Navteq focused on expansion, plans for location-based advertising

SAN FRANCISCO — During an offsite session at CTIA Wireless Entertainment and I.T. 2008, digital map data provider, Navteq Connections focused on plans for the future. Recently purchased by Nokia Corp., the company’s executive VP, Jeff Mize, said Navteq will remain independent, as an operating unit of Nokia. Changes accompanied with the purchase include the elimination of the board of directors, with the CEO now reporting directly to Nokia. Mize said the deal no longer makes Navteq a public company, under the scrutiny of Wall Street. He went on to express excitement about leveraging the Nokia brand, letting Navteq’s business move a lot faster.
“Navteq isn’t very well known,” Mize said.
With a new parent comes new goals. Mize said people used to using location-based services are no longer satisfied and demand more. The company plans to focus its new LBS plans around four Cs: connectivity, content, community and convergence. These four Cs are Navteq’s priorities. Mize said these include map coverage and quality, content expansion and capabilities, services and platforms, and marketing and technical support. Mize put emphasis on map coverage and quality priority, saying when it comes to maintenance, they’re heavily involved and spend a large chunk of their budget on it.
“Once we go into a country, we never leave,” Mize said.
Focusing on content, Mize said the plan is to take the map to new places. Navteq hopes to make its maps more enhanced visually, more dynamic by adding flight status information and fuel pricing; and a big goal is to make them more pedestrian.
“[We need] to take it out of the car,” Mize said.
The company will provide more in-depth information on public transit, specific location details, even more facts about parks and communities, Mize said. Navteq retains deeper details like this in 45 U.S. cities, and plans to up that to 90 by the year’s end, Mize said.
Hesitantly, Mize also said Navteq will dive into location-based advertising.
“I thought, there’s no way consumers want this,” Mize said.
He said however, that if done correctly and appropriately, they’ve found customers are interested and appreciate certain location-based advertising. Mize said the only challenge now is to learn how to approach it and avoid extra costs.