New research from comScore has revealed a 68% increase in the use of mobile mapping and direction services across Europe during the past year.

In a report published late last week, the market research firm said that in February, 21 million mobile users across EU5 markets (the U.K., France, Germany, Spain and Italy) accessed navigation services via their handsets.

According to comScore, 68.2% of those who accessed mobile mapping applications during the three months ending February 2010 did so while travelling in a car or other vehicle. Meanwhile 35.3% accessed services while using public transport, while 27% did so while walking, running or cycling.

The company also found that users with assisted GPS (A-GPS)-capable handsets are more likely to use mobile navigation services than those without.

“The higher incidence of A-GPS usage in cars suggests that the superior speed and precision in these devices are being used for more than just identifying locations – they are being used as full in-car navigation systems,” said Alastair Hill, senior analyst at comScore, in a statement.

“That these services offer similar functionality to premium services without the significant price-tag has certainly contributed to their early success,” he commented.

Indeed, the world’s biggest handset vendor Nokia in January threw its weight behind providing a free and enhanced version of its Ovi Maps service in a bid to drive smartphone sales.

Just one week after launch, downloads of the Finnish phone maker’s revamped navigation service neared 1.5 million.

“Mobile mapping services also have potential for integration with other location aware services, such as mobile social networking applications that provide links to friends and insights on surroundings and, subsequently, offer great promise for the location-based advertising market,” explained Hill.

Keeping that in mind, Juniper Research in February predicted revenues from location-based services (LBS) will top $12.7 billion by 2014, driven in part by improved monetisation from advertising.

Meanwhile comScore’s latest mobile mapping statistics reveal that the U.K. showed the most growth, surging 86% in the last 12 months to 5.7 million users. Italy is still the second-largest mobile mapping market across EU5 countries with 4.9 million users, but experienced the least growth – 53% – during the last year. See the table below for a full breakdown.

Blue&Me–TomTom is a fully integrated infotainment system that lets you manage telephone, navigation and information functions on a practical colour touch-screen. The system developed for the Alfa Romeo range will feature TomTom’s world class navigation technology.  The seamless integration has been supported by Magneti Marelli.

As a result of this partnership customers can enjoy a beautifully ergonomically designed in dash system, backed up by TomTom’s navigation technology.  This also ensures a safe driving experience. The display unit of the system is located in the centre of the dashboard making it easy to reach and to see.  Additionally, all system functions can be accessed using either steering wheel controls or voice commands.  The great flexibility of the system, the ease with which it can be updated and the many ways in which the TomTom HOME* for Alfa Romeo application can be personalised, provide conclusive proof of the advanced technology that has gone into providing a brand new user experience.

In addition to all the standard navigation functions, the Blue&Me–TomTom system for the Alfa Romeo MiTo displays and manages vehicle information. A “Fuel Efficiency” function monitors driving style in real time in order to optimise fuel consumption. The system displays all trip information, including average speed, fuel consumption and mileage driven.  Additionally, it shows the nearest fuel/LPG filling station and the nearest Alfa Romeo service centre. In addition, the new system includes the latest TomTom functions including “IQ Routes”, a function that lets you find the fastest route for your journey based on date and time of travel, calculated using a database of trillions of speed measurements.

The 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was down in attendance last year—some estimate as much as 40 percent. However, a new feeling of optimism, and several product rollouts, made this year’s edition seem livelier—even in a down economy. Ford, once again, is touting new features for its Sync telematics system and other companies are following along.

The International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas kicked off with a keynote address from Alan Mulally, president and chief executive officer of Ford Motor Co., who said that telematics still is a big deal for the automaker through its Sync platform. While discussing Sync, Mulally announced the “myFord Touch,” an in-dash interface to help consumers better access content and control features.

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This high-profile conference offers you the possibility to present your idea in a 5-minutes elevator pitch to an industry audience and an expert panel who will give direct feedback to the pitching participants. Thematic focus is on applications for the following sectors: Road, High Precision, Location-based Services & Leisure, Social & Public Services, Aviation and Public Regulated Services. To assure that participants will bring out the best in their presentations we also offer a special coaching session on Wednesday 3 March.

