July/Aug 2004

A navigation package said to work on standard mobile phones has been launched in Germany through a collaboration between three companies, PTV, Jentro Technologies and Falk. The phone has to be one of the current generation of devices, capable of running standard Java J2ME software; and it needs a Bluetooth-linked GPS module for positioning.

The application, Falk activepilot, is certainly compact; it's said to require just "hundreds" of kilobytes of memory. It works by calculating the user's current position and transmitting this information, plus the destination, to PTV mapping servers, which use Navteq digital mapping to work out the best route.

This information is passed to Jentro, which delivers turn-by-turn navigation, icon displays, voice instructions and other tips to guide the user to the destination. In Germany, the service takes account of up-to-the-minute traffic information and time-related traffic flow forecasts.

PTV specialises in travel and transport planning and routing, Jentro is a mobile application service provider, and Falk Marco Polo is a specialist in navigation, mapping and travel information services.