Keep automotive navigation data up-to-date

It's all about the data
Regardless of the way it stores data or the features it offers—and those feature sets grow increasingly sophisticated every month—the quality of an in-vehicle navigation system is predicated on the freshness and precision of the mapping and POI data it displays. With the competing mandatory requirements of timeliness, accuracy, and lower cost, mapping-data providers are redefining their methods, processes, technologies, and paradigms for capturing, confirming, updating, processing, and publishing accurate data faster than ever before.

Relying exclusively on field-collection techniques—wheels on pavement, so to speak—is far too costly, slow, and inefficient to support the rate of change in both streets and POIs. A far better strategy for collecting and confirming data involves a smarter mixture of search tools, satellite imagery, government data sources, utility and construction companies, and organizations that have large fleets of workers in vehicles (such as delivery drivers) who have their own GIS (geographic information system) staffs.

Tens of thousands of municipalities, counties, states, and the federal government are rich sources of street information—data that can be used to update mapping and navigational data. In some cases, mapping vendors receive actual geometry or longitude/latitude data from zoning boards or engineering firms. The larger governments or firms often have authorization to make direct modifications to the vendor's mapping databases. In other cases, the updates come from text reports from parties with vested interests in mapping accuracy, such as utility companies.

Another useful way to capture detailed mapping data is through granular satellite imagery and aerial photography. If the resolution is high enough, these sources can yield accurate lane information, turn restrictions, and other specifics.

By using these data sources, mapping vendors can achieve broader coverage and greater accuracy in less time and at lower cost. Suppose, for example, if a new one-way street gets added to an established neighborhood in Boston. Instead of waiting years to re-drive that location and capture the change, a vendor can receive a notification from the Boston Zoning Commission and confirm it by examining recent aerial photography and corroborating that with a report from a telecommunications carrier. As a result, the database gets updated in just days.