Why not using this unique chance to get qualified evaluation of your idea? If you would like to seize this opportunity please feel free to contact the organization at dippelhofer (at) anwendungszentrum.de.

You might also be interested in having individual conversations with selected dialogue partners at our “Business Speed Meetings”.

The event will take place from 3 to 5 March in the Charlemagne Conference Center in Brussels and we organize it jointly with the GSA. Focus is on live demonstrations of GNSS applications developed under the European Union’s 7th Research Framework Programme, presented at former European Satellite Navigation Competitions, and coming from the European Space Agency’s Technology Transfer Programme. Other planned activities include amongst others a GNSS leaders roundtable, market overviews and live demos of new GNSS products and services in a dedicated “Application Village”.

Please find further information on the site.

The competition covers 18 partner regions that reward innovative applications of satellite navigation. The best idea is awarded the grand prize: Galileo Master. Other prizes are awarded by ESA, T-System, DLR, GSA, NAVTEQ, SatNav, GMES, and the city of Madrid.

Osmógrafo combines satellite positioning with wind measurement and rescue dogs’ sense of smell in order to better determine which areas have already been covered by search teams. The prototype tool supports canine search and rescue. Following building collapses in events such as earthquakes, dogs are often used to find victims under the rubble. By tracking the dogs via satnav receivers on their collars, Osmografo reveals areas still to be searched, increasing the odds of finding survivors.

For this system — developed as part of the sixth framework programme of the European Commission — the Spanish company GMV was chosen as the Madrid regional winner and also received the special topic prize for the best safety-of-life application from Imade, the Madrid aerospace cluster and other sponsoring partners like Deimos and INDRA.
The ESNC’s international jury concurred, naming the Osmógrafo the competition’s overall winner. José Caro Ramon (pictured) was in attendance at the Munich Residenz to accept all three awards on behalf of GMV.

 Seven other participants were recognized by partners from research and industry for winning solutions in the following categories:

• Ralf Nejedl, director of T-Systems’ Galileo program, presented the prize for the best satellite-aided e-health solution to a team from the Munich-based company Aipermon. Thomas Schweizer, Dominik Wegertseder, Nancy Gimpel, Klaus Roleff, and Nils Böffel developed AiperCare, a remote support system for at-home senior care. AiperCare combines movement sensors with satellite positioning and mobile communications to inform caregivers by text message in case certain predefined changes occur.
• Aerospace program director Hubert Reile and technology marketing director Rolf-Dieter Fischer of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) awarded a security system designed by RWTH Aachen, a German technical university. This system uses the exact rail-position markings of the European Train Control System (ETCS) to verify the defined Galileo positions of locomotives with increased accuracy. Dr René Rütters accepted the prize along with the North Rhine-Westphalia regional award.
• Pedro Pedreira, Executive Director of the European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA) presented his organization’s prize to the team behind Nogago, a highly precise outdoor navigation system for smartphones. Sara Brockmans, Raphael Volz, and Markus Noga were recognised for having submitted the best idea exploiting the unique properties of EGNOS, the European geostationary augmentation system for GPS.
• Marc Nadell, vice president of partner and developer programs at NAVTEQ, presented TravMate as the winner of the best location-based service idea for wireless devices and the receiver of a 12-month incubation program with NAVTEQ Network for Developers™ (NN4D). The TravMate team from Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) – consisting of Hui-Kuo Yang, Yu-Hsiang Chuang, Je-Wie Liang, Chi-Chun Kao, Po-Wen Wang and Shih-Wen Wang – developed this real-time touring service for travelers. In addition to a professional service centre, TravMate involves local assistant networks and will be financed by usage fees and location-based advertising.
• The innovation prize of the European Space Agency (ESA) went to Tim Springer of the Hesse, Germany-based start-up PosiTim for a software solution that provides positioning data to all Global Navigation Satellite System service providers with millimeter accuracy. The award was presented by Frank M. Salzgeber, head of the ESA’s Technology Transfer Programme along with the Hesse regional prize.
• The Baden-Württemberg Forum for Applied Satellite Navigation and Mobile IT (Forum SatNav MIT BW) presented an award for the first time this year, recognizing the best security-related solution for the transport and logistics sector. The official honors were left to forum director Siegfried Wagner, who introduced Galileo GeoSeal — an innovation that uses dynamic anti-spoofing codes guaranteed and verified by a Galileo GeoSeal centre to contain the spread of counterfeit or potentially dangerous goods. Klaus Rieck of KLR Consult GbR also received the Lower Saxony regional prize for his idea.
• Also making its debut at ESNC 2009 was the GMES Masters award for the best combination of dynamic earth observation data and satellite navigation. The commercial version of the award went to Jean-Marc Gaubert of the French start-up Atmosphere (Thalès spin-off), whose application simultaneously complements weather data through general aviation and sends updates to other aircraft. The idea was also named the winner of the Nice / Sophia Antipolis region and took third place in the final international round.

