around social-local-mobile? How can small businesses, large brands, news publications, and the end user benefit right now?”

This is shaping up to be a great panel with some major players and is sure to be a lively discussion! If you are around on Sunday, July 24, make sure to see the Social Local Mobile panel and introduce yourself to Tom, as he would love to meet you!

Take the GetJar survey, get free stuff.

2011-07-06T15:28:00.000-05:00

Have you seen the GetJar Developer AppMeter Survey yet? Well, go quick and fill it out, as the results will be shared with the community and you will want to make sure your voice is heard.

What is the GetJar Developer AppMeter Survey anyhow?

From the survey website...

-------
"The mobile developer ecosystem is still in its infancy, and we’d like to know where developers see it heading so we can best get it to that point. The goal of this survey is to gauge the current state of affairs for mobile developers, and then share that information for the benefit of the community.

We have lined up some great incentives that will actually help you do what you love to do -- develop mobile apps. First, for just completing the survey, you will receive $75 in ad spend, provided by InMobi. Additionally, if you integrate their SDK, they can offer a 70% revenue share. On top of that, some lucky participants will win:

$500 in pay per download credit provided by GetJar, 1 available

30 minute professional consultation on ways to insert NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ Advertising into you app provided by NAVTEQ, 3 available

30 hours of cloud based testing for your apps provided by DeviceAnywhere, 3 available

$50 Gift Certificate to ThinkGeek.Com provided by GetJar, 4 available"
-------

There you have it, the GetJar Developer AppMeter Survey! Check out the website that has a link to the survey and go fill it out! You will be helping your fellow developers, and you might even win some stuff!

NAVTEQ Developer Day - Silicon Valley: Post show wrap-up.

2011-06-29T15:21:00.001-05:00

NAVTEQ Developer Day - Silicon Valley is over, and what a great event it was! We had 92 attendees participate and most of them stayed all day! We live streamed and tweeted the event and we had over 300 people log into our Ustream channel throughout the day at various times to view what was going on. We even had a few developers stay late and code and pitch their apps. Special shout out goes to CityBot who was able to take what they learned at the Developer Day and implement NAVTEQ LocationPoint Advertising into their CityBot app. Very cool!

We could go on and on about this event, but since video works so much better, check out these videos we have embedded below!

NAVTEQ Developer Day - Silicon Valley: Overview video

We also have posted the "raw" live-streamed video from the event. Check it out!

NAVTEQ Developer Day - Silicon Valley Part 1

NAVTEQ Developer Day - Silicon Valley Part 2

NAVTEQ Developer Day - Silicon Valley Part 3

NAVTEQ Developer Day - Silicon Valley Part 4

NAVTEQ Developer Day - Silicon Valley Part 5

Join NN4D at 2 events in Silicon Valley on June 23-25.

2011-06-15T17:09:00.000-05:00

NN4D is got a couple of great events lined up back-to-back next week on June 23-25.

First of all on June 23, we have our NAVTEQ Developer Day – Silicon Valley event taking place at the Plug and Play Technology Center in Sunnyvale. Right after that, NN4D will be at The Muther! of all Hackathons which takes place June 24-25 at the Computer Science Museum in Mountain View.

The NAVTEQ Developer Day – Silicon Valley is shaping up to be a great event, with lots of fantastic speakers! We have speakers from Bing, ESRI, deCarta. TCS and NAVTEQ. Make sure to check out the agenda for the full description and timeline for all the speakers. NAVTEQ Developer Day – Silicon Valley will be held at Plug and Play Technology Center in Sunnyvale, CA. If you are not familiar with Plug and Play, Plug and Play Technology Center is a thriving, Silicon Valley community of over 300 startups from all over the world all housed under one roof. Plug and Play is a really cool venue and we are excited to have the NAVTEQ Developer Day here. If you are going to be in town, make sure you register today as this is a FREE event!

On June 24, NN4D is going to be at the WIP – The Muther! of all Hackathons. NN4D is teaching a “Master Class” which goes from 9-10:30AM. In this Master Class, developers will learn how to implement NAVTEQ LocationPoint Advertising. NAVTEQ will provide developers with access to the NAVTEQ LocationPoint Advertising API and all the sample code you will need to get LPA implemented on your app. We will have two highly technical staff from NN4D and the NAVTEQ LocationPoint Advertising team who will not only be presenting, but will also be able to help you get up and running using LocationPoint Advertising. (before you leave that day!) This is going to be good stuff, so make sure not to miss it! This event costs $42, however, if you are a member of NN4D, we have a code that get’s you in FREE! Interested? Send an email to Gregory (dot) Rose (at) NAVTEQ (dot) com and request your free code. (Hurry, as this code is only going to be good for the next couple of days!)

So there you have it, two very exciting and FREE events happening next week right in the heart of Silicon Valley! We hope to see you at both of these, as they are going to be chock full of coding goodness and not to be missed!

What are the hidden benefits of working with NN4D?

2011-06-13T16:41:00.000-05:00

Are you curious as to what are some of the hidden benefits you might gain when you start working with NN4D? Check out our latest video from Spime, embedded below. Shankar and Gary give some great insight into the very real benefits they have received (and you can too) by working with NN4D.

The question now becomes… How do you get started working with NN4D in the first place?

The quickest and easiest way to get started working with NN4D on a deeper level, would be to submit your mobile app to the NAVTEQ App Warehouse. Participation in the NAVTEQ App Warehouse is your key to being seen by NAVTEQ partners, as well as decision makers within the greater NAVTEQ organization. These two things are important, as is explained in video from Spime. The NAVTEQ App Warehouse is your quickest route to having a deeper relationship with NN4D and possibly receiving some of the benefits presented in the video.

Another way to get started working with NN4D is to come to one our upcoming events and introduce yourself to us. NN4D is hosting a NAVTEQ Developer Day event in Silicon Valley on June 23rd and we will also be presenting at the Muther of All Hackathons on June 24th. Many of the NN4D team members will be at both of these events, so come meet us in person and introduce yourself, as we would love to meet you!

If neither of these ways work for you, as an member of NN4D, you can always send us an email, as we still want to connect with you any way we can.

In the meantime, check out what Spime has to say!

NAVTEQ Network for Developers™ Releases Visioglobe's Latest SDK on NN4D.com

2011-06-10T11:13:00.002-05:00

NAVTEQ has announced the availability of VisioDevKit 1.1 from Visioglobe® on the NAVTEQ Network for Developers™ (NN4D) website. The new release of the software development kit (SDK) can be downloaded at www.NN4D.com/visiodevkit and allows mobile application developers to easily create or enhance apps for outdoor and indoor navigation use.

The VisioDevKit 1.1 is a real-time 2D and 3D rendering engine and SDK created by Grenoble-based Visioglobe.

Using NAVTEQ’s visual content portfolio, the VisioDevKit helps you create applications with outdoor 3D map rendering effects, which will ultimately enable consumers using your app to more easily orient themselves in unfamiliar or complex situations.

VisioDevKit’s functionality has in version 1.1 been extended to support also indoor navigation using the recently launched NAVTEQ Destination Maps™ product. Through the integration of Destination Maps with VisioDevKit, you can calculate indoor routes directly from the SDK, resulting in more precise guidance for consumers in locations such as large shopping malls.

Destination Maps consist of a unique set of interior map attributes with detailed place data to enable users to efficiently navigate and explore interior spaces. With VisioDevKit utilizing Destination Maps, location-based apps can move beyond streets and sidewalks navigation and into exploration of and routing through complex interior spaces.

VisioDevKit 1.1 contains developer demos using sample NAVTEQ® map data from NAVTEQ’s Enhanced 3D City Models for Munich and an indoor map of a shopping mall in the United States from NAVTEQ Destination Maps.

The SDK is perfect for any developer who prefers to work at a higher level of interactivity, allowing you to focus on the functionality and the user interface of the application, and how the application uses and interacts with the NAVTEQ data. As an application developer, you don’t need to have intimate knowledge of 3D graphics and rendering techniques, as Visioglobe has already optimized the graphics rendering of the SDK to work efficiently with underlying graphics acceleration technology on today’s mobile devices.

In addition, VisioDevKit incorporates the ability to use location application programming interfaces (APIs) – positioning technologies suitable for indoor navigation.

VisioDevKit 1.1 is available to application developers worldwide for a free evaluation period of 90 days. The SDK currently supports iOS and Android (1.6 onwards).

Visit www.nn4d.com/visiodevkit to download.

Check out the awesome speaker line-up for NAVTEQ Developer Day – Berlin!

2011-06-08T17:56:00.003-05:00

Our next NAVTEQ Developer Day is coming up! It will take place in Berlin, Germany on June 14th and we have an amazing line-up of speakers! Yes, we have gathered up 9 speakers to all give presentations aimed at developers and professionals in the location based industy. This is going to be a jam-packed day with some really exciting and interesting location based information that you won't want to miss!

Check out our all star line-up!

First up at 11:30 is Samuli Hanninen, Head of Product Marketing NOKIA maps talking about Nokia Maps APIs + Nokia opportunity

Next at 12:00 we have Thomas Curtis, from, Blue Via. Thomas’ presentation is titled Localization Opportunities with Operators.

At 12:40 is How to catch the Wave of opportunities with Samsung being presented by Cheng Luo, Platform Evangelist Samsung Europe.

We of course will provide you with a tasty lunch!

After lunch we have more great speakers!

At 2:20 we will have Bryce Johnston, Senior Ecosystems Manager, Imagination Technologies. Bryce will be on stage presenting is talk titled Graphics Acceleration and the POWERVR Insider SDK.

Next at 2:40 comes Laszlo Kishonti, General Manager, Kishonti Informatics. Kishonti Informatics was an 2009 LBS Challenge winner and Laszlo will present their NaviGenie SDK.

Mike Cottle, VP, deCarta will present A introduction to deCarta's APIs at 3:00

Metaio is up after that. Frank Angermann, Developer Relations, will give his presentation titled Lessons from the market: Metaio at 4:00.

Philipp Nagele, Director of Partner Relationships, Mobilizy presents at 4:20. He will talk about ARchitect - creating powerful AR applications made simple

We will finish up the day with Thorsten Rudolph, Managing Director, Anwendungszentrum GmbH and his presentation Let me show you the money: ESNC

Besides having all those speakers, we are going to have quite a few folks from NAVTEQ talking about what NAVTEQ has to offer. They will be sprinkled throughout the day. You can check the Agenda for full details.

This is shaping up to be a very amazing event! So many speakers, so much cool stuff, and it is all free, free, FREE!

What are you waiting for? Sign up right now to reserve your spot and we will see you there!

Spotlight on NN4D.com - Industry & Market Information section

2011-06-06T17:21:00.000-05:00

As, you know, there is a ton of information on NN4D.com. One of the sections on NN4D.com you might not have visited lately is the “Industry & Market Information” section. Even if you are familiar with it, you should check it out as we have some pretty interesting and newly published stuff to read there. This section is also a good place to start if you are looking to educate yourself about the various topics to be found kicking around the mobile developer sphere. Not only that, but this is also in this section that you will find some of our newest content, including contributions from the Open GeoSpatial Consortium and the NN4D team.

All these articles are available as .pdf downloads and you have to be an NN4D member to access them. If you are not a member of NN4D, sign up now!

For those of you that are NN4D members, click on the links to download these documents!

