How SatNav Maps Are Made

Specially equipped vans drive over the entire road system. Each van is fitted with

• high resolution Digital cameras
• laser equipment to measure distance
• a GPS system to accurately log the GPS map co-ordinates

This information is stored on local hard disks and at the end of each day, it is transmitted back to the office, where it is used to produce the digital maps.

This is an ongoing process as the road network is constantly changing.

Stijn Ulenaers and Gudrun Vanlaar are a Belgian couple employed by Tele Atlas in the U.K. as surveyors, to produce digital maps for satellite navigation devices. The video clip shown below is a BBC News item showing them capturing the information to be processed into digital maps.

Install SatNav on your carputer






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Trilateration. The principle behind the calculation of GPS map co-ordinates.