Loaded from either Mac or PC into the iPhone, RouteBuddy now offer over six hundred topographic maps from the Ordnance Survey, giving iPhone users nationwide coverage and a wide choice of detail.

The free RouteBuddy Atlas software, available from the iTunes App Store, allows an iPhone to load and display multiple Ordnance Survey maps even when offline. More information on RouteBuddy Atlas is available from the site.

RouteBuddy Atlas also supports the iPhone’s compass and GPS features, and can record tracks to display in Google Earth or RouteBuddy’s desktop software.

Working in close partnership with Ordnance Survey, RouteBuddy have developed an innovative product for the UK outdoors market.

Based on Apple’s powerful iPhone platform, rather than a proprietary GPS device, RouteBuddy Atlas allows you to instantly access Ordnance Survey mapping wherever you are – even in areas without mobile phone coverage.

RouteBuddy Atlas supports both Mac and PC, and any iPhone or iPod touch running iPhone OS 2.2.1 or later.

MultiNet is the only digital map database that is constantly validated by the tens of millions of consumers who use it. The latest release of the database includes edits sourced from community input across ten attributes and features. Users have provided active input that has helped identify changes, including accurately changing the direction of roads from one way to another, turning older street crossings into the roundabouts they are today and providing exact locations of addresses. GPS measurements have also helped to perfect existing road geometry and add new roads and streets.

In addition to the continued use of community input for updating features such as street names, direction of traffic and gradient measurements, Tele Atlas leveraged anonymous GPS measurements in combination with other sources and processes to validate and  realign or extend the world’s road network in the 2009.09 release. This process makes the Tele Atlas road network in these areas even more accurate, to the highest industry standard of at least five meters or 16 feet. Highlights include:

•    The validation and realignment of 116,000 kilometers (72,000 miles) of secondary roads in the United States, a complement to the existing freeway network already in the database;
•    The validation and realignment of approximately 25,000 kilometers (15,500 miles) in Germany, covering the country’s entire freeway network; and
•    The addition of more than 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) of new road geometry in Ireland and more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) in Turkey.

Tele Atlas MultiNet is the company’s comprehensive digital map database, encompassing more than 30.1 million kilometers (18.7 million miles) across 94 countries and territories, and is constantly expanding to help our partners reach more markets and more consumers. In addition to the updates attributable to the company’s community input processes, the latest release includes significant global coverage updates, including:

•    Fully navigable coverage of Romania and the Ukraine;
•    More than 17,000 kilometers (10,600 miles) of new coverage in Malaysia; and
•    Expanded coverage in Thailand that now delivers 80 percent of the country’s road network with full attribution.

To update its maps, Tele Atlas captures and verifies changes from thousands of global sources, ranging from government documents and public safety officials to construction companies and truck drivers, as well as satellite and aerial imagery. By validating and adding contributions from individual drivers as an additional source, Tele Atlas is able to increase the total number of changes identified by its network, particularly in geographically dispersed and rural areas covered less frequently by other data sources. This community input is backed by stringent review and validation processes and further enables Tele Atlas to create fresh maps and deliver a better experience for end users of its maps.

