Amsterdam, The Netherlands — Less than a week since it officially purchased Tele Atlas, TomTom said today that it will provide to Tele Atlas, and subsequently its partners, updated maps with information gleaned from its base of 20 million users.
TomTom collects user suggestions for map updates under its MapShare program, which lets users upload road changes to TomTom. The company claims millions of changes have been reported since the program was implemented in July.
“After extensive verification of these millions of customer suggestions, the results will be made available in map releases to all Tele Atlas partners as early as Q4 2008,” said a TomTom statement.
TomTom CEO Harold Goddijn said, “On average, by the end of 2008, if you drive anywhere for one hour with a Tele Atlas map enhanced by Map Share feedback, your route will be influenced by more than 20 corrections.” He also said the transfer of this data to Tele Atlas “marks the first tangible deliverable following TomTom’s acquisition of Tele Atlas. It will ensure that everybody can benefit from this community feedback, and the amount we have received is staggering.”
