CHICAGO, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- NAVTEQ, the leading global provider of digital map, traffic and location data for in-vehicle, portable, wireless and enterprise solutions, today announced three global sponsors for the 2010 Global LBS Challenge, which in turn increases the global prize pool for this year's competition to $8.2 million USD in cash, licenses, services and handsets. The global sponsors, deCarta, DeviceAnywhere and Tanla, come from critical parts of the value chain, offering location developers leading geospatial platform support, testing services, license management and mobile payment services.

Conducted by NAVTEQ Network for Developers(TM) (NN4D), the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge is a world-wide competition organized annually since 2003. It challenges application developers around the world to build innovative location-based services (LBS) using dynamic positioning technology and NAVTEQ(R) maps. This year the competition has been expanded to five regions and is open to pre-commercialized applications created for any platform and any device.

"The support from these three global sponsors will be crucial to breaking new grounds in LBS," said Marc Naddell, vice president, partner & developer programs, NAVTEQ. "We expect to see increased growth and diversification in applications this year thanks to a broadened developer offering and our sponsors' support for multiple technology and device platforms. It is very encouraging to see players from different segments of the value chain stepping forward to help LBS developers overcome various development and business issues while driving industry innovation forward. Through this cycle of the Global LBS Challenge, developers can learn about new technologies and opportunities, while being handsomely rewarded and gaining broader visibility in the industry than ever before."

deCarta - Geospatial platform provider with long track record of enabling LBS Challenge winners

With a long lineage of enabling NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge winners and market leaders, deCarta will be providing all NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge 2010 participants with access to its Drill Down Server(R) web services, JavaScript API (application programming interface) and Mobile API through the deCarta devZone ( http://developer.decarta.com). This will enable contestants to quickly build applications that integrate NAVTEQ map data to provide complex mapping, routing and spatial search functions using deCarta's J2ME API, iPhone API, and JavaScript Mobile Web/Widget API, and to get support through the deCarta devZone's discussion forum.

The Grand Prize Winners and the two (2) runners-up in each of the five regions of the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge will be awarded a one-year license to use deCarta's Drill Down Server geospatial software platform or Hosted Web Services. The value of these licenses is estimated to $250,000 per region, or $3.75 million in total value for all regions combined.

DeviceAnywhere(TM) - Remote online testing service used to test Global LBS Challenge applications

LBS application developers require testing on real devices on live networks to know that both location and handset-specific features work as they should. DeviceAnywhere (formerly Mobile Complete) will support the competition by enabling all Global LBS Challenge contestants to test their applications on GPS-enabled real devices from anywhere in the world via a remote online testing service, thereby simplifying the testing process and improving the time to market for LBS developers. Through DeviceAnywhere, developers are able to access all available device features through an online interface as if the device were in their hands, as well as fully test the positioning functionality of the application by emulating the location of the device.

As a global platform sponsor, DeviceAnywhere will provide contestants with ten (10) free hours of testing on a specific list of devices provided by the device sponsors. A custom device package representing the 2010 Global LBS Challenge Sponsored Devices as well as an iPhone 3G and a Palm Pre will be created for testing purposes. In addition, DeviceAnywhere will be contributing 50 free test hours on any package in their service to the Grand Prize Winner and two runners-up in each region for 90 days after the competition.

Tanla - Helping app developers with license management and on-device payments

Tanla Ltd is a full-service provider of license management and on-device payment in the wireless software industry, offering an advanced 24/7 service solution to control and charge for end-user access to mobile content. By sponsoring the Global LBS Challenge, Tanla offers the contestants an opportunity to get unlimited access to the License Manager SDK (software development kit) in order to integrate their mobile applications with Tanla's comprehensive license management and mobile payment solution for location-based software. The five Grand Prize Winners will receive a 12-month license, each valued to over $70,000 US, and the two runners-up per region will receive a 6-month license valued at $40,000 US.

Tanla will also be sponsoring a special recognition award, rewarding the "Best use of Tanla License Manager" in each of the five regions with a 9-month license (each valued at over $58,000 US) for the developers to continue using the Tanla payment software when commercializing their application. In total, Tanla's contribution to the Global LBS Challenge prize pool adds up to over $1.3 million US, demonstrating the service provider's commitment to encourage consumers and content providers to use and to develop LBS applications.

For more information on the three global sponsors and their offerings to LBS developers, please visit www.LBSChallenge.com and click on Sponsors. Registration deadline for the first of the five regions (EMEA) is October 30, 2009.

About the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge

First launched in 2003, the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge is a world-wide competition conducted by NAVTEQ Network for Developers(TM) (NN4D), daring application developers around the world to build innovative location-based services (LBS) using dynamic positioning technology and NAVTEQ(R) maps. Integrating the accuracy and richness of NAVTEQ digital map data and LBS content facilitates the timely evolution of the next wave of location-aware applications. The Global LBS Challenge has become the premier event in the LBS industry for shining the spotlight on global LBS innovation and opportunity. Over 32% of the finalists from the past six years have gone on to receive venture capital funding or launch commercially-distributed applications. For more information on this year's competition, go to www.LBSChallenge.com.

About NAVTEQ Network for Developers

NAVTEQ Network for Developers(TM) (NN4D) is a dynamic web portal and global community that provides developers and business partners with the technical and business support needed to build, showcase and launch the most innovative location-enabled solutions. The NN4D includes resources such as mapping APIs, LBS content, point of interest data, routing information as well as geospatial platforms and tools from NAVTEQ and its partners. Members can rely on NN4D when creating GPS-based applications for the web, mobile phones, GIS and portable navigation devices that employ traffic, navigation, location content and location-based advertising for enterprise and consumer use. Connect with the people, tools and resources you need to build and market your location-enabled products by joining today at www.NN4D.com/joindevelopers.

About NAVTEQ

NAVTEQ is the leading global provider of digital map, traffic and location data that enables navigation and location-based platforms around the world. NAVTEQ supplies comprehensive digital map information to power automotive navigation systems, portable and wireless devices, Internet-based mapping applications and government and business solutions. The Chicago-based company was founded in 1985 and has approximately 4,400 employees located in 192 offices and in 43 countries.

NAVTEQ, NAVTEQ Network for Developers and Global LBS Challