July/Aug 2004

Digital maps are no longer the exclusive preserve of high-end geographical analysis systems. They now have a central role in efficient management of mobile workers and assets. Sharon Clancy reports

Digital maps have become so pervasive over the past few years that many people take them for granted. We can download maps, plan routes and get detailed journey instruction off the Internet - and all for free.

The Internet itself is playing a key role in expanding the market for digital maps, routes and location-specific information to mobile devices. With the Internet, data such as mapping can be passed around seamlessly in a way never possible before. Even when it appears that a downloaded map is coming from the Web site of a company you're viewing, chances are you are being linked to an Internet-based autonomous "navigation server".

When mobile computers started to become popular, the idea of putting mapping on them was regarded initially as something mainly for the consumer market; but the market view is now changing, driven partly by the easier deployment of the technology.

 

Another factor is that real-time route replanning and navigation are being recognised as key tools to help the transport and logistics sector conquer some of the challenges it faces in the next few years.

For transport and logistics companies, the implementation of the Working Time Directive next year will reduce the available working hours of drivers of heavy goods vehicles. While many operators already use digital maps for routing and scheduling, journey analysis and vehicle tracking, they have been less concerned about providing drivers themselves with maps or route directions. Drivers know where their regular drops and collections are, they reason, and can always consult a paper map on the occasions when they do need help.

The WTD will place increased emphasis on efficient routing and driver productivity - and in many cases will make it more obvious just how much time drivers can spend searching for unfamiliar addresses. It is also expected to exacerbate the current shortage of drivers, so employers are increasingly likely to find themselves either recruiting new drivers, or using agency drivers unfamiliar with the route and customer locations.

Another issue that is bound to affect all mobile workers, whether truck drivers, couriers or service engineers, is road congestion. Real-time tracking telematics systems are being recognised as offering the means to anticipate problems, and re-route drivers around temporary congestion hotspots; and mapping is often an essential component.

All this suggests that digital maps are going to become more and more important.

The good news is that not only have digital maps themselves improved tremendously in the past few years; so have the methods of delivering them. Internet-based on-demand pay-for-use services have merged to challenge independent navigation applications and drive prices down. Technical advances mean digital maps on mobile devices are no longer poor in quality and time-consuming to download.

New standards in mapping

Ordnance Survey, the UK Government's national mapping agency, is the UK's leading independent supplier of digital map data. "OS involvement in digital mapping provides stability and credibility in a fast-expanding market," says Andy Embling, marketing manager for transport and distribution. "We provide a core set of independently collected data, which offers the same level of accuracy across the whole of the UK."

OS's Mastermap set new standards in digital mapping when it was unveiled two years ago. It comprises several layers of information from roads, postcodes, and landscape features. Altogether it includes 440 million items of information. Each of those has a unique 6-digit reference number called a TOID (topographic identifier) that identifies both where and what a feature is.

Apart from the actual geographical information, digital maps often include what are called navigable attributes. If you have ever had to circle round an address because your planned route did not account for a one-way street, you'll appreciate that data on one-way streets, speed limits and weight and height restrictions is essential to avoid delay. A map will only show the most direct route between A and B, but if a dataset with navigable attributes is incorporated, it will show the route taking into account any restrictions for that vehicle.

The Integrated Transport layer in OS's Mastermap includes this driving restriction information and, uniquely, has an interactive address layer which geo-references around 27 million postal addresses.

Ensuring data is accurate is a never-ending job and labour-intensive. OS, for instance, has 11 regional officers, 60 field officers and 350 surveyors. The surveyors use GPS to pinpoint locations, and handheld pen computers working on a system called PRISM to plot changes. Ground staff produce 50 per cent of all the data gathered, says OS, with the rest coming from aerial photography and GIS information from other sources - including, for instance, information supplied by house builders.

Navteq and Tele Atlas, two of the other biggest commercial providers of digital map datasets for navigation purposes, also do accuracy checks. Both have teams of field researchers (Navteq employs 500 in 17 countries) who actually drive the roads to verify details such as whether a street has been made one-way, or a new petrol station or restaurant has opened. Britain's AA, which has long been a further major supplier of digital map data, also has its own team of field researchers doing this kind of detailed work.

Navteq says that for routing or navigation, it is absolutely essential to check what a route looks like to the driver, especially for applications where the instruction may vary subtly according to the exact road layout. There may not seem like much distinction between "Turn left", "Keep left" and "Fork left", but it can mean all the difference in the world if you're actually driving and don't know the route.

To the navigable attributes, Navteq adds Points of Interest (POI), divided into 40 categories, which include restaurants, hospitals, shopping centres and leisure facilities.

The task of verifying driving data is extremely high-tech these days. Navteq's team uses touch screens, pen tablets, headsets, joysticks, gyros and other sensors to collect and verify critical information. Voice notes are now used in complicated situations. A sound file describes what can be seen on the road and an icon drops on to the screen showing the exact position using differential GPS.

Tele Atlas's Multinet map dataset includes features such as RDS/TMC location codes and signpost information. Its customers include the RAC and the 3G telephone operators, and it also provides the mapping in the popular TomTom Navigator application for mobile phones and PDAs. Now it has teamed up with enterprise software company Oracle. Oracle customers can now get Tele Atlas map data in the Oracle database 10g spatial format, which will simplify the use of Tele Atlas data in Oracle applications.

Online mapping

Online digital maps and journey planners have become ubiquitous in the past few years. It is now simple and fast to download a map and directions for single journeys before setting off. With 5 million maps a day delivered to users, Multimap can justify its claim to be Europe's biggest Internet map provider. The company is best known for providing free-to-the-public downloadable maps, but it also offers a range of business services including vehicle and asset tracking service.

"With the volumes we handle, it is essential that the infrastructure should have the resilience to cope," says Sean Phelan, Multimap's founder and chairman. Phelan is also adamant that even if they are free, online digital maps should be of the same quality as paper versions. "Maps have an inherent elegance. Clients should not have to compromise on quality simply because they prefer to have the map sent to a mobile PDA or PC."

Accuracy is another tenet Phelan holds dear. "We have over thirty datasets which are continually updated. With Multimap you do not have to buy the data or worry about updating it yourself."

Phelan thinks advances in mobile technology will encourage users to make more "where's my nearest pub or petrol station" location-based enquiries, as well as straightforward direction requests.

Multimap charges businesses on a per- use basis. Costs start at £500 for 20,000 map deliveries, whether these are to members of the public requesting directions to their nearest store from a retailer's Web site or to your own mobile employees. "The cost of entry is low, so the benefits will accrue quickly. It becomes a no-brainer."

Multimap's ASP is a hosted vehicle tracking service. Operators supply vehicle and asset details to Multimap in XML format, and can then track them via a Web-based tracking application. The on-screen template can be customised to show whatever data the customer wants. As part of its custom solutions programme, Multimap also offers a vehicle management application, which includes two-way messaging, on-demand position updates and vehicle history reports.

Transport Direct is a new integrated journey planning Web site from the Department for Transport. It combines Ordnance survey's MasterMap Integrated Transport Network digital mapping data with real-time information on traffic problems caused by roadworks and accidents and the severity of any delay. The Highways Agency, ITIS and Trafficmaster are among those providing real-time data on road congestion and traffic hotspots.

The trial version of the site is already live, and users can plan road and rail journeys and get live traffic updates with an indication of the severity of any delays. You even compare journey times for road and rail. Public transport data in some areas of the country is still lacking, but the gaps will be gradually filled over the next year, says Transport Direct, which plans to expand the database to include other public transport modes including domestic airline schedules.

The mobile dimension

One of the challenges in delivering digital maps to mobile devices is the transfer and management of data. Geographic Mark-Up Language (GML) is the international standard for storing and transporting geographical information in a way that ensures interoperability, and is a derivative of XML, so is Internet-friendly.

Because PDAs and mobile telephones have limited processing capability and memory for data-rich applications, one key technology for delivering digital maps and location data to mobile devices is server-based applications. These first collate the geographic data required, then compress it, before delivering it to the mobile devices via GSM, GPRS or 3g network.

Telmap's Polaris navigation application uses Java-based client-server technology to convert data. The Telmap Andromeda platform holds the mapping, searching, route planning and instructions. Vector map data is then transferred to the Java-based client server which transforms it into dynamic, high-quality maps for use on a wide range of end-user devices such as desktops, laptops, PDAs, cellular phones and any other Java-enabled device.

"With Polaris, anyone who has a Java-enabled device has a real-time navigation system at their fingertips," says Telmap chief executive Oren Nissim.

Webraska's Smartzone operates on a similar principle called IbDN (Internet based Distributed Navigation). The geographical and traffic data are collated on the server and then sent to the handset via GSM, GPRS or 3G networks. Journeys can start immediately, while the remainder of the route is calculated. The devices are equipped with Webrasksa's client SmartZone navigation application, which gives turn-by-turn voice instructions.

Smartzone is also incorporated in Psion Teklogix's PsiNav Pro application, which provides in-cab audiovisual navigation information for home delivery, and in Orange's latest location-based SMS text-messaging service.

Telcontar's Rich Map Engine is being used in Motorola's VIAMOTO navigation solution for smartphones and for Trafficmaster's Smartnav.

The Telcontar Rich Map Engine platform for routing, map management and address lookup, allows Motorola to provide users with superior navigation capabilities such as real-time turn-by-turn directions, guidance and fast dynamic re-routing based on current traffic conditions.

Added value

Whilst some map producers will happily sell you their digital products direct, in many cases it's more usual to buy digital maps from developers or added-value resellers such as Kingswood MapMechanics and Overview Mapping. Such companies will often prepare the mapping specially for your requirements, doing format conversion and other tailoring to ensure that it works seamlessly with your applications.

A particularly appealing dataset for journey planning is one marketed heavily by MapMechanics which combines digital map data (usually from Navteq) with real-life speeds for different stretches of road at different times of day. These are derived from the ongoing monitoring done by ITIS on the basis of data gathered in real time from 50,000 vehicles plying Britain's roads.

Resellers may also provide related products such as demographic data that can be linked to the maps, adding intelligence and allowing interrogation and "thematic mapping" (for instance, calculating and displaying how many instances of which feature occur where).

Such companies also take mapping to the next level, using it in what has become known as a geographic information system or GIS, doing anything from calculating drivetimes (and hence catchments) to modelling distribution networks and planning marketing campaigns.

Often they provide the tools as well as the data. MapMechanics, for instance, not only offers AA, Navteq and OS map data in a variety of packages, but also supplies GeoConcept, an advanced GIS software system that serves as a stand-alone analytical tool, and also underpins many Web-based mapping and telematics applications. There is even a version for handhelds, GeoConcept Pocket, that takes some of GeoConcept's sophistication out on to the streets.

Virtual mapping

The whole digital mapping scene is about to change, according to Oren Nissim, chief executive of supplier Telmap, and fundamental changes are coming in the way companies and consumers routinely access the data.

"More people will be using digital maps, but growth will be driven by demand for services such as location and navigation. Suppliers won't be sending just a digital map to a PC or mobile; the map will be accompanied by other data tailored to suit the request made by the customer. That may be turn-by-turn navigation, or instructions for finding the nearest service station, truckstop or cashpoint."

Nissim says this means more companies will be using Internet-based mapping services to route-plan, to download directions and so on. "Transport companies are already using the Internet to track vehicles, so why not to check an unfamiliar delivery address?"

Although the mapping market is vertically integrated in the business world, it also operates in a mass-market environment, and has the same focus on customer satisfaction, says Nissim. "If the location or navigation information doesn't satisfy customers, they don't blame the map data provider, they blame the network operator or whoever they sourced the information from. So it has to be right."

As a result, there will be more specialists such as Telmap, says Nissim, aggregating the various data sources and delivering the resultant product to the end user in a neat package. "All the data providers want paying for the material. It is an easier business model if someone sorts out all that, and aggregates the charges in a single package. It also reduces the risk that some of the data might be out of date."

Users should start with a checklist of what they expect from digital maps and what they want to do with them before approaching a supplier, says Nissim. "Not all map data files contain the same information. Apart from raster and vector maps, there will be different types of data overlaid according to the request and limits on how you manipulate the data."

He points out that only OS mapdata sets, for example, contain the full 27 million residential and commercial property addresses in the UK, cross-referenced and matched to exact places on the map. "Other companies rely on postcodes for street-level mapping, but cannot necessarily differentiate between houses with the same postcode or houses with names rather than numbers. Now, either that information is critical (for a home delivery operation, for example), or it is a detail too far - in which case, why pay for it?"