Location-based services (LBS) software vendor Telmap announced it has ported its mobile navigation software to Linux and the Moblin distribution for mobile Internet devices (MIDs). Telmap will demonstrate “Telmap Navigator” running on Intel Atom-based Moblin MIDs at next week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

(Click for larger view of Telmap Navigator interface)

Previously, Telmap offered the Telmap Navigator for BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Palm platforms, but the support has now been expanded to Linux and the Linux Moblin distro under development by Intel-sponsored Moblin.org, says the company. Telmap Navigator appears to support Moblin 1.0, which is targeted at MIDs. A Moblin 2.0 for Netbooks version was just released in Alpha, but a 2.0 release for MIDs is not expected until next year. It was unclear when and if Telmap might also offer specific support for Linux phone platforms.

Telmap Navigator offers location-aware and real-time search information to both pedestrians and drivers, says Telmap. In Europe, the LBS software has been adopted by Orange FT Group, Vodafone, SFR, The Carphone Warehouse, and O2, says the company. In North America, it said to be offered by AOL MapQuest, Sprint, and ATT, and in Africa, on Vodacom.

Telmap Navigator screens

Competitors include Navteq, which was acquired by Nokia, and even, in a sense, PND companies like Garmin, once it ships its Linux-based Nuvifone G60 smartphone with Asus. In fact, with Google's Android offering hundreds of LBS applications for the HTC G1 and other upcoming Android phones, Telmap's competition appears to be growing every day.

Like Garmin, however, Telmap has had a head start, and Navigator is said to offer advanced features including:

• 2D or 3D moving-map nav screen showing POIs (points of interest) along the route, including parking
• Text-to-speech prompts that announce street names
• Multiple navigation views, including overview, route details, and list of turns
• Traffic aware routing and re-routing, with alternative routes and related event lists
• Speed camera alerts
• Fastest and shortest optimization with “different avoid options”
• Cross-regional routing
• Instantaneous local reroute via Telmap's Mobile Optimized Navigation Data (MOND) technology
• Manual navigation mode for previewing route
• Pedestrian routing that ignores vehicle turn restrictions, avoids highways and bridges, and shows pedestrian-only paths
• Public transportation details integrated into pedestrian navigation
• Location search for address, intersection, Post code/Zip code, place/business, recent locations, and address book
• Free-text local search, allowing keywords such as “pizza”
• Proximity search
• Support for both GPS and Cell-ID triangulation

Andromeda LBS server platform

Telmap also offers a Telemap Andromeda Mapping and Navigation Platform for location-based server services supporting databases covering Europe and North America. Compatible with Linux, Unix, Solaris BSD, and various flavors of Windows, Andromeda offers multi-threading and SMP scaling techniques that enable it to serve large numbers of concurrent users, claims the company.

Telmap Andromeda architecture
(Click to enlarge)

The Andromeda platform can integrate and aggregate geographical and descriptive information and content from various sources in several languages, says Telmap. Andromeda is touted for its “open architecture,” which is said to enable easier integration with cellular operators's provisioning, billing, and CRM systems. A developer platform is provided that is said to expose an API that enables third parties to develop and deploy LBS applications.

Stated Oren Nissim, CEO of Telmap, “We see MIDs as another great platform that will drive a more connected and location-aware society. The high performance of the Intel Atom processor will support our technology requirements, and in turn will provide an advanced user experience in mobile navigation and location technologies.”

Availability

Telmap will demonstrate Moblin-based MIDs running Telmap Navigator at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona at the Telmap stand (Hall 1, 1E02) and at the Intel stand (Hall 8, 8B109). The company did not provide availability information on the final MID version of Telmap Navigator.

 
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