OGC on Java – GeoAPI does much of the work. (*NEW!)
GeoAPI is open source software developed by the GeoAPI project. The GeoAPI interfaces provide a layer that separates client code, which calls the API, from library code, which implements the API. Martin Desruisseaux, chair of the OGC’s GeoAPI Standards Working Group, explains that, “GeoAPI gives geospatial applications the same benefit that Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) interfaces provide to database applications.

OGC's GeoSMS and other lightweight location standards (*NEW!)
Open GeoSMS not only provides a practical way to add location to SMS, it provides it in an open standards-based manner, which means that anyone and everyone can freely use the same approach.

Imagination Technologies - POWERVR 3D Navigation Rendering Techniques
Visualization of large datasets is a complicated and demanding task. Efficient techniques have to be employed in order to achieve interactive frame rates when rendering huge datasets. Download this document which introduces techniques related to the visualization of 3D datasets.

Augmented Reality White Paper (*NEW!)
Learn about the key technologies and considerations to building applications that combine what the user sees in reality with computer-generated data, i.e. additional graphical location-based information related to location, orientation and view of the mobile user to make real-time decisions.

NAVTEQ Developer Day - London

2011-06-01T15:19:00.001-05:00

Are you ready for the next NAVTEQ Developer Day? Well, we sure are! Yes, NAVTEQ Developer Day –London is almost on us! This jam-packed event takes place on Wednesday, June 8th at Dexter House, Royal Mint Gardens, London, UK and is being held in conjunction with Mobile App World 2011.

Check out this killer schedule we have lined up!

Time	Topic	Speaker
8:30	Doors and Registration Open Tea and coffee
9:00	Welcome and Introduction	Lauren Sarno, Developer Marketing Manager, NAVTEQ (MC for the day)
9:15	Sizing the Opportunity for Location Apps	Peter Beaumont, Director, Enterprise Marketing EMEA, NAVTEQ
9:45	The NN4D Opportunity: Learn, Build, Succeed, Market	Marc Naddell, VP, Partner and Developer Programs, NAVTEQ
10:15	NAVTEQ Product Overview – Innovation in Outdoor and Indoor Mapping through Next-Gen Pedestrian and Visuals	David Volpe, Product Manager, NAVTEQ
10:45	Break
11:00	Nokia Maps APIs and the Nokia Opportunity	Sami Pippuri, Head of Product Marketing, Forum Nokia
11:30	Orange Maps Experience, Trends and Expectations from French End Users around LBS Services	Sébastien Orlhac, Head of LBS Services Orange France
12:00	Monetizing with Location-Based Advertising	David Barker, Advertising Sales Director, EMEA, NAVTEQ
12:20	Q&A Sessions	Panelists: Peter Beaumont, Marc Naddell, James Winter, Sami Pippuri, Sébastien Orlhac Moderator: Lauren Sarno
12:40	Lessons from the Market: How to Benefit from Partnership	Gideon Clifton, Founder, TaxiStop
13:00	LUNCH
14:00	Lessons from the Market: How to Build a Multi-OS Strategy	Michiel Munneke, Co-founder and CEO, M2Mobi
14:20	Accessing the Data	Mike Moore, Technical Consultant, NAVTEQ
14:50	Graphics Acceleration and the POWERVR Insider SDK	Marco Weber, Developer Technology Engineer, Imagination Technologies
15:20	BREAK
15:35	3D App Development Using VisioDevKit	Hector Briceño, VP Engineering, Visioglobe
16:35	Lucky Draw and Networking Reception	Win some stuff!

For those that can’t make it, we are going to live-stream it on our Ustream channel if you want to tune in.

As you can see, this is going to be another awesome FREE event, so make sure to register and reserve your spot!

But wait, there’s more!

Not only are we going to have the NAVTEQ Developer Day, but NN4D and NAVTEQ will also be at Mobile App World 2011, taking place on Tuesday, June 7th and Wed, June 8th. We will have a booth set up in the expo area on both days, so stop by and say howdy! We will be talking to developers about NAVTEQ LocationPoint Advertising as well as the NAVTEQ App Warehouse. Finally, on June 8th, don’t miss Pia Vuohelainen, in the last panel of the day titled “Roundtable, mApp Innovation, what to expect in 2012”.

So, there you have it! Lots of great opportunities from NN4D coming up in London. We hope you can make it and look forward to seeing you there!

NN4D will be at Israel Mobile Summit 2011!

2011-05-27T17:29:00.001-05:00

Will you be at the Israel Mobile Summit 2011 in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, May 31? The NAVTEQ Network for Developers will be there, and we have a bunch of cool stuff planned! Seriously, we have cool stuff planned like NN4D’s own Pia Vuohelainen giving the Israel Mobile Summit key note and cool stuff like NN4D hosting our next NAVTEQ Developer Day!

First up we have Pia Vuohelainen, Partner Manager EMEA, NAVTEQ who will be giving the key note address titled “LBS3.0: From Location to Contextual Awareness”. This is a fantastic presentation and one not to be missed! Pia has lots of experience in the mobile location space so make sure to be there at 9:15 to hear her insights. Then at 11:45 don’t miss John Wernecke, Global Marketing Manager, Partner & Developer Programs, NAVTEQ in the panel: What is the next thing in mobile? Experts try to predict the unpredictable... You can catch Pia again at 1:50 as she is one of the judges for Innovation showcase: 4 startups presentations with judges feedback. NN4D will also have a space outside Hall 6 from 8:00AM-5:00PM where various members of the NAVTEQ Network for Developers will be hanging out and talking to developers about NAVTEQ, so make sure to stop by!

Besides all the cool stuff we are participating in at the Israel Mobile Summit, NN4D is also hosting the NAVTEQ Developer Day – Israel. The Developer Day starts at 11:00 AM and includes speakers from NAVTEQ, Lustancia, Atlas CT, and Rovio (the makers of Angry Birds). You can check out the full NAVTEQ Developer Day agenda here. As an extra added bonus, NAVTEQ Developer Day attendees get to see the key note addresses (Including Pia’s presentation!) for FREE! Because NAVTEQ has partnered with the Israel Mobile Summit for our Developer Day event, anyone registering for this Developer Day can also attend the Summit keynote addresses for free, complements of NN4D! Please note, this is for keynotes only, Summit sessions, panels and start-up contest are not included in this special offer. There is still time to Register for the NAVTEQ Developer Day, so click this link!

As you can see the NAVTEQ Network for Developers really does have a bunch of cool stuff planned, so we really hope you can make it! If you can, come introduce yourself to us, as we would love to meet you. See you at the show!

NAVTEQ Developer Day India, Post Show Wrap-up.

2011-05-25T17:14:00.004-05:00

This just in! We have now posted our “India Post Event” page on NN4D.com as well as created a video about our NAVTEQ Developer Day - India! (see below) We had two awesome events in India which took place on April 26 in Bengaluru, and on April 29 in New Delhi. NN4D put together a great agenda with informative presentations from Imagination Technologies, Location Guru, deCarta and NAVTEQ. If you are a member of NN4D, you can even download .pdf copies of the presentations on the page.

Another thing we tried that was new, was that we live-streamed both events onto our Ustream channel! You can check all our videos in our Ustream archives. or just jump to the channel for the Bengaluru event or New Delhi event

If you missed out on the NAVTEQ Developer Day in India, fear not! We will be having many more Developer Day events around the world taking place in a city near you! Our next three events are coming up in the next couple of weeks, with the first in Tel Aviv, Israel on 31 May, and also June 8 in London, UK and June 13 in Berlin Germany. You can get all the details at this link.

All and all, the developers learned lots and it was a good use of the attendee’s time, as Saurabh and Pushpendra point out in the video below.

Check out the new HTML 5 map tutorials from deCarta!

2011-05-23T16:18:00.000-05:00

Have you seen the new deCarta Mobile JavaScript (HTML5) API tutorials we have on NN4D.com? Yes, we said Mobile JavaScript, as it has now become possible to create complex web applications dedicated to the mobile web.

In other words, you can now create a web-based map that runs on pretty much any smartphone!

Not only is it cool that the HTML 5 map runs on most mobile platforms. (i.e. iPhone and Android) but it is also cool because it means you can use your web developers javascript skillz to create a mobile LBS app. That means no C++ is needed and no re-writing your app for each phone platform! Pretty neat, eh?

So, what kind of tutorials do we have anyway?

Well, right now, we have 3, but boy are they good ones! We of course have the obligatory “Getting Started” tutorial that walks you through the basic application and provides sample code to get you up and running quicker than you can say Javascript.

When you have mastered that, you will want to go on to check out “Using HTML5 Geolocation API” which lets you share your geographic location with trusted web sites. For Location based applications, this API opens the door to new innovation!

Finally, we have Using HTML5 Local Storage API which is a simple key / value storage API which allows us to persist application data cross sessions. This is definitely something you will want to learn about as you create your web-based mobile app.

You really should check out these tutorials, as deCarta provides Free registration as well as clear terms of use and pricing (No need for extreme legalese or having to talk to a sales person to get started! Woohoo!). Also, make sure to keep checking back to the section as deCarta is going to be adding more and more tutorials in the coming weeks.

This is some good stuff, so go click this link to see it!

Guest Blog - "OGC’s Mobile Internet Standards Initiative"

2011-05-18T12:40:00.000-05:00

By Steven Ramage

Location apps are hot, but the market is fragmented. One reason is that there’s no standard way to seamlessly integrate location and building information. Developers and providers of 3d building data and content need a standard, integrated way to encode indoor location and outdoor location and to invoke services that use that location data.

If such a foundation were in place to support multiple positioning technologies and technologies like augmented reality, sensor webs and a wiki of places, we would see more market growth and more diverse and useful applications. The progress would be apparent not only in wayfinding, marketing and games, but also in emergency and disaster response, security, facilities planning and management, real estate finance, insurance, the smart grid, education, energy management, and management of air, water, gas, sewerage and air quality.

If we had standards and agreement in the market to use these standards, components would become easier to integrate into new and existing applications. Developers of platforms, tools, data and apps would reach larger markets, and we would see unanticipated new applications. This is what tends to happen with extensive, open networks. We have only one Earth, but often information about the Earth’s natural and built features and phenomena is locked in stovepipes.

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is a dedicated, global forum for spatial standards discussions and spatial standards development. The OGC’s process for standards development and promotion involves industry alliances with organizations that are working various aspects of the indoor/outdoor location problem, such as IEC/ISO, IETF (GeoPriv), W3C (Geolocation and Point of Interest), Web3D, ETSI, Kronos, OSCRE and OMA. NAVTEQ is a member of the OGC.

In the OGC, recent activity involves application-specific and trimmed-down profiles of standards and also new standards that are being developed for lightweight location encodings. Many of these use lightweight profiles of the OGC Geography Markup Language (GML), such as the GML profile of GeoRSS. GML is written into the NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards and is used widely in other domains. Most OGC standards involve Web service interfaces, but our members are now actively exploring “RESTful” standards-based approaches to location problems.

Driven by OGC member interest and obvious market need, the OGC has begun a multi-faceted Mobile Internet Standards Initiative that encourages public participation:

· A major OGC-organized workshop, Expanding GeoWeb to an Internet of Things, will be held at COM.Geo, Washington, DC, 23-25 May 2011. There will be presentations from NAVTEQ and also CISCO, SwiftRiver/Ushahidi, the US Federal Communications Commission, BBN, Quova, Skyhook, MobileGIS, Autodesk, Microsoft, the Hasso-Plattner-Institut, 1Spatial, NGC, Telcordia Applied Research, the GeoWeb Forum and others.

