NAVTEQ^® Core Map

For nearly 20 years, NAVTEQ has been the world's premier digital mapping company. NAVTEQ maps are unsurpassed in accuracy, precision, detail, and breadth of coverage. From its inception, NAVTEQ has created the maps that have provided the foundation of turn-by-turn driving directions. Recently NAVTEQ has established a leadership position in driving a new generation of location-enabled services, from Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) and mobile social networking, to location-enabled entertainment, leisure, and business applications.

NAVTEQ's unrivaled leadership is overwhelmingly demonstrated in the marketplace:

• Every major U.S. and European automaker relies on NAVTEQ^® maps to power the navigation system in one or more of their models.
• NAVTEQ maps also power many personal navigation devices (PNDs), including units made by Garmin, Magellan, and Thales, as well as many of the leading location-enabled applications.
• The top Web mapping portals, including Google, Yahoo!, MapQuest, and Rand McNally, are map-enabled by NAVTEQ.

This overview highlights the data attributes contained in the core NAVTEQ database as well as NAVTEQ core coverage areas and data collection processes.

Core Attributes

The NAVTEQ core map has 204 attributes broken into 14 different categories as follows:

• Link Attributes – Includes over 50 road classification attributes to determine an efficient route for a traveler. 
• Administrative Areas – Identifies government entities associated with the sides (left and right) of a link. 
• Points of Interest (POIs) –Includes named, geocoded sites, such as banks, gas stations, and restaurants. 
• Signs – Includes representations of textual information posted along roadways. 
• Land Use – Includes cartographic information, principally covering man-made and natural polygons and landmark footprints such as shopping centers, schools, airports, lakes, oceans, parks, golf courses, and the like.
• Country Attributes – Includes a variety of useful data for the country in which the user is traveling; attributes such as Driving Side, Telephone Country Code, and Time Zone are covered.
• Nodes – Includes intersections, both simple and complex, described through attributes.
• Conditions – Includes limitations or qualifications for using a road, for instance, gates that restrict access to residents or those with permission, High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, and restricted maneuvers, such as U-turns.
• Traffic Attributes – A standard set of codes for describing traffic conditions, called Radio Data System–Traffic Message Channel (RDS–TMC) codes.
• Generalization Attributes – These attributes (Intersections, Roads, and Objects) are captured in the NAVTEQ Composite Road Feature (CRF) coding systems and are a means of attributing features such as multiple digitized roads, intersections comprising multiple links and nodes, and ramp interchanges so that these complex features can be generalized. 
• Additional Attributes/Advanced Driving Systems – These extend the value of the database and include conditional speed limits and total number of lanes on a roadway.
• Extended Lane Information – Includes attributes to describe the number of lanes, lane connectivity, and lane direction of travel along complex intersections on Functional Class (FC) 1 and 2 roads to provide lane-level guidance.
• Map Voice Data Attributes – NAVTEQ delivers phonetic data, a textual representation of how a word is pronounced, as an add-on to the core map database. These phonetic data are called NAVTEQ Map Voice Data™.
• Other – An additional attribute for Direction for Linear Administrative Boundaries, which indicates to which side of the link a name applies.

The NAVTEQ database provides superior detail and richness, delivering critical information to make navigation and turn-by-turn directions as accurate as possible. This information includes:

• Turn restrictions
• One-ways
• Access restrictions
• Underground exits
• Physical barriers
• Complex maneuvers
• Vanity addresses
• Specialty POIs

This information allows more accurate navigation, taking into account real-world conditions that can make the difference between great directions and poor directions, as indicated below.

For more information, go to NAVTEQ Attributes information.

Coverage

NAVTEQ digital map data are available in 58 countries, covering 6 continents and approximately 11 million roadway miles (over 17 million kilometers):  over 6 million miles in the Americas; over 4 million miles (7 million km) throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; and more than 200,000 km in Asia.

There are two primary dimensions to navigation-related map data coverage:  population coverage and road coverage. Population coverage refers to the availability of road map data at some level of detail in a given geographical area. Road coverage refers to how detailed that coverage is. Does it cover only major freeways? Or does it also cover other main thoroughfares, suburban streets, rural roads, and so on? The variation between these kinds of roads is captured in the form of road Functional Classes (FCs).

Five road FCs are captured in the NAVTEQ database:

• FC 1:  Very long distance routes between major cities – The "highest level" network comprises the FC 1 arterials, which are primarily controlled access highways designed for very-long-distance travel linking major metropolitan areas and cities. 
• FC 2:  Primary routes between major and smaller cities and through metro areas – Extending the coverage of the FC 1 network is the primary role of the FC 2 network. Most high-speed, limited-access highways not in the FC 1 network are assigned FC 2, together with other classes of roadways. Often, the FC 2 network connects the major cities as the FC 1 network does, but at a lower mobility level; it also provides the best connection between smaller cities. Major through roads in metropolitan areas are typically coded FC 2.
• FC 3:  Major routes between minor cities or towns, and through city districts – The FC 3 network complements the FC 1 and 2 networks to form connections between the higher level networks and minor cities. In metropolitan areas, roads used for intermediate-distance routes, capable of handling high traffic volumes relative to other local roads, are often coded FC 3 to serve as primary routes through and between contiguous town centers or city districts.
• FC 4:  Routes connecting minor towns or villages and collecting the local traffic in the city districts – The FC 4 network moves most traffic along main roads to smaller towns and through and between neighboring parts of cities. The FC 4 roads form a well-connected network of "good quality" roads for through traffic in the interstices between the higher-level arterials. The FC 4 level is used when a hierarchy between two or more roads cannot be guaranteed by the simple combination of the other traffic attributes and the length of the links.
• FC 5:  Roads that are not efficient through routes – The "lowest level" and final category is FC 5, which comprises roads not considered to be arterials or transportation corridors. The local streets, including most minor collectors, roads in areas with few outlets, low-speed neighborhood streets, most indirect routes, and dead-end streets are coded FC 5.