Medion will be giving the keynote speach, 6 october. The company will share the Medion vision on the following event topics;

• Mobile Phone versus de PND
• Services and mobile applications
• Connected Car
• Outdoor, pedestrian and the cyclist, new markets

For more information about the event, go to www.navigationevent.com

According to the company, Navteq Traffic is a comprehensive solution offering delivery of up-to-the minute traffic information to in-vehicle navigation systems, personal navigation devices and mobile phones. Navteq Traffic delivers detailed information about the speed that traffic is moving and incidents such as accidents, allowing navigation devices and drivers to make smart routing and re-routing decisions for the most accurate arrival time estimates.

Navteq Traffic, an extension of Navteq’s German traffic service, delivers real-time coverage for the most heavily traveled roads, in the 11 announced countries, which encompasses nearly 300 million people in Western Europe or 77 percent of the European population, the company said.

To deliver the most comprehensive traffic solution, Navteq has selected data sources with years of experience in their local markets and access the most comprehensive set of proprietary, government sensors, and incident data, the company said. Data aggregation, modeling capabilities, and quality verification enables optimization of country-specific traffic data and the blending of this data into a pan-European offering, Navteq said. In addition, Navteq has begun the process of extending coverage and quality by adding complementary data sources, including GPS data from commercial fleets and consumer devices. GPS data from Nokia handsets will be integrated into Navteq Traffic’s European service by the end of 2009.

“Since January, when Navteq announced its intention to deliver the highest quality traffic solution in Europe and demonstrated its commitment with the acquisition of T-Systems Traffic GmbH (T-Traffic), we have concentrated on quickly building and delivering the best-in-class European traffic solution,” commented Andreas Erwig, head of product management for Navteq Traffic, Europe. “Savvy travelers demand the highest-quality, borderless traffic solution available, and Navteq’s unique expertise in global traffic processing, along with our proprietary data sources, provides an accurate and seamless traffic solution that will save European travelers time and money.”

Traffic Patterns. Meanwhile, Navteq Traffic Patterns is now available in nine countries. Launched in 2008 with coverage in Germany, the United Kingdom, and France, Traffic Patterns has added coverage in six countries including: Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Monaco and Andorra.

Navteq Traffic Patterns is a traffic database that includes typical traffic speeds on nearly 600,000 kilometers of primary and secondary roads across Europe, including nearly 90 percent of the most heavily traveled roads in Europe, including roads in Berlin, London, Paris and Rome. It provides accurate, uninterrupted and seamless information for typical traffic conditions and offers drivers continuous traffic coverage as they travel from one country to the next, according to Navteq.

Navteq Traffic Patterns gives product developers and service providers a reliable, easy-to-use data set for a variety of smart-routing applications, the company said. Routing capabilities using Traffic Patterns give commuters the information they need to decide when and how to avoid typically congested areas. From commuters to emergency service providers, Traffic Patterns enables more accurate route planning and improves trip time estimates based on likely traffic conditions.

Companies honored as LaunchPad winners for the best mobile startups include:

• Distimo – Analytic engine for all app storefronts
• Glympse – Social updates of your location with universal location
• IQ Engines – Auto labeling of images
• Locle – Location services enabler for social apps
• Metaio – Augmented reality platform for mobiles
• Ondeego – Platform and storefront for enterprise apps
• Pageonce – Real time travel plan management
• SquareConnect – Your mobile as a remote control
• Toktumi – Second number and PBX on your iPhone
• Waze – Social mobile generated traffic updates

Candidates for Mobilize LaunchPad are chosen from several groups, including Mobile Web & Enterprise; Mobile Broadband; and Mobile Lifestyle Enabler Apps. To qualify, companies must have a sustainable business plan that attracts venture funding and be less than 18 months old.

The competition for these awards was so intense that at one point we had 15 winners! It was quite a challenge to cut it down to 10.
There is no doubt that these companies are amongst some of the brightest opportunities in the mobile space today, and we’re proud to recognize them.
“The competition for these awards was so intense that at one point we had 15 winners! It was quite a challenge to cut it down to 10.” says Surj Patel, Mobilize 09 Conference Chair. “There is no doubt that these companies are amongst some of the brightest opportunities in the mobile space today, and we’re proud to recognize them.”

Winners will present their companies live on the Launchpad at Mobilize 09 on Sept. 10. The one-day conference, which is held in San Francisco, draws venture capitalists, investors and C-level executives from around the world.