· The Third International AR (Augmented Reality) Standards Meeting, June 15 and 16, 2011, will be held in conjunction with the OGC Technical Committee meetings in Taiwan.

· The OGC has launched a 3D Portrayal Interoperability Experiment (IE) to advance best practice for implementing standards for publishing and streaming 3D geospatial assets related to urban planning and landscape visualization. CityGML, an OGC encoding standard for the representation, storage and exchange of virtual 3D city and landscape models, is now supported by many CAD and building information model (BIM) vendors and is being rapidly adopted by users.

· During the Mobile World Congress in February 2011, the OGC met with companies interested in developing a testbed to advance standards for spatial information and embedded mobile. The OGC’s Embedded Mobile Ecosystem Testbed Concept Development activity is in the planning stage, and the OGC will soon announce a two day sponsors workshop. Those interested in learning more can contact George Percivall, OGC Chief Architect (gpercivall at opengeospatial.org)

· The OGC has published a position paper: Increasing Market Opportunities for Augmented Reality Through Collaborative Development of Open Standards.

· An OGC discussion paper, "Requirements and Space-Event Modeling for Indoor Navigation", presents a technical model for indoor navigation that simultaneously addresses route planning, multiple localization methods, navigation contexts, and different locomotion types. (Please comment!)

From an information and applications perspective, different domains or communities of interest view the world differently. Though these stakeholders’ requirement sets are different, they overlap, and therein lies the basis of the solution to their interoperability problems.

The OGC Interoperability Program runs rapid prototyping activities – including testbeds, interoperability experiments, plug-fests and pilot projects – to fast-track the introduction of specific industry requirements into the formal standards development process. Sponsors set the goals based on real-world use cases. Participants work to meet those goals. The initiatives feed into OGC Technical Committee working groups focused on topics, such as 3D urban models, workflow, security, disaster management and semantics. Developers of external standards can submit their standards for review and possible adoption as official OGC standards, so that they can be maintained, evolved and harmonized in a fair and open process.

The standards process works best when many people and organizations participate. There’s a wide spectrum of participation: major organizations may pool their requirements and funds to sponsor testbeds. Individuals may participate as developers or simply offer occasional comments. Participation is not only about cooperating to build a firm foundation that helps shape a better future. It’s also about learning, sharing knowledge and know-how, building a network of contacts and discovering business opportunities in an industry that’s moving at light speed.

Steven Ramage Executive Director

Marketing & Communications

Open Geospatial Consortium

Bergen, Norway

+47-9862-6865

sramage@opengeospatial.org

Twitter: @ogc_steven

NAVTEQ Developer Day - Tel Aviv, Israel!

2011-05-16T15:23:00.003-05:00

Click to register for
Developer Day!

Hey Developers! We are having our next NAVTEQ Developer Day in Tel Aviv, Israel! This event is coming up in a couple of weeks, and is being held in conjunction with the Israel Mobile Summit 2011. The NAVTEQ Developer Day will be held on Tuesday May 31st from 09:30-16:30 local time.

Our last NAVTEQ Developer Day was held in New Delhi, India and was an awesome event which included presentations from NAVTEQ, as well as our partners deCarta and Imagination Technologies. To excite the crowd as to the exciting business opportunities out there, we also included a few Success Stories from Spime and Location Guru to show how NN4D can help you to succeed in the crowded LBS marketplace.

Our next NAVTEQ Developer Day in Tel Aviv, Israel is shaping up to be even better!

We will have a full day of developer focused content that will satisfy the technical folks (as well as the non-technical of us) out there. The agenda includes presentations from NAVTEQ, mSonar and Atlas CT and should make for a very informative and productive day.

Plus there is a BONUS opportunity! Because NAVTEQ has partnered with the Israel Mobile Summit for our Developer Day event, anyone registering for this Developer Day can also attend the Summit keynote addresses for free, complements of NN4D! Please note, this is for keynotes only, Summit sessions, panels and start-up contest are not included in this special offer.

This event is held in cooperation with Mobile Monday Tel Aviv and WIPJam.

Please register today, as space is limited, and you want to make sure we save you a seat!

The NAVTEQ Virtual Developer Lab "Device Package" Explained

2011-05-10T13:35:00.000-05:00

I am sure you know about the special deal for NN4D members and how they get 5 free device testing hours in the NAVTEQ Virtual Developer Lab, which is an extension of DeviceAnywhere's mobile application testing platform. However, do you know we just added 16 new devices to our NN4D device package.

Device package? What’s that?

Our device package is a group of our approximately 110 GPS enabled devices that are available to you for your LBS app testing. The devices are located in DeviceAnywhere Test Centers in the U.S. and UK with a broad range of operators including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, O2, Vodafone, and Orange.

Motorola Xoom

For our device package, we have gone and gathered the best and coolest GPS enabled devices available from DeviceAnywhere and gathered them together in one place, the NAVTEQ Virtual Developer Lab. We did this specifically with the LBS developer in mind. Since we did the hard part of gathering together the most popular and coolest GPS enabled devices, all you have to do is load your LBS App onto any of the 110 devices in our device package and see how it works. With 5 FREE hours to work with, you can do testing on quite a few phones!

What, you say it is hard to learn the testing software?

Nope, it is easy! We even have a video that shows you how to use it. Check out this video demo from Darren Madonick of DeviceAnywhere to see how easy it is to get up and running and use the NAVTEQ Virtual Developer Lab.

After that, just go to the “Getting Started” section of the site to request access to your 5 Free Hours!

Introducing the NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ Advertising Web App API!

2011-05-06T17:26:00.000-05:00

Hey Developers!

The NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ Advertising Web App API is now up and ready and waiting for you to use!

What is the NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ Advertising Web App API? Simply put, it is a way to quickly and easily implement NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ Advertising into your existing iPhone or Android mobile app.

What we have to offer:

First of all, NN4D.com has a whole section dedicated to LocationPoint™ Advertising that you can visit at http://nn4d.com/lpa , however, since you are a Developer, you are probably most interested in the documentation and sample code so you can quickly implement LPA.

To get the documentation and sample code, you will want to go to the “Documentation and Case Studies” page at this link It is there you will find all of our documentation for LocationPoint™ Advertising

What kind of documentation? We have posted:

Quick Start Guide
API Specifications
Integration Guidelines (HTTP connection)
Best Practices (User Interface)
Phone Source Code and tutorial
Android Source Code and tutorial
Android Demo Application
Web App API Deployment Guide

Whew, that is a bunch of stuff we got there!

Let’s break it down even further and highlight some of the parts that you might be specifically interested in.

For the iPhone developers, you are going to want to make sure to download the iPhone Source Code and tutorial (NN4D registration required) This download includes documentation on The” WebApp API Sample App (iPhone)” which is, according to the documentation, a “reference application that illustrates API best usage and practices and thus provides developers an example for kinds of applications that can be built around the WebApp API”. Along with the documentation comes the actual xcode project of the iPhone WebApp API Sample App, so by using these two pieces (documentation and sample code) you can get up and coding on this right away.

For the Android developers, you are going to want to download the Android Source Code and tutorial (NN4D registration required). Like the iPhone download, the Android download includes documentation to help you get started with the Android version of the WebApp Demo Application project.(Which is a Jar package included in the download.)

Another really cool thing we have posted on the Documentation and Case Studies page is a sample .apk file you can download and install on your Android phone! (NN4D registration required) Yes, by downloading the Android Demo Application, you get a working demo app that shows you the user experience provided by the NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ Advertising Web App. Instructions on how to install the .apk file onto your device are provided in the .zip file.

One more thing you are going to need before you can use the NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ Advertising Web App is an affiliateID. The affiliateID is what you need to add to the sample code examples to get them to work. To get an affiliateID , you just have to email us with some basic info. To find out the email address and what info we need, check out chapter 4 – Obtaining Your Own Affiliate ID - in the Quick Start Guide found on the Documentation and Case Studies page.

If you have any technical questions on how to get all this stuff to work, feel free to post them to the forum and we will answer them right away.

Have fun and check out this video for the full LocationPoint™ Advertising experience!

Where 2.0 - The NN4D Interviews.

2011-05-02T15:45:00.002-05:00

The NAVTEQ Network for Developers was at the 2011 Where 2.0 conference that happened just over a week ago.

While we were there, NN4D turned loose Sumit Mahawar to go and talk to LBS developers and see what cool things they are up to. Armed with only his trusty microphone and cameraman assistant, Sumit was able to sally forth into the great wilds of Where 2.0 and actually find a few developers willing to talk to us!

These are their interviews:

Mok Oh, Where.com

Mikko Alasaarela, Walkbase.com

Bernt Wahl, UC Berkeley Industry Fellow

Shankar Narayanan and Gary Mendel, Spime

We hope you enjoyed watching these videos, as we had a great time making them! Special thanks go out to all the interviewees for taking some time and talking with us!

See you next show!

New GPS Devices Added to Remote Testing Service

2011-04-28T11:26:00.000-05:00

The NAVTEQ Virtual Developer Lab (VDL) is powered by DeviceAnywhere and is a remote testing service enabling you to test your LBS apps on real handsets (with GPS signal) in live networks. You get access to the market’s most popular GPS devices – all in one place.

HTC Arrive

16 new devices − based in the DeviceAnywhere Test Center™ in San Mateo (CA) and running live on the four major networks in North America (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon) − were added to the NAVTEQ VDL during April 2011, including:

Latest Android phones from HTC, Motorola and Samsung
Two new Windows Phone 7 phones from HTC
Two Android 3.0 based tablets from Motorola and Samsung
Additional iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and feature phones

The service now covers approximately 110 GPS enabled devices for LBS app testing. The devices are located in DeviceAnywhere Test Centers in the U.S. and UK with a broad range of operators including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, O2, Vodafone, and Orange.

Free Testing Hours for NN4D Members

Did you know that all members of NAVTEQ Network for Developers™ (NN4D) get five free testing hours, good for 21 days after your profile/account has been set up in the NAVTEQ VDL? NAVTEQ App Warehouse partners even get up to 10 hours. After the initial free test hours, NN4D members benefit from heavily discounted testing fees.

DeviceAnywhere offers weekly webinars to help you get started with remote testing.

Read more and request access to the NAVTEQ VDL at www.nn4d.com/apptesting.

NN4D will be at Where 2.0!

2011-04-13T14:39:00.001-05:00

Where 2.0 is coming up next week, will you be there? NN4D will be there and we would love to meet you! We have a couple of things going on at this year's Where 2.0; everything from having a booth, to participating in an ignite session. We will be in booth 409, but you can’t miss us, as we are going to have a NAVTEQ True car in our booth! Yes, we will have one of ~~our field collection cars~~ NAVTEQ True cars on display, so you can get an up close and personal view of our newest, coolest data collection vehicle. (see below video for info on the NAVTEQ True car.) Of course having the LIDAR NAVTEQ True car keeps the whole "Chicken and Laser" meme alive from last year's Where 2.0, so make sure you stop by and check it out!

Not only will we have the booth going on all throughout Where 2.0, but we also are sponsoring a very cool ignite session called “Over the Radar”, so you will want to make sure you don’t miss it!

What is this Ignite session all about?

