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There's a picture of a bird, but it obviously doesn't fly. It is the color of an orange, but it isn’t for eating. And it is mighty strange looking with several cameras, but -- sorry X File fans -- it's not from a government spy agency or a UFO.

That bright orange van riding up and down the streets of Las Vegas during CTIA is a tricked-out Toyota Sienna from Tele Atlas; equipped with four cameras—two facing front and the other two angled to either side—along with global positioning receiver (GPS), a rack of computers, two 250 GB hard disk drives (one for back up) that gets switched out every couple of weeks or so, and a laptop.

The van—one of only nine in the U.S.—captures images every few meters, collecting road information such as lane counts and speed limits and exit signs to help users more easily and safely find locations. The vans are currently deployed to validate the accuracy of information for millions of miles of road each year.


Cameras On Roof

Tele Atlas brought this particular van in from an interstate highway project just for CTIA. PDAStreet took a ride in it at the trade show.

The woman manning the laptop, Jennifer Hochstrasser, and the driver of the van told me about how the people who drive these vehicles change hands often, depending on the location and the knowledge of the area being surveyed. Hochstrasser, for example, has served as a field analyst in Arizona and New Mexico. Even so, after driving the highways and byways, she said a driver can learn a lot about an area pretty quickly.


View of Las Vegas Streets on Laptop from Roof Cameras

Hochstrasser and my driver-guide during our Vegas foray said the van often attracts attention. One time, in a bad area of Los Angeles, it was followed by someone who wanted them to pull over. But instead of a potential assailant, it was a person interested in becoming a customer.

Before the van, the North American branch of the European company—founded in 1984—used cars with cameras and voice recorders. During our ride in the van, Tele Atlas VP Margot Delogne pointed out the vans are just one of many tools the company uses to provide its customers the geographic information they need. In fact, the company says it relies on 50,000 data sources worldwide for its map data.


Van's Computer & Storage

Tele Atlas is one of the two main companies—Navvteq is the other—in the U.S. that delivers location-based data that ends up being used in GPS products and services; these include digital maps for in-car navigation systems, Internet mapping solutions, and mobile (PDA and phone) products.

For example, it currently provides digital maps to TomTom, now the number to personal navigation vendor, with about a 1.5 half units shipped in 2005. It will soon do the same for Mio's navigation devices.

Tele Atlas also plans to deliver location-aware geographic content to Skyhook Wireless, provider of the industry’s first Wi-Fi Positioning System laptops, PDAs or mobile phones as well. These solutions will also enhance location coverage available in environments where traditional location technologies fall short.