04/14 10:00:32 AM
SEOUL (AP) - Tele Atlas NV said Thursday its trademark orange mobile mapping vans will be hitting the streets of Asia this year to collect data for the fast-growing digital cartography industry.
"Our plan is to rapidly start to deploy these into the major _ say the top 10 to 20 _ cities in the Asia-Pacific region where we have coverage," said Mark Steele, Tele Atlas' chief operating officer for the Asia-Pacific.
Steele, speaking to reporters on the occasion of Tele Atlas' launching of its South Korea office, said he expected the vehicles to begin collecting data in Asia in June.
The 's-Hertogenbosch-Netherlands-based company plans to target Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Taipei this year, Steele said.
The bright orange sport utility vehicles carrying the company's distinct logo _ a boy on the back of a flying goose _ are stuffed with high-tech digital mapping equipment and are a key tool in its quest to digitally map the world.
The logo is based on the Swedish children's book The Wonderful Adventures of Nils about a boy who gains a unique visual understanding of the world from his vantage point atop a flying goose.
Tele Atlas, founded in 1984, competes with U.S.-based Navteq Corp. to provide digital mapping data to major companies including Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc., MapQuest and Google Inc.
Steele said his company provides maps for Nokia phones, to Google maps and Research in Motion Ltd., the creator of the Blackberry smart phone.
The worldwide market last year was estimated at about ?1 billion (US$1.3 billion), he said.
Europe accounted for the largest chunk at US$557 million, followed by the Asia-Pacific at US$404 million and North America at US$331 million.
"It'd be safe to say the market's growing well over 20 percent a year," he said.
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