Via the Where 2.0 session page…. “Over the Radar” is premiering for its kick-off season at Where 2.0 on April 19, 2011 during Ignite. This new chat fest sponsored by NAVTEQ Network For Developers, hosted by Brady Forrest, program co-chair of Where 2.0, will feature this team of dynamic visionaries who will discuss and in some cases debate the future of experiencing location in today’s hectic world. Don’t miss this opportunity to explore what type of armor developers, carriers, manufacturers and investors will need to set trends and keep up with the growing expectations of the public.

So, there you have it, a quick overview of what we have going on at Where 2.0 this year. This is going to be a great show and we are looking forward to being there and meeting all of you! See you next week!

NAVTEQ True

I Can Haz Technical Content?

2011-04-11T18:47:00.001-05:00

The NN4D is looking for Technical Content from you, our community!

Technical Content?

Yeah, Technical Content!

NN4D.com currently has Technical Content on our site (for Mobile, Web and GIS) and we are going to be adding even more of it! Since we are always expanding, we thought now would be a good time to ask if there is anyone out there that wants to submit some Technical Content to us so we can publish it on NN4D.

Well, I mean publish it after we review it to see if it was like good and stuff.

Now I can hear you say “Well hold on there Cowboy, why would I want to submit my Technical Content you anyway?”

So you can get your name out in the LBS community, that’s why!

Yes, in these competitive times, it is good to get your name out there.

Whether you want to be known as someone that helps the community grow, someone who has mad coding skillz, or if you want to build your personal brand, this is your opportunity to shine!

Are you a small start-up that uses NAVTEQ data in your product or app? (through one of our partners APIs perhaps?) If so, you are the perfect person to submit content! Share your knowledge, help your fellow Developer, talk about your product (and how you used NAVTEQ data) all at the same time by submitting some Technical Content for publishing. Getting people to notice you can be quite challenging these days, so if you are able to get your name in front of your fellow NN4D members (by way of inclusion in Technical Content) then that is a good thing!

Not only that, but perhaps you are someone that is looking for the next hot job in the location space, then submitting Technical Content to NN4D is also a great way to build your reputation (and resume)! Being able to say you created Technical Content for the NAVTEQ Network for Developers might just help you stand out a bit from the rest of the field and land that next job. Yes I said might, as there are really no guarantees in this world, but hey, you never know, so why not try!

What are we looking for?

Mostly, we are looking for something useful. Something that would help a developer create a product that uses NAVTEQ data, (be it by posting some code or identifying a process and workflow). Do you use NAVTEQ data? Share your experience and post about how you did it. You could submit this content in a variety of ways… a Whitepaper, a screencast, or even some code samples wrapped into a short blog post. Most of all it should be useful and contain relevant information about how to use NAVTEQ data. Also be aware that we are going to read it, and the powers that be at NN4D will make the final decision on what gets published and what does not. If you are worried about it, just make sure your submission is useful and relevant and it should be no problem!

What do you get?

For your efforts you will receive… Nada, nothing, zip, zero, zilch. Oh, besides the above mentioned things like respect from your peers, building your personal brand, helping the community, and advertising your product. However, besides that, you will get no prize for your hard work.

What next?

Well, the first thing you want to do is contact us here at NN4D. Well actually, to be more specific, you would want to contact me... Hi, I am Greg Rose. So yeah, you would want to drop me a note at Gregory dot Rose at NAVTEQ dotcom and let me know what topics you are thinking about and what format you were interested in, and all that stuff. Once we have that, then we can go from there and figure out the next steps, and get your content published!

Hope to hear from you soon!

NAVTEQ App Warehouse $5000 Cash Giveaway!

2011-04-07T11:28:00.000-05:00

Publish your location app in the NAVTEQ App Warehouse by April 30, 2011 to enter drawing for $5,000 USD Cash Giveaway.

Free Access to NAVTEQ's Worldwide Commercial Channels

Get introduced to carriers, OEMs, and emerging delivery channels
Showcase your location apps and get noticed

Marketing and PR Services –
Compliments of NN4D

Highlighted in NN4D's press and social media channels
Speaking and signage opportunities at conferences
Participation in fast-pitch events

NN4D's Sponsored Presentation at GDC11

2011-04-06T13:15:00.000-05:00

As you might be aware, the NAVTEQ Network for Developers was recently at the Game Developers Conference 2011. We had a great time meeting with Game Developers and talking about NAVTEQ 3D data and how 3D data could be used in developing video games.

As part of our participation on GDC11, we were offered a sponsored presentation slot, where we talked about NAVTEQ 3D data as well as NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ Advertising.

For all you that were not there to see it live, here is our hour long presentation split up into smaller chunks for your viewing enjoyment.

Part 1: Location is Opportunity

Part 2: Visual Content & Enablers for Next-Gen Apps & Games

Part 3: Graphics Acceleration and the POWERVR Insider SDK

Part 4: NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ Advertising -- How to monetize your app

NAVTEQ Developer Day India.

2011-04-05T18:35:00.001-05:00

SAVE THE DATE!

NAVTEQ Developer Day

26 April, 2011 – Bengaluru (Bangalore), India

29 April, 2011 – New Delhi, India

NAVTEQ, the leading global provider of maps, traffic, and digital location content enabling navigation, is holding its first Developer Day in India. Learn directly from the experts during this day-long event how to use NAVTEQ® map data and partner APIs, and quickly apply your skills toward creating the most compelling location based mobile apps in this emerging space.

Bengaluru (Bangalore) 26 April 2011 at Le Meridien
New Delhi 29 April 2011 at The Westin Gurgaon

Join us and learn about all aspects of being successful with a location-based application. You will be introduced to the size of the Indian and global opportunity for location-based applications, be shown how NAVTEQ data can help you differentiate your applications, and find out how the NAVTEQ Network for Developers (NN4D) can assist you every step of the way, from building your app straight through to business development and marketing.

The technical portions of the day focus on APIs and SDKs that enable both mainstream location-based apps and services, and next-generation technologies for location-based 3D apps and games.
Members of our developer network will present their success stories and tell you first-hand how NN4D worked with them to introduce bulk buyers of applications, and how they used NAVTEQ data to make their products stand out.

The NAVTEQ® Developer Day is free of charge. Please register as soon as possible, as seating is limited.

Register Today!

PIctures from SXSW 2011!

2011-04-05T14:11:00.003-05:00

South By Southwest 2011, a set on Flickr.

We have published some pictures from our adventures to South By Southwest 2011. We had a great time meeting everyone and checking out the scene. We also had a bunch of fun with our photo booth, as you can see in the pictures above. Enjoy!

Talking about Social Media on the Top View Social Media Series.

2011-03-23T17:23:00.000-05:00

Recently, NN4D was honored to have been invited to participate in the Top View Social Media Series. The Top View Social Media Series aims to be "a social media summit where real business executives, who aren’t product-pushers, talk about more of the strategies they’ve used to be successful and less of the mechanics." This sounded like a great project to contribute to, so we had our top executive, Marc Naddell, talk about how NN4D uses our various social media channels to connect with you, our Developer Community.

This video is not our usual fare of Developer centric information, however we thought we would post it here for you to check out. This video gives you a peek behind the curtain of what we are trying to do with social media, so hopefully you will find it interesting and relevant.

With that said, if you have not connected with us via our social media channels, then here is the list for you to check out…
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Flickr
YouTube
Blogspot (oh wait, that’s where you are right now!)

P.S. There is a couple of Easter Eggs at the end of the video, so make sure to watch it to the end! Shhh!

WCA LBS SIG presents: Location Apps for Entertainment Seekers

2011-03-22T17:25:00.000-05:00

It is that time again! Yes, it is time for another of the always entertaining and informative WCA LBS SIG events! As you know from past WCA LBS SIG events, there will be some great discussion from industry leaders in the location space. Not convinced? Just check out the videos at the end of this blog post to see some of the past WCA LBS SIG events. You can see that the past WCA LBS SIG events have had some pretty great speakers and this next event will be no different!

This upcoming event, “Location Apps for Entertainment Seekers” is just what it sounds like: cool apps that allow you to find fun things to do. What really makes these apps awesome is that they use location to help deliver relevant information about all fun stuff to do that can be found around your current location. Yes, visiting the Statue of Liberty is great to do on vacation, unless you are on vacation in Hawaii! As we all know, location is key, so come listen to what the presenters have to say.

Speaking of presenters, Check out the awesome line-up!

Daniele Calebrese, Founder & CEO, Soundtrkr
Preston Cox, Mobile App Consultant, Event Radar
Alex Matulich, COO, Event Radar
Dave Chambers, Founder, Napa Winery Finder & DaveTheWineMerchant.com

This will be a great event with speakers representing the full spectrum of “fun”. Not ony that, but there is even some free, live music afterward by “Still Kickin”!

This event is filling up fast, so make sure to register today! Register before April 4th and get a Pre-Registration Discount of $10! Get even more info at the WCA LBS SIG web page!

EVENT DETAILS

Thursday, April 14, 2011 at 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Venue: Sonoma Chicken Coop, 200 E. Campbell Ave., Campbell, CA
Registration/Networking: 4:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Presentations: 5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Live entertainment: 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. - Live music by “Still Kickin'”

In the meantime, check out these videos from previous WCA LBS SIG events.

LocationPalooza 2010: Christian Wiklund, CEO and Founder, Skout

WCA LBS SIG: LBS Goes Indoors: Maps, Apps & Positioning

NN4D will be at SXSW!

2011-03-10T15:16:00.001-06:00

Visit Us at the SXSW® Trade Show

Austin Convention Center

March 14 – 17, Booths 1222 & 1224

Get Picture Perfect with NN4D

NN4D will be exhibiting at the SXSW (South by Southwest) Trade Show in Austin from March 14-17, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., at the Austin Convention Center, Booths 1222 and 1224. Stop by and visit us to learn more about NN4D offerings, and be sure to get your picture taken at our photo booth – you can upload your pic instantly to your Facebook account, have the link emailed to you, or print it on the spot.

Learn How to Monetize Your Location Apps Quickly and Easily

NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ Advertising (LPA) is one of the world’s fastest growing location-aware mobile ad networks. It provides the opportunity to monetize high-value content, is location relevant for higher consumer acceptance, and contains market-leading features for a superior consumer experience. Visit the NN4D booth to learn more about monetizing your app with LPA.

NAVTEQ® App Warehouse – The Place for Location App Buyers and Sellers

The NAVTEQ App Warehouse is an online matchmaking portal that allows viewers to discover the latest trends in location solutions using NAVTEQ® map data, NAVTEQ content and/or LPA. Developers who participate in the NAVTEQ App Warehouse can showcase their apps, get invited to events, participate in promotions, and expand their reach across press and social media channels, as well as get introduced directly to buyers – all at no cost. To learn more, stop by the NN4D booth.

Join NN4D at the Game Developers Conference 2011!

2011-02-28T17:30:00.000-06:00

Are you at the Game Developers Conference 2011 this week in San Francisco? The NAVTEQ Network for Developers will be there with our own booth! Actually, we will be in a couple of booths, but the main NN4D booth is booth number 2216, if you want to stop by. Not only will NN4D staff be at our own NN4D booth, but we will also be on hand at the Imagination Technologies booth (booth 824) talking to Developers. In addition to being at our booth and the Imagination Technologies booth, we are also giving a presentation about LocationPoint™ Advertising on Friday March 4th. Don’t miss this presentation titled “Enrich Your 3D App: Advanced Visual Content and LocationPoint Advertising”. This presentation will take place from 11am-12pm in the South Hall, room 302, so make sure to put it on your calendar.

