NAVTEQ is a Chicago, Illinois-based provider of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data and is a dominant company in providing the base electronic navigable maps. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nokia but operates independently.

Overview

NAVTEQ's underlying map database is based on first hand observation of geographic features rather than relying on official government maps.

It provides data used in a wide range of applications, including automotive navigation systems for BMW, Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz, Mini and many other car makers (accounting for around 85% of market share).

Portable GPS devices made by Garmin, Magellan, Lowrance and web-based applications, such as Yahoo! Maps, Local Live, and MapQuest also use its maps. Microsoft's Flight Simulator X uses NAVTEQ data for automatic terrain generation.

NAVTEQ is also the data aggregator used by XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio to display traffic data on navigation systems that are capable of that display, and partners with various third party agencies and companies to provide government and transportation related services, such as the GPS and GSM-based sex offender tracking system currently in use in parts of North Carolina and Georgia.

NAVTEQ also has smaller offices in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, Boston, and San Diego, and throughout most big cities around the world, where NAVTEQ cartographers live.

Its main competitor is the Dutch company Tele Atlas.

Karlin & Collins, Inc.

The company was founded in 1985 by Barry Karlin and Galen Collins. Karlin, who was originally from South Africa told interviewers that he started the company after being frustrated with a paper map of the San Francisco, California area and started investigating whether there could be a technological "someone sitting next to me in the car who knew the way."International Directory of Company Histories, Vol.69. St. James Press, 2005

Collins then created a pilot of a system in the San Francisco area. However when they discovered they were told to do something impossible they realized that the system not only had to have accurate maps but also very specific data on one-way streets and other local issues.

They were turned down by most venture capital firms in their attempts to finance the database. The president of Budget Rent A Car then suggested they talk to T. Russell Shields, a Chicago entrepreneur who had founded Shields Enterprises which became SEI Information Technology which had specialized in building order fulfilment databases. Shields provided $500,000 in seed money.

In 1985 Karlin & Collins, Inc. based in Sunnyvale, California began comprehensive mapping of the San Francisco area getting another $2.5 million from Prudential Bache. Karlin and Collins made use of the newly created U.S. Census electronic map which was matched with satellite images. They hired people to drive every road carrying a Dictaphone describing the position. In lieu of using a GPS, they kept track of the location of the vehicle by using a dead reckoning system that relied on a gyro compass.