Today, with a majority of the NAVTEQ database 100% navigable, the goal is to provide navigation support for 100% of the population in coverage areas for every road FC. NAVTEQ calls achieving coverage of all five FCs in a given area Detailed Coverage, meaning not only have all these road classes been captured digitally, but also every road has been verified to NAVTEQ standards, providing optimal navigation functionality.

Coverage highlights are as follows. The Americas core data product features:

• Over 6 million miles of roadway in the five FCs from residential streets to superhighways. Currently, NAVTEQ provides a fully navigable product with 100% of roads in the United States and Canada mapped. By the end of 2006, more than 70% of the combined population of the United States and Canada will have complete Detailed Coverage (e.g., all FCs), providing full turn-by-turn navigation. By the fourth quarter of 2008, the entire North American population will be mapped to the highest standard of Detailed Coverage. 
• Over 1.6 million core POIs, in approximately 50 categories, including banks, hotels, restaurants, and service stations; extended POI listings comprise 13 million POIs in 80+ categories. Recently, NAVTEQ has joined forces with leading data providers such as Zagat and Fodor's to offer even richer POI information.
• A total of 204 separate roadway attributes, permitting development of the most advanced navigation and location-enabled and route-guidance applications; the NAVTEQ Attribute Overview in the Knowledge Base contains detailed information on the NAVTEQ database attributes and their uses for application developers. 
• Countries covered are the United States (including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands), Canada, Mexico, and Brazil.

The European, Middle East, and Africa core data products feature:

• Over 7 million km of roadway, divided into five functional categories from residential streets to superhighways. By the end of this year, 100% of the Western Europe population, 87% of the Middle East, and 29% of Eastern Europe will be mapped at some level of detail.
• A total of 1.2 million core POIs in 60+ categories, including banks, hotels, restaurants, and petrol stations.
• Countries covered in Europe are:
  • A: Albania | Andorra | Austria
  • B: Belgium | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Bulgaria
  • C: Croatia|Czech Republic
  • D: Denmark
  • E: England and Crown Territories (Isle of Man, Channel Islands and Gibralter) | Estonia
  • F: Finland | France
  • G: Germany | Greece
  • H: Hungary
  • I: Iberia (Spain, Portugal Andorra, and Gibraltar) | Ireland |Italy
  • L: Latvia | Liechtenstein | Lithuania | Luxembourg
  • M: Macedonia | Monaco
  • N: The Netherlands | Northern Ireland | Norway
  • P: Poland | Portugal
  • R: Russia l Romania
  • S: San Marino | Serbia and Montenegro | Scotland | Slovak Republic | Slovenia | Spain | Sweden | Switzerland
  • V: Vatican City
  • W: Wales
• Countries covered in the Middle East are:
  • Bahrain
  • Kuwait
  • Oman
  • Qatar
  • Saudi Arabia
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Country covered in Africa is South Africa.

Asia Pacific core data products feature:

• Coverage in Australia, Hong Kong/Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. Over 200,000 km of roadway is divided into five functional categories from residential streets to superhighways. More than 50% of the population is covered.
• Over 75,000 core POIs in 60+ categories, including banks, hotels, restaurants, and service stations.
• A mainland China core data product is available through NAV2, a NAVTEQ joint venture. It covers 980,000 km of roads, including over 300 cities in 31 provinces and 532,000 POIs in 60+ categories. The database is available in Simplified Chinese and PINYIN.
• In South Korea, a core data product is available that covers over 120,000 km of roads, 100% of the population, and 300,000 POIs. This database is available in the Korean language. 

To find out more about NAVTEQ coverage in specific countries, go to NAVTEQ Coverage.

Data Collection Processes

NAVTEQ uses an exacting, unrivaled six-step process to build its digital road maps:

• Source acquisition. First, NAVTEQ obtains maps, charts, and imagery to provide the basic roadway detail.
• Source normalization. The data are normalized and entered in the NAVTEQ database.
• Geometry development. NAVTEQ verifies (and if needed, corrects) the data by bringing together the source material, field data gathered through driving the road network, and additional digital imagery.
• Field data collection. Using proprietary tools and processes, NAVTEQ collects everything from road geometry to road attributes, 204 in all, on roads, streets, and highways throughout the world.
• Geocoding. The field and production teams code the one-ways, no-turns, postal codes, and other details to every location on the map.
• Data validation. NAVTEQ subjects the data to hundreds of automated validation tests to provide accuracy. These tests are complemented by regular reports from the field teams, who periodically re-drive the roads to ensure the data are as up-to-date as possible.

NAVTEQ is continually improving its collection and production techniques and enhancing its coverage and attribute portfolio to support new features such as predictive traffic information, adaptive cruise control, curve preview and warning, and adaptive front lighting.