That is three places to find us at the show! You can find us in the NN4D booth, at the Imagination Technologies booth and on stage giving a presentation!

You may be wondering why NN4D would be at the Game Developer Conference anyway, since we are a location company and not a game company. We feel that game developers are in a unique position to use NAVTEQ 3D data, as they already have lots of experience with the tools used to create 3D worlds and those same skills can be used in 3D mapping and navigation. Now that NAVTEQ is providing the map data packaged along with graphic rendering tools, it is easy for any Developer to create 3D navigation applications, but we think this will be especially true for game developers, so we want to go to GDC11 and meet them.

Yes! It is true, NAVTEQ is providing access to 3D map data through the POWERVR Insider SDK for the developer community to evaluate and use, and we will be talking about the POWERVR Insider SDK at our booth.

Do you know about Imagination Technologies and POWERVR Insider?

Well, Imagination Technologies delivers outstanding graphics for mobile and embedded gaming through their POWERVR Insider SDK. Not only that, but the POWERVR Insider ecosystem provides extensive support and tools for developers and we want connect with and support this ecosystem.

3D navigation is the future, and NAVTEQ is making that future happen! One of the ways we are making the 3D mapping future happen is through partnering with cutting edge companies such as Imagination Technologies. Make sure to stop by our booth to learn more about the exciting new 3D mapping and navigation possibility that can be had with NAVTEQ and Imagination Technologies. See you at the show!

NAVTEQ Lunch & Learn- Tuesday, March 1st

2011-02-24T18:17:00.001-06:00

Join NN4D and DeviceAnywhere describe the extra-strength painkiller formula for developers who need to quickly test their mobile apps remotely AND are committed to enriching the location experience with the latest 3D visuals available in the market today!

REGISTER NOW!

EVENT DETAILS

Date/Time: Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Venue: Plug And Play Tech Center at 440 N. Wolfe Road, Sunnyvale, CA
Area: Game Room on 2nd Floor

MEET THE PARTICIPANTS

Mimmis Olsson, Global Manager, Technical Marketing & Developer Technologies, NAVTEQ
Leila Modarres, Vice President of Marketing, DeviceAnywhere

Don’t miss this dynamic duo share their insights on how NN4D and DeviceAnywhere can help you accelerate the time to market for testing mobile apps and enriching the location experience for users with 3D.

Hope to see you there!

NAVTEQ Developer Day in China!

2011-02-17T15:44:00.000-06:00

Tap into the global opportunity!

NAVTEQ, the leading global provider of maps, traffic, and digital location content enabling navigation, is holding its first Developer Day in China. Learn directly from the experts during this day-long event how to use NAVTEQ® map data and partner APIs, and quickly apply your skills toward creating the most compelling location based apps in this emerging space.

Beijing: 22 February at the Westin Chaoyang
Shanghai: 24 February at the Westin Bund Center

Join NAVTEQ, deCarta and ESRI, for an information-packed day, complete with hands-on coding. You will receive concrete information on how to easily develop a location enabled mobile application using our partner APIs based on NAVTEQ digital maps, traffic, and location data that has long been the standard for commercial navigation and location products around the world.
During the event you will:

Learn about the global opportunity to monetize your location based applications outside of China, and how to get your solutions to market faster.
Gain insight into NAVTEQ product offerings and the services available from the NAVTEQ Network for Developers™.
Get hands-on training to easily build applications using the latest NAVTEQ map data and partner APIs.
- Learn about deCarta's mobile JavaScript, iPhone, Android, Bada and web APIs with the source code to get started quickly, and get access to NAVTEQ data for global mapping, geocoding, search and routing.
- Learn about ESRI and its ArcGIS Server, ArcGIS APIs for iOS and Windows Smart Phones, including data processing, mapping, routing analysis and service publishing.
Network at the evening reception and make the contacts you need to maximize the success of your location-based solution.
Receive continuous technical support from NAVTEQ’s NN4D team after the event.
Participate in a drawing for your chance to win a new iPad and other excellent gifts.

Developers participating in the Developer Day will also be given the opportunity to polish their applications and potentially receive the opportunity to showcase the final product at NAVTEQ sponsored events, an invaluable gateway to industry experts and market exposure.

The NAVTEQ® Developer Day is free of charge. Please register as soon as possible, as seating is limited.
Register Today!

Mobile World Congress 2011 - Day 4 : WIPJam Developer Day

2011-02-17T01:01:00.000-06:00

Welcome to our 4th day of reporting from Mobile World Congress 2011! What a week it has been! Full of exciting announcements, cool gadgets, fun parties and partners in our booth! If you missed them on Tuesday, Mobilizy will be with us in our App Planet booth today! Earlier this week Mobilizy launched the latest version of their Augmented Reality app, Wikitude World Browser and is a very hot, up and coming LBS company that makes some pretty nifty apps! Nifty apps like Wikitude World Browser and Wikitude Drive.

Speaking of Wikitude Drive, this was the app that catapulted Mobilizy into the limelight and enabled them to first become the 2010 NAVTEQ LBS Challenge Grand Prize Winner- EMEA and then go on to be the 2010 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge Champion!

If you don’t know Wikitude Drive, it is the world’s first fully functional mobile AR navigation system with global coverage. This app is quite exciting and represents a new way to navigate using your phone. For those of you who live Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, this app has been commercially launched and you can get it from the Android Marketplace, so download it right now!

Today is also the day that we will be WIPJam Developer Day here in App Planet and we have NN4D staff participating in a variety of activities.

First of all from 10:00am-11:20 we have the WIPJam Stories. NN4D’s own John Wernecke will be a facilitator for the story:The Guardian Anywhere:

In this story, you will hear how a small seaside software company's skunkworks project took an international newspaper brand onto Android, and shifted a million copies in the process.

This story should be quite interesting,. This story is about Future Platforms, a small mobile software company in Brighton, England. Hear about how they created an Android app called The Guardian Anywhere as a side project, utilizing the public APIs and RSS feeds from the newspaper of the same name.

Then, from 11:30-12:30 NN4D will be participating in the Discussion Groups. Pia Vuohelainen from NN4D will be a discussion leader for Topic #3 “Marketing Your App” From the site… “You’ve got your App on an App store – now what? We’ll look at on-desk and off-deck strategies to help you influence and increase downloads; including presentation, ratings, recommendations, and other tricks.”

Finally from 2:00 – 3:00PM we will be participating in “WIP Marketplace - Pitches and Networking for Fun and Profit” NN4D’s top honcho, Marc Naddell will be giving a 3 minute “elevator pitch” that should be quite fun and interesting. Rumor has it that our Corporate Marketing team has whipped up something fun and a bit kooky for Marc to present, but you will have to be there to find out for sure.

That pretty much wraps up what we have going on today. Even though it is the last day of Mobile World Congress 2011, it is still shaping up to be a very full and informative day, so make sure you come by and check out WIPJam Developer Day. See you there!

Mobile World Congress Day 3 - Partner Spotlight: Visioglobe

2011-02-16T01:02:00.001-06:00

Hi, and welcome to day 3 of our coverage of Mobile World Congress 2011! If you have not had a chance yet to stop by the NAVTEQ Network for Developers booth yet (7D42), you should do so. When you do, make sure to visit our partner in the booth, Visioglobe.

We are excited to have Visioglobe in the booth with us, as they are doing some really amazing things using 3D data with their VisioDev Kit SDK. The VisioDevKit enables the use of 3D data by using advanced compression and pre-processing of data for on-board and/or off-board usage. In addition, the VisioDevKit SDK provides an immersive 3D geographical and urban visualization engine that runs in real-time. Yes, real-time! Using the VisioDevKit SDK rendering engine, it is now possible to navigate in real-time with an excellent image quality and fluidity! This really does have to be seen in person, so come by our booth and make sure to view the demo! Aren’t at the show? That’s ok, as you can just check out this video below to see it in action.

The iOS (iPhone, iPad) version of the VisioDevKit SDK is available for download right now at NN4D, so you can get started without delay. The VisioDeveKit SDK is written in C++ and the SDK downloadable .zip file includes a couple of xcode project you can build and run to help you get started. The downloadable SDK also includes all the documentation you need to start developing, so make sure to check that out also.

OK then, day 3 at Mobile World Congress 2011 is upon us, so make sure you stop by the NN4D booth in App Planet (booth #7D42) and check out Visioglobe. See you there!

The Real Deal behind NAVTEQ’s LocationPoint™ Advertising

2011-02-15T01:04:00.000-06:00

Welcome to our second day here at Mobile World Congress 2011. We hope you are having a great show so far, and have been able to keep up with all the announcements! There have been so many, but the ones we want to talk about are the two NAVTEQ Press Releases about LocationPoint™ Advertising (or LPA). On Monday NAVTEQ published 2 press releases about LocationPoint™ Advertising. The two press release are: “NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ Advertising Network Expands to Millions of Telmap User”s“ and also “NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ Ad Network Expands With Major New Publishers Worldwide”

Let’s take a look at these and see what this really means to you, the Developer.

Basically, these two press releases are all about the fact that NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ Advertising is growing and growing quickly! As it stands right now, NAVTEQ LocationPoint comprises some of the largest sources of location-aware ad inventory, by working with handset makers like LG, Sony Ericsson, RIM, Samsung and Nokia and through location aware applications like Telmap, and top navigation apps like, AAA Triptik, Ndrive, Navigon and Poynt. What is really cool about NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ Advertising is it allows advertisers to pinpoint where consumers are, deliver ads within a few meters of advertised points of purchase, and guide them to the merchant’s doorstep—with results that can be measured.

What this translates into is clicks. Click, glorious clicks! As a Developer, you like it when your users click on an ad in your app, because this is how and when you get paid. The more clicks, the more money for you! We are finding that NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ Advertising has a pretty high click-through rate when compared to traditional mobile ads. As a matter of fact, a European effort for McDonald's garnered an amazing 7% consumer click through rate and won an EMMA for Europe's most-effective location-based mobile ad campaign. These initial results have been very exciting so far and NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ Advertising is positioning itself to become a leading aggregator of top quality ad inventory that spans devices, apps, and global regions.

Well, now is your chance to get in on the ground floor, be an early adopter and get started with LocationPoint™ Advertising. This is true especially if you are at Mobile World Congress 2011 this week! The NAVTEQ Network for Developers is going to have LocationPoint™ Advertising specialists in our MWC11 booth to answer all your LPA questions and help get you up and running on this new platform. Just stop by our booth in App Planet (7D42) and talk to us about integrating LocationPoint™ Advertising into your LBS app. For those of you that are not at Mobile World Congress 2011, then you can check out the LPA Zone at NN4D.

NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ Advertising is going to be big this year, and you do not want to miss the opportunity to be a part of it. If you are at the show, stop by our booth. If you are not at the show, just make sure to become a member of NN4D, visit the LPA Zone and get in contact with us to get started, as you definitely want to be one of the first ones to this party.

Mobile World Congress Day 1: Come check out our partners in the booth!

2011-02-13T23:00:00.004-06:00

Welcome to day 1 of Mobile World Congress 2011! NN4D is “live” here at Mobile World Congress 2011Barcelona with our own booth in App Planet.

