TomTom 2010 Annual Report Download - page 27

Devices
PND In-car
system
Phone
app
Pro
PND
p 25 / TomTom Annual Report and Accounts 2010
TECHNOLOGY
TomTom’s full range of navigation solutions – covering our
Consumer, Automotive, Licensing and Business Solutions
businesses – consists of a rich set of navigation products,
services and content offerings. Fundamental to this is that
they are all created on a common, integrated platform.
Around three quarters of TomTom’s total R&D is invested into
this platform – a clear demonstration of the extraordinary
level of technical synergy that exists between our different
businesses.
All of our devices, from consumer PNDs to automotive in-dash
systems to fleet management products, are built on a
common hardware and software platform. Our iPhone
application is based on the same navigation application that is
used in our devices. TomTom’s services are delivered directly to
our devices wirelessly, or to customers via the web. Through
the internet, consumers can buy products, accessories,
maps and services, and enterprise fleet managers can access
the WEBFLEET management application. We deliver rich
navigation content in various forms: as a ‘product’ in the
case of a map downloaded by a user to a TomTom device
or as a database licensed to an enterprise or government
customer. TomTom offers maps as a service through our
web-based location based services platform and other
mechanisms such as Map Share. Live content, such as the
award winning HD Traffic service, is delivered as a live feed
to TomTom devices and can also be delivered to Licensing
and Automotive customers.
The development of this platform, including the production
of navigation content, is done through a common platform
engineering group set up at the beginning of 2010. This
change has enabled TomTom to fully integrate previous
acquisitions, allowing us to fully capture the synergy
between map making and the development of navigation
devices and services.
The synergy provided by a common platform does more
than just bring financial benefits. It also helps to reduce
technical complexity and accelerates our ability to deliver
real customer benefits. This can clearly be seen, for
example, in the unrivalled accuracy and coverage of HD
Traffic and the freshness of our maps.
We believe a common, integrated platform provides us
with a crucial ability to differentiate the TomTom offering.
By coordinating the activities of our Content, Services and
Client software teams, the operations of which are
described below, we are able to more effectively deliver
superior user experiences.
The Content group delivers the world’s foremost global
navigation content. The group’s activities consist not only of
map creation, but also the development of the proprietary
tools used by map editors and others involved in the
navigation content production process. In addition to maps,
we produce a number of value-adding content ‘layers’,
such as points of interest, visualisation features, enterprise
specific information, speed cameras and HD Traffic. The
technology we employ in our map production process is
evolving rapidly to take advantage both of the vast amount
of data that is anonymously shared with TomTom by our
customers, and also the more detailed input provided by
the community of professional and consumer map users.
As a result we are able to publish up-to-date accurate
content faster.
The Services group develops and operates TomTom’s services.
In 2010 TomTom introduced a range of new services,
including a significant geographical expansion of the LIVE
Services offering and a new web-based service called
MyTomTom, which allows users to manage the content
of their device and replaces the TomTom HOME PC-based
application. The Services group covers five different domains,
(1) Device management allows end-users or fleet owners
to add maps, voices and other content to their devices. (2)
LIVE Services represents a portfolio of navigation-related
content, such as traffic and speed camera information,
delivered as a service directly to the device using cellular
networks. (3) eCommerce represents our online store for
products, accessories and service subscriptions. (4) Map
distribution is the technology enabling our users to
upgrade or add new maps to their devices. (5) Location
Based Services deliver maps, routes, traffic information,
points of interest and other navigation services to multiple
web or smartphone applications such as TomTom’s web-
based route planner (routes.tomtom.com).
The Client group is responsible for developing the
hardware and software stacks that power our devices.
During 2010, the work of this group helped us to introduce
a new generation of devices featuring a refreshed user
interface (UI), much improved routing performance, and a
range of other new features. The client platform contains
system software – mostly consisting of open source
software assets – as well as our navigation services
(proprietary navigation algorithms connected to the on-
board map). A user interface layer represents what the user
interacts with and implements the visual elements of our
application. The TomTom UI is highly evolved and
optimised for in-car use to support safe driving.
Content deliveriesOnline
Map
product
Map
service
Live
content
My
TomTom Shop
Routes,
Places &
Traffic
WEB
FLEET
Content
Content and services
Content production tools
Services
Content and services distribution
Services platform
Client
Application user interface
Navigation services
Hardware & software platform
User Experience
ProductPlatform