Digital Maps: The Next Generation

Navigation systems in vehicles, aftermarket portable navigation devices (PNDs) and PDAs are now selling in significant volumes-more than X million units in 2005 in North America alone. But there lingers a nagging sense that navigation has not yet hit upon the “Wow!” factor that other products have-the IPOD, the Xbox, and the Blackberry, to name a recent few. Undaunted, true believers remain confident that navigation (broadened to include Location-Based Services (LBS) and coupled with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) technology), can and will move into a higher plane where the technology will play an integral and transformative role in consumer lifestyles. This paper discusses how we might achieve that “Wow!” for navigation systems and goes on to focus on the make-or-break role that next generation digital maps will have in the creation of products and services that are truly lifestyle-altering.