NN4D’can be found at booth number 7D42 in App Planet. If you are not sure what App Planet is, it is a giant showcase of over 200+ exhibitors , App Developer Conferences , App Competitions, Forum Series and more! App Planet brings together the many critical elements of the broad mobile application ecosystem in one location and NN4D is really excited to be a part of it!

Once you get to our booth #7D42, what will you see? One thing you will see is some very innovative developers and companies who are sharing our booth. The NAVTEQ Network for Developers really tries to promote LBS App Developers and start-ups that use NAVTEQ data. We have gathered a few of these folks together to share our booth space. If you are a Developer or work for a small LBS start-up, make sure you stop by the booth and talk to them about their experiences creating LBS apps that use NAVTEQ data. Also, make sure you tell us about how you are using NAVTEQ location data in your app, as we would love to connect with you!

Who are the partners we are sharing our booth with?

For starters, Visioglobe will be in our booth all week as they promote their VisioDevKit. The VisioDevKit SDK will enable developers to more effectively render different 3D map data and location content offerings from NAVTEQ. Currently the VisioDevKit is available for the iOS and it allows you to create some very impressive 3D mapping and navigation apps using the latest NAVTEQ 3D data. The demo VisioGlobe has created to show off this SDK is quite cool, so make sure you stop by the booth to see it. Also, don’t forget to visit the VisioDevKit zone on NN4D to download the SDK and get your developer key, as NN4D.com is currently the exclusive distributor of the VisioDevKit SDK. Visioglobe will share our booth for the entire show, so stop by anytime to see them.

On Tuesday we are excited to have Mobilizy to share our booth. Mobilizy is the 2010 NAVTEQ LBS Challenge CHAMPION with their winning app, “Wikitude Drive”. If you have not seen Wikitude Drive yet, you are in for a treat, as it is the world’s first fully functional mobile AR navigation system with global coverage (for Android 2.1 and above). Wikitude Drive is powered by NAVTEQ map and location data and delivers an experience like no other. Words can’t really describe it, so make sure to stop by the NN4D booth to see a live demo! For those of you not at the show, but still want to see a demo of Wikitude Drive, just check out this video.

Wednesday is the day NN4D is participating in Mobile {DEV} Sync and we will have a pod there also. Medianet will be at the Mobile {DEV} Sync NN4D pod all day on Wednesday and will be promoting their app TaxiStop. TaxiStop provides a great way for Taxi Drivers to work together and offers easy branded passenger booking and payment facilities, corporate account and complete back office management. TaxiStop was a 2008 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge semifinalists, so you will want to make sure to stop by the pod and check out their demo!

Finally on Thursday, Ubiest will be in the NN4D App Planet booth, #7D42. Ubiest was the Grand Prize Winner, 2008 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge — EMEA with their app UbiSafe. Ubiest has a variety of LBS solutions they have created, from fleet management to personal safety. Come and talk to Ubiest and see their demos at the booth. Ubiest has lots of experience launching successful LBS applications, so come chat with them and get some pointers.

We are really excited for all these great things going on at Mobile World Congress 2011 and all of our fantastic partners we are sharing the booth with! If you are here at Mobile World Congress, make sure to stop by out booth this week as we would love to talk to you!

Join NN4D at Mobile World Congress 2011

2011-02-03T16:21:00.002-06:00

Are you going to Mobile World Congress this year? The NAVTEQ Network for Developers is going to be there and we have a ton of cool stuff planned. What kind of cool stuff? Well, let’s take a look.

First of all, we will have our own booth. Our booth will be in App Planet, booth number 7D42. When you stop by the booth, make sure to check out NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ Advertising (LPA). We will have on-hand the latest documentation, tools and training to enable successful location-aware development of LPA using the NAVTEQ’s APIs. LocationPoint™ Advertising is going to be big this year, so make sure to ask us about the latest offerings and how you can monetize your LBS app using LPA.

The NN4D booth will also feature Trivia for Trendsetters, the game that lets you answer industry-related trivia questions to win American Express gift certificates and other prizes. Stop by our booth and sign up to play and for your chance to win! Trivia for Trendsetters will take place daily, with a championship round on the last day. The Trivia for Trendsetters schedule is:

Monday, February 14 - 11 a.m.and 4 p.m.
Tuesday, February 15 -11 a.m.and 4 p.m.
Wednesday, February 16 - 11 a.m.and 4 p.m.
Thursday, February 17 (championship round) - 2 p.m.

This is a fun game as the above video shows, so make sure to come by our booth to sign up and play!

You will also want to make sure to come by our booth and pick up a printed version of WIP Developer's Survival Guide to MWC. Every year, this guide is an invaluable must-have tool for the developers attending MWC. Sponsor booths, hospitality suites and activities are highlighted along with other must attend booths and events. When you stop by our booth, make sure to pick up a copy.

On Wednesday, Feb 16, NN4D will be presenting, from 1:00 - 1:45, at the Mobile {Dev} Sync. Join NN4D’s own Mike Moore for this developer focused presentation titled Building Winning Apps with Location Content, APIs, and Ads. Many of you know Mike from the NN4D forums and know that he is a wealth of information about NAVTEQ APIs, so you will not want to miss what he has to say!

Another exciting activity we are sponsoring is the WIPJam Carnival of Nations Party. This will be the place to be on Wednesday night, February 16 and will be a lot of fun! What is going on at the WIPJam Carnival of Nations Party? Jameoke, refreshments and more … Jamoke? Not really sure what this is, but sounds interesting and fun, so we will have to wait to see!

The party is already sold out, but rumor has it still might be possible to get in at the door.

Speaking of WIPJam, on Thursday, February 17 don’t miss the WIPJam Developer Day (free for developers with registration) This will be in the App Planet Auditorium from 9:30am- 3:30pm and bills itself as “No ties, no PPTs, no panels!”. At this event, you will find developer storytelling, discussion groups, demos and more!

When you go to the WIPJam Developer Day, don’t miss the Discussion Groups session that takes place from 11:30-12:30. NN4D’s own Pia Vuohelainen will be a discussion leader for Topic #3 -Marketing your App. Finally, make sure not to miss NN4D’s leader, Marc Naddell, Vice President Partner and Developer Program, give a short elevator pitch at the MarketPlace Pitch event from 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.

One last head’s up is that Mobilizy, the creators of Wikitude Drive, will be in the NN4D booth on Tuesday, February 15. Be sure to stop by the NN4D booth and see the Wikitude Drive demo and talk to the developers. Wikitude Drive was the 2010 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge CHAMPION, so come by the booth and chat with them.

Whew!

As you can see, we have a lot going on at Mobile World Congress and we hope we get to see you there in person! For everyone that won’t be there, fear not! We will be doing live tweets (follow us @NN4D) from our MWC booth, as well as some other exciting “live” stuff! It should be pretty fun and informative, so make sure you stay tuned! Hope everyone has a great show, and we will see you there!

Take the NN4D Satisfaction Development Survey. You could win an iPad!

2011-01-24T17:47:00.000-06:00

The NAVTEQ Network for Developers (NN4D) invites you to participate in our online Satisfaction Development Survey. This annual survey gives you the opportunity to provide input and feedback regarding NN4D’s content, support, programs and website. We have commissioned Evans Data Corporation to conduct our survey.

Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts and feedback with us before the survey ends on February 18, 2011. All NAVTEQ Network for Developers members who complete this online survey will be entered in a chance to win an iPad or one of 10 $50 American Express gift cards.

The information you provide helps us refine and shape our programs to ensure NN4D offers you the content, tools and support which interest you the most. Please take the survey now.

Thanks for your participation and feedback,

P.S. Remember to complete the survey by Sunday, February 18, 2011 to be entered for a chance to win an iPad or one of 10 $50 American Express gift cards.

How to get 15 free hours of Virtual Developer Lab app testing.

2011-01-17T17:49:00.003-06:00

Recently the NAVTEQ Network for Developers, in partnership with DeviceAnywhere, launched our Virtual Device Lab. We actually wrote a blog post about the launch last October. If you are not familiar with our Virtual Device Lab, let’s quote from that other blog post…

“The Virtual Developer Lab (VDL) is powered by DeviceAnywhere and is a remote testing service enabling you to test your LBS apps on real handsets in live networks… DeviceAnywhere has test centers in actual physical locations around the world full of lots and lots of devices. These devices are all “live” and connected to all the major carriers..”

So, yeah, what the VDL does it it allows you to load and test your app in a variety of phones, all from the comfort of your own computer, using the DeviceAnywhere Studio software.

Quoting from the DeviceAnywhere Studio NN4D page we can see that by using the Device Anywhere Studio, you can:

DeviceAnywhere Studio

“access and control devices simply by using your mouse to click on the buttons of the device image that appears on their screen, or using their keyboard to type directly into the device."

"The DeviceAnywhere Direct-to-Device™ technology is a patented direct-to-device software abstraction layer which communicates users’ actions (key presses, typed inputs) to the device.”

We also mentioned in that other blog post that all NN4D members get 5 hours of free VDL testing.

What wasn’t mentioned in that blog post was that there is a way to get 10 more hours of free testing! This brings us to a total of 15 hours of free Virtual Developer Lab testing! You can test a lot of phones in 15 hours! Seriously, that is almost two full days of work. All for free!

To get the extra 10 hours, all you have to do, is submit your app to the NAVTEQ App Warehouse and have it accepted. If you are not familiar with the NAVTEQ App Warehouse, check out the NAVTEQ App Warehouse intro video embedded below.

Testing your app to make sure it works on all phone versions is the smart thing to do. The more bugs you can fix prior to launch, the more users will have a better experience with your app. The better experience your users have, the higher they will rate your app. The higher your app gets rated, the more it is downloaded. The more it is downloaded.. well, that is the whole point right? But it all begins with testing, testing, testing, so visit the Virtual Developer Lab page and sign up for your free test hours today!

Check out the new POWERVR Insider SDK at NN4D

2010-12-28T16:31:00.000-06:00

NN4D just recently launched out new Imagination Technologies zone on NN4D.com! You can find this new zone under the “Partner APIs & Services” heading in the Build section at NN4D.com. In this new zone, you will find the Imagination Technologies POWERVR Insider SDK, version 2.7

Imagination's POWERVR graphics IP consists of the industry's leading graphics accelerators supporting a broad range of applications in mobile, consumer and computing segments. You can read more about POWERVR Graphics at this link.

What is exciting for LBS application developers, is this latest version of the SDK includes a new tutorial showing developers how to take full advantage of Imagination's graphics acceleration technology using the standard OpenGL® ES2 application programming interface (API) to display map and advanced visual guidance data in graphics-rich mobile applications.

The SDK contains step-by-step tutorials on how to get started with Khronos OpenGL ES 2.x development, including texturing, lighting effects, use of shaders, alpha blending, etc as well as graphics demos, including a navigation demo and source code for implementations of different navigation rendering techniques.

The tutorial includes comprehensive sample code for utilizing most forms of available street mapping data in applications and a complementary white paper that explains efficient navigation rendering techniques and tools for how to compile the data.

Specifically, when you download the SDK, you will get:

Navigation demo showing a 2.5D navigation environment which implements the navigation rendering optimization techniques described in SDK v2.7
Navigation Rendering Techniques white paper
Navigation data tools and source code added to SDK utilities

We also have a couple of YouTube videos that you can watch to find out more about Imagination Technologies.

SEE 2009: Interview with Tony King-Smith, VP of Marketing at Imagination Technologies

NAVTEQ Directions 2010: NN4D interview with Imagination Technologies about latest POWERVR SDK

What are you waiting for? Visit the Imagination Technologies zone today to download the SDK and start building! Seriously, what else are you going to do over the winter break?

NAVTEQ and Trapster: What this deal means to you.

2010-12-14T11:40:00.000-06:00

By now you may have heard some exciting news about NAVTEQ’s relationship with Trapster, a free mobile and web app that makes use of community-generated content. But, do you know how NAVTEQ actually first became aware of Trapster? That’s right... via the NN4D at the 2008 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge! Trapster was actually an Americas semi-finalist that year!! We are very excited for this major success story to come out of the LBS Challenge and it was great to be part of the process of connecting Trapster with NAVTEQ. Wins all around!

What does this all mean to you?

It means you need to get on the NN4D radar so we can start to promote your awesome LBS app or service! See, that is one of the main things we do here at NN4D that differentiates us from the rest. We work with you to help you succeed! We do this by helping you get introduced to the main industry players! (Including top NAVTEQ brass) This exposure is invaluable in enabling your company to succeed, so hurry up and introduce yourself to us!

How do you get on NN4D’s radar?

The easiest and quickest way to start to work with NN4D is to submit your app to our new App Warehouse. Does your web service or mobile app use NAVTEQ data? If so, then you can submit it to the NAVTEQ App Warehouse. Once it is in the App Warehouse it can be immediately browsed by decision makers and sales people at NAVTEQ (and other industry players) and business discussions can begin right away. This is a free service to all NN4D members. Bonus: If you act now, we have a nice incentive for you to submit you app before the end of the year.

In conclusion, yay for Trapster, yay for NAVTEQ and yay for you! Why yay for you? Because now you can see the benefits that being an NN4D member brings! Now that you know about the benefits, don’t delay, submit your app to the App Warehouse today! Don’t have an app yet, but still want to talk to us? We would love to hear from you so drop us a note and let us know what you are all about.

Check Out The New 3D Developer Toolkit from Visioglobe!

2010-12-08T14:18:00.000-06:00

The future is here today if you know where to find it. Luckily for you, you know where to look!

What does the future of LBS apps look like? How about smooth flowing 3D navigation and mapping that uses high-quality 3D images?

Does this sound good to you?

Well now you can be one of the first to start developing 3D mapping applications by using the new VisioDevKit from VisioGlobe. Yes, NAVTEQ has entered a co-marketing agreement with Visioglobe, to allow NN4D the exclusive distribution rights to the VisioDevKit.

So what does that mean anyway?

It means that you, the NN4D member are the only ones that can get access to this brand-new, very cool SDK! The VisioDevKit allows you to use the super nifty 3D data that NAVTEQ has. By using the VisioDevKit it allows you to create an app that “effectively renders NAVTEQ 3D map data and location content using a real-time immersive, 3D geographical and urban visualization engine.” Neat!

Checking out the press release we see that “developers can control the 3D camera handling position and connect it to existing routing solutions and a compass to personalize their solution. Also, with the advanced image quality in the SDK (more than one million triangles per second) and fluidity (more than 20 images per second), developers can make the most of hardware-accelerated graphics on mobile devices. Additionally, the VisioDevKit allows developers to easily integrate additional content offerings into their app, such as routing, NAVTEQ’s LocationPoint™ advertising, traffic, or other services from NAVTEQ or other content providers.”

Translation: totally killer navigation experience for your users.

We should also mention that this initial VisioDevKit release is for the iPhone, but it will be available on the Linux, Symbian and Android platforms in 2011.

As you can see, the future is truly here today and waiting for you to download and try out. Still not convinced? Check out more of the details in the press release . Also, make sure to view our YouTube videos below to find out a bit more and to see the 3D navigation in action.

Sample data! Get your NAVTEQ sample data here!

2010-12-01T14:42:00.001-06:00

The NAVTEQ Network for Developers provides sample NAVTEQ data to all our NN4D members.

Signs-As-Real

Not only that, but NN4D has recently upgraded and updated our Sample Data page. We now have 12 cities you can choose from! Cities such as Barcelona, SF Bay Area, Singapore, Seattle, Vancouver, New York City and more! Each city’s sample data contains a variety of NAVTEQ data formats (shapefiles, SIF+, etc) and a variety of NAVTEQ products. You can see a breakdown of what data files come in each city download at this link (reg required). Also, use the handy table on the Sample Data page to see what NAVTEQ products are in which sample download. Yes, we have examples of some of our coolest products for you to download. Products like Motorway Junction Objects, Sign-As-Real, and Enhanced 3D City Models to name just a few.

This NAVTEQ sample data is all free to you, if you are a member of NN4D. Ok, not all the sample data is free as you can only pick one of the cities, but you have 12 cities to choose from! Just make sure you choose the city you are most interested in and that has the products you want to check out. Now, go download that sample data and test out how you can use it in your GIS database or how to include it in your latest app.

Are you ready to get published on NN4D and win a Nokia N8?

2010-11-22T13:45:00.002-06:00

The NAVTEQ Network for Developers is having a video and whitepaper contest. The winner of each category gets a Nokia N8, gets published on NN4D and gets mentioned in our newsletter.

You use NAVTEQ APIs, right? You know what kinds of technical information Developers are looking for, right? Well, just create a video or whitepaper to show us what you know! Even if you don’t win, every paper and video has the potential of getting published on NN4D, so send us what you got!

What exactly are we looking for anyway?

We are looking for you to: provide a technically correct and elegant solution ("best practice") and a clear description of how to solve a task using NAVTEQ's APIs.

This contest is a great way for you to get your name known in the geo-community. The LBS Developer space is really hot right now and it is still small enough for you to get noticed. This is a way for you to get noticed! We say that any opportunity to build your personal brand as a “geo-expert” is not an opportunity to miss! So go ahead and take advantage of this one as you never know what it could lead to.

What next?

The first thing you need to do is visit the official contest page for more information on the contest, including how to submit your final entry. Then, you just need to write the whitepaper or create the video and send it to us! Alright then, we are looking forward to seeing what you create, so get started today!

Check out some of these cool NAVTEQ products!

2010-11-19T17:30:00.002-06:00

NAVTEQ has quite a few products available that allows you to enhance your LBS app and make it stand out from your competitors.

Junction View Images

For example, check out Signs As Real , Junction View Images or Enhanced 3D City Models for a good starting place. Interested in seeing how these products look when they are implemented on a web page? Just go to NAVTEQ.com. Yes, NAVTEQ.com has a section called "Map Highlights" where you can see examples of some of these NAVTEQ Products. Just go to http://www.navteq.com/ and click on “Map Highlights” in the bottom left to be taken to the Map Highlights section. Once there, you will see NAVTEQ Points of Interest, Real Time Traffic, Junction View Images & Sign-as-Real , and more. Go check it out as it just might spark some ideas on what unique LBS App you can build.

What about 3D NAVTEQ data you ask? Well, you can start building an app that uses NAVTEQ 3D data, right now! Yes, you can download the VisioDevKit by Visioglobe® from NN4D.com, and get started coding today! Check out the VisioDevKit section on NN4D for all the details.

As you can see, NAVTEQ has lots of very cool and compelling products available to you to use in your app. You can view all of NAVTEQ's products on the NN4D Product Categories page found here. Take a look and then contact us to find out more about how you can start using them in that awesome LBS app you are about to build.

Join NN4D at Apps World in London

2010-11-17T16:38:00.000-06:00

Apps have become the new rage in the evolving world of technology and lifestyle, with app stores and touchscreen devices becoming essential tools in everyday life.

Apps World, a two-day event taking place on November 30 and December 1, 2010 in London, has been designed to create a unique platform to bring together the next generation of this rapidly developing sector. This event is for app developers, network operators, OS vendors, brand and marketing managers, and technology providers, all looking to connect, build partnerships and network while becoming educated and inspired by the latest developments within this exciting industry.

NAVTEQ Network for Developers™ (NN4D) supports and engages the next generation of apps, assisting from development to implementation. Members’ apps can also be featured in the NAVTEQ App Warehouse, a highly visual online catalog where NN4D developers can showcase their apps and talents for the operator and OEM audience, as well as get their applications in front of NAVTEQ’s sales and marketing teams. NN4D and the NAVTEQ App Warehouse are both free to join. Visit NN4Dat Apps World, stands # 25 and 26.

Want to create compelling location-based apps?

Join NN4D’s Mimmis Olsson, global manager, technical marketing and developer technologies, at Apps World on November 30 at 4:30 p.m. as she presents “Innovating with Location-based Apps.” Mimmis will discuss the technologies and business behind creating compelling location-based apps, including LBS trends, tech focus areas, 3D mapping, third-party enablers and the newly launched NAVTEQ App Warehouse.

Arrange a meeting at Apps World with NN4D today!

Be one step ahead and pre-book your Apps World meeting with NN4D today. Click here to arrange a meeting.

WCA LBS SIG presents: LBS Goes Indoors: Maps, Apps & Positioning

2010-11-16T16:48:00.001-06:00

A recent television commercial bemoaned the fact that "there are no more frontiers". Such is not the case in mapping and indoor location applications: the untamed frontier still lies before us. It is estimated that North Americans spend as much as 90% of their time indoors. Yet nearly 100% of the mapping and location applications are built for outdoor use. As new technologies become available for indoor location and mapping providers begin to commercialize their systems, the dawn of the indoor location application is here.

Come spend some time with the Wireless Communication Alliance LBS SIG on Thursday, December 9, hearing from some of the explorers on the verge of new discovery and invention. You will learn about the challenges facing the application providers, mapping innovators and location technologists. They will show you that soon, a mobile device will guide you, turn-by-turn, through a museum, airport or convention center. Also hear about the opportunities and possibilities of location-based apps that will provide deep and meaningful context to indoor locations.

Hear this panel of industry experts discuss their insights about indoor maps, apps and positioning and don’t forget to bring your own questions!

REGISTRATION
Registration Link: http://conta.cc/8XQnXs
Pre-Registration Discount: $10 (ends 12/1/10)
Regular Registration/Door: $20

EVENT DETAILS
Thursday, December 9, 2010 at 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Venue: Qualcomm, Building B, 3165 Kifer Road, Santa Clara, CA 95051

MEET THE PARTICIPANTS

Moderator:
Raj Singh, Co-Founder of YumYum Labs and EIR at Storm Ventures

Panelists:

Ankit Agarwal, Founder & CEO, Micello
Jeremy Aqulnek, Director of Product Management, NAVTEQ Global Maps & Content
Jerry Luk, Co-Founder, Presdo
Jeremy Geiger, Founder & CEO, RetaiLigence
Michael Doherty, Director of Product Marketing & Communications, Polaris Wireless
Kiyo Kubo, CEO, Spotlight Mobile, Inc.
Josh Marti, Co-Founder & CEO, PointInside
Tristian Lacroix, Managing Partner and VP Business Development at IndoorLBS

Are you subscribed to the NN4D Newsletter?

2010-11-12T18:44:00.001-06:00

Are you a subscriber to the NAVTEQ Network for Developer Newsletter? You really should be so you can keep up to speed on the latest NN4D News. The NN4D Newsletter has unique information and insights into what is going on at nn4d.com and is a really good source of information. You might wonder why you would want to get the newsletter since you already follow us on Twitter, have liked us on Facebook and read this blog, right? Well, what if I told you that the newsletter has even more NN4D goodies that you won’t find on our other outlets. Would that peak your interest?

What kind of goodies? Well, let’s take a look at last month’s newsletter so you can get a feeling of some of the unique information it contains.

One of the columns written especially for the newsletter is “Ask the NN4D”. This is where we take a question from our developer community and answer it. October’s question was “I have a problem with the NAVTEQ AJAX API when calculating the routes and displaying them. Everything was working properly until last month. However, NAVTEQ’s route service stopped displaying the calculated routes a few weeks ago. What can I do to solve this problem?” To read the answer, click this link.

You will also find our reoccurring column “Product Spotlight”. NAVTEQ has many different products available to developers, and this section highlights a different product each month. October’s Product Spotlight was Motorway Junction Objects as you can see at this link.

Another unique column found in the newsletter is - NAVTEQ App Warehouse "App of the Month". This is where we highlight an app found in the NAVTEQ App Warehouse. The apps found in the App Warehouse represent some of the most innovative and cutting edge LBS apps, so make sure to watch this space to see our monthly pick

So, how do you subscribe, if you are not already doing so?

The easiest is to click any of the above links to be taken to the newsletter. There you will see on the left hand side a “Subscribe” box. You just fill in the info and hit Subscribe and you are all set.

The other way you can subscribe is through your NN4D.com account. First log into NN4D, then go to “My account” on the top right hand side of the page. Once there, click on “My Preferences”. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and click the “NAVTEQ Campaigns” box. Clicking this box will sign you up and you will start receiving your newsletter and be fully up to speed on the latest happenings at NN4D over the last past month.

Using NAVTEQ Web Services on the Android Platform

2010-11-10T14:43:00.002-06:00

The NAVTEQ Network for Developers has lots of great resources and documentation to help Developers create awesome LBS apps.

I want to bring your attention to just one of these resources.

NN4D has created a Developer Guide and Source Code for using the NAVTEQ Web Services on the Android Platform. This Developer Guide provides the Android Developer with instructions on how to use NAVTEQ Web Services in creating an app for Android. The Developer Guide does this by walking the Developer through the process of creating a sample Android application.

Not only has NN4D created the Developer Guide, we have also made available for download the actual Source Code that is presented in the Developer Guide. The Source Code download includes examples of all the code files discussed in the Developer Guide as well as a sample .apk file for you to use.

You can find these two downloads on NN4D.com under the “Learn” tab. Hover over the Learn tab and choose “Mobile Development”. Once you are there, you will see both the Developer Guide and Source Code under the heading “Essentials:”. Please note that you will need to be a member of NN4D to access these materials.

The “NAVTEQ Web Services on the Android Platform“ Developer Guild is a very complete and extensive document. This guide, combined with the Source Code has everything an Android Developer needs to get up and running with NAVTEQ Web Services and this document is considered essential reading. Download these two resources today and start using NAVTEQ map data in your Android LBS app.

Join NN4D at SEE2010!

2010-11-08T19:16:00.000-06:00

Join NN4D at the 2010 Symbian Exchange & Exposition, Nov 9-10 at Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam!

The NAVTEQ Network for Developers will be there with the goal of meeting as many Developers as we can to introduce them to NN4D.com. Will you be there? We want to meet you, so come find us in Meeting Room 11, as we would love to chat!

How else can you find us? First of all, you should come to the presentation we are giving. This panel presentation will be given by NN4D Technical Consultant Michael Moore and is called “Taking Your Location App from Code to Coin – A How-To Guide”

The crucial details of this presentation are:

Date: November 9, 2010
Time: 14:00 – 14:30
Location: VERWEY KAMER - 1st Floor

Second of all, we are very excited to be the Airship Sponsor! Yes, we are sponsoring an airship that will be flying around the show. We will be dropping cards promoting the NN4D App Warehouse. Mixed in with these will be special “Winner” cards! If you get a “Winner” card, bring it to Meeting Room 11 to claim your prize. What is your prize? That is for you to find out once you bring your card to Meeting Room 11, so make sure to pay attention when we drop those cards from the Airship!

It should be a very exciting show and we are looking forward to seeing you there!

NN4D’s Partners have a lot to offer…

2010-11-03T13:54:00.001-05:00

NN4D has partnered with quite a few companies and provides our members with some exclusive and exciting products. By becoming a member of NN4D, you can download everything from SDKs that use 3D data to APIs that allow you to include weather reports. Not only that, but NN4D members can gain access to free device testing and even download exclusive satellite photos! Yes, it is true, we have all of this and more available at the NAVTEQ Network for Developers. As an NN4D member, you get all this and much, much more for FREE!

Let’s take a quick look at some of our partner’s FREE offerings found on NN4D.

Our latest offering is the VisioDevKit by Visioglobe®. This is really quite exciting and unique in the LBS space. The VisioDevKit is a downloadable SDK that allows Developers to create cool 3D mapping and navigation apps. (currently available for the iPhone only). The Visioglobe SDK contains NAVTEQ map data that is available for evaluation purposes for 90 days. Looking for more info and want to download this SDK? Follow this link to find out more.

Speaking of SDKs, through NN4D you are also able to download the Telogis GeoBase SDK. This SDK allows you to create powerful LBS Enterprise apps that use NAVTEQ data. As I am sure you are aware, Enterprise apps is where it is at and is very hot right now! The Telogis GeoBase SDK is the premier LBS SDK which will help you to create awesome Enterprise apps. Visit the Telogis GeoBase zone in NN4D to get started right away.

By becoming a member of NN4D, you are also able to gain access to the Foreca Weather API. This is a simple to implement, yet powerful API that gives you global weather forecasts. The best thing about this API is that quite easy to add it’s functionality to your existing (or yet to be created) apps. Not only that, but this API is FREE to all NN4D members. To help you get started NN4D has created some documentation on how to add the Foreca Weather API to your existing app. We also have a cool demo if you want to see this API in action.

In addition to finding SDKs and APIs from our NN4D partners (so you can build your cool LBS apps) we provide access to free testing for your apps. Once you build your apps, you gotta test them right? NN4D has created the” NAVTEQ Virtual Developer Lab” (VDL) which is an extension of DeviceAnywhere's mobile application testing platform. The VDL allows you to upload your app to a variety of devices in a variety of physical locations around the world. This allows you to perform real world testing on actual devices. Basically DeviceAnywhere has a bunch of different phones running on a bunch of different carriers in a bunch of different locations. The VDL allows you to upload your app to any of these phones to see how it actually performs on the real device in a real location so you can see for yourself how your app actually works, just the same as your users will. It really does not get any better than this if you want to test your app in real world situations! Best of all? NN4D members get 5 free testing hours! Yes, FREE testing hours! What do you have to lose? Go check the VDL and start to test your LBS apps today.

So, what else does NN4D membership get you? We have partnered with DigitalGlobe and you can find exclusive DigitalGlobe Imagery just for NN4D members. Visit the DigitalGlobe Sample Imagery page to download these exclusive samples. Not only can you download the sample imagery, but you can also fill out the Imagery Evaluation Request to gain access to DigitalGlobe imagery for further evaluation purposes. Visit the DigitalGlobe zone for more info.

Finally, NN4D provides access to the deCarta Developer Zone. The deCarta Developer Zone is a free online service allowing developers to quickly prototype and demo location-enabled applications. With the Developer Zone, developers can build a proof of concept application in about an hour and a working application in a day. To find out more, visit our deCarta portal found at NN4D.

Whew!

I bet you did not know that NN4D provided all these great FREE services and products did you? Well, it is all part of our plan to help you, the Developer, create the coolest, most innovative LBS apps out there. So what are you waiting for? Become a NN4D member today and take advantage of all these great FREE resources! You will be glad you did!

NAVTEQ Special Topic Prize Winner Announced at European Satellite Navigation Competition

2010-11-01T12:46:00.000-05:00

The European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) was held recently in Munich, Germany. At this event, NN4D announced the 2010 NAVTEQ special topic prize winner. The NAVTEQ special topic prize is awarded for the best location-based service that uses satellite positioning technology and NAVTEQ map data. NAVTEQ’s special topic prize looks to bridge the gap between ideas and functional applications and seeks the most innovative developments in the field of navigation and LBS for mobile devices.

This year’s winner was Dutch company Dialogues Laboratory. Parking Dialogue was chosen from 82 proposals that were submitted for the prize from 24 countries. Dialogues Laboratory was chosen the winner for their proposed application Parking Dialogue. Parking Dialogue will utilize positioning technology to automate paid parking. This application will use location coordinates to identify a parking area and all parking providers related to it, thus enabling the start and end of parking sessions by a simple click. Drivers will be able to be billed weekly or monthly for parking on metered streets, parking garages or toll payments. The application will use SMS and positioning technology with embedded devices that will automate the system, making it a reliable and manageable process. Parking Dialogue will utilize the Galileo Global Navigation Satellite System to achieve a higher level of accuracy.

“We are extremely happy to have won the NAVTEQ special topic prize for Parking Dialogue,” said Marc van Gent, CEO, Dialogues Laboratory. “We wanted to find a way to make paying for parking simple and convenient. Parking Dialogue will eliminate the hassles involved with paying for parking, such as looking for quarters, waiting on credit card approvals, and going back to vehicles to display receipts. We can’t wait to begin working with NN4D to implement our application so that motorists from around the world can benefit from its use.”

For more information, please read the official press release found here.

You’re Invited: NN4D and deCarta host Brazil Code Camp 2010

2010-10-29T17:04:00.000-05:00

Are you a mobile app developer located in São Paulo? Do you have what it takes to develop and publish an ad-supported application? Then come join us on November 10 for Brazil Code Camp 2010! The event will take place at the WTC Sheraton from 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.

This code camp will provide you with the skills you need to improve your LBS applications using turn-by-turn navigation and monetize your mobile solutions using advertising APIs.

The mobile APIs presented by deCarta will be JavaScript, Android and advertisement.Download these APIs now by signing into the deCarta devZone at developer.decarta.com to get ready for the event!

Register now for this unique opportunity! http://bit.ly/d6eRPa

And if you can’t make it to São Paulo, follow @NN4D for live updates from the event using #CodeCampBR.

Você está convidado: NN4D e deCarta promovem Code Camp Brasil 2010

Você é um desenvolvedor de aplicações móveis em São Paulo? Você tem todas as ferramentas necessárias para desenvolver e publicar um aplicativo LBS e ainda patrocinado por anúncios? Então, junte-se a nós no dia 10 de novembro para o Code Camp Brasil 2010! O evento será no Sheraton WTC de 9h30 – 16h30.

Este Code Camp irá fornecer-lhe as habilidades necessárias para desenvolver e melhorar as suas aplicações LBS usando navegação turn-by-turn e ainda rentabilizar as suas soluções móveis usando APIs de publicidade.

As APIs apresentadas pela deCarta lhe possibilitará desenvolver em ambientes JavaScript, Android. Baixe estas APIs agora mesmo, registrando-se no deCarta devZone em developer.decarta.com para preparar-se para o evento!

Cadastre-se agora mesmo para esta oportunidade única! http://bit.ly/d6eRPa

E se você não poderá estar em São Paulo, siga @NN4D para atualizações ao vivo do evento usando #CodeCampBR.