[aprssig] GPS Hardware Vendors Buying Up Mapping Data Vendors

[Stephen H. Smith]

*** GPS Mapping Data Getting Really Valuble ***

Almost all of the commonly-used mapping programs (Streets & Trips, 
Delorme Street Atlas, Precision Mapping, TopoUSA, MapPoint, etc) used by 
our APRS applications -AND- nearly all web sites such as Expedia, Google 
Maps, MapQuest, Yahoo, etc. -AND- most of the maps in display GPS 
devices use mapping databases provided by one of two companies: 
TeleAtlas or NavTeq The various vendors dress up and present this data 
differently (and supplement it with other data), but the basic raw road 
info almost always comes from one or the other of these two companies.



Today a news story in RCR (Radio Communications Report) :

<http://www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071103/SUB/71103013/1011/newsletter50>

"The Netherlands-based digital mapping company, TeleAtlas, in July 
accepted a bid of $2.8 billion from TomTom NV, agreeing to recommend the 
offer to shareholders. But Tele Atlas last week pounced on a superior 
$3.3 billion offer from TomTom rival Garmin Ltd., giving TomTom until 
Thursday to match Garmin’s offer—and return fire in what could become an 
expensive bidding war.

“Under the TomTom agreement, if Tele Atlas receives a superior proposal, 
TomTom has a right to match that superior proposal within a 
five-business-day period,” Tele Atlas said in a public statement. “In 
the event that TomTom chooses not to match the Garmin proposal, the 
boards intend to take up Garmin’s invitation and meet with Garmin’s 
management.”

Garmin’s offer comes just a month after Nokia Corp.’s successful $8.1 
billion bid for Navteq, a Tele Atlas rival, and Navteq’s steep price tag 
illustrates how quickly location-based services went from warm to 
torrid. Nokia will pay $78 a share for Navteq, but the company’s stock 
traded for as little as $30.58 per share in March, when rumors that the 
company was ripe for a takeover began to fuel a surge in the stock’s value.

Both firms provide data that serve as the foundation for a host of 
offerings including Web-based applications (such as those from Google 
Inc. and Mapquest) and mobile location-based services from Sprint Nextel 
Corp., Verizon Wireless and other carriers.






--

Stephen H. Smith wa8lmf (at) aol.com
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