Dec 06 2008
Mobile Gadget: NAVETEQ vs Tele Atlas GPS Maps which is most accurate?
The GPS excitement is going strong. All over the world people are driving, walking, hiking, biking and fishing with the help of GPS directions. People buying the latest cell phones expect GPS to be among the features offered.
No matter how great a product is there are always complaints waged against them. Maps are the major issues that hinder GPS makers. Not surprising since without accurate maps a GPS does not live up to expectations.
NAVTEQ and Tele Atlas are the two major maps used on most GPS devices. It is an ongoing debate whether one is better than the other. Both will inevitably have some incorrect information. New roads, new hi-way exits and new housing additions keep mapmakers on their toes.
Updates are often slow to appear except for TomTom users that have the ability to report changes that tend to make corrections and additions available to other users at a faster pace.
Getting back to the “my GPS is better than your GPS” discussion there are so many variables that it is almost impossible to choose one over the other. In the past NAVTEQ was said to be better in the USA and Tele Atlas was said to be better in Europe. The reason for that – their home bases. Now that line is more blurred than ever. In some cases Tele Atlas has been shown to be just a bit more accurate than NAVETEQ is the USA. I read a great back and forth discussion on this very subject at the GPSreview.net.
It appears that some of the discrepancies come from the variables of an address. Depending on whether the address is proven and verified or whether it is extrapolated (estimates within a range of addresses) the results can be different. NAVTEQ may tell you that the address does not exist and the Tele Atlas may give you an approximate location. Neither would be technically wrong.
With the increasing use of geo-tagging the debate may get even stronger. The A-GPS found on cell phones and the ability to use Google Maps may tip the scale in favor of Tele Atlas just because they are less likely figure the address is invalid. GPS allows for pinpointing a verified address so it would be obvious that the area surrounding that address could be somewhat guessed at. Extrapolating is used to find a cell phone caller so why couldn’t it be used to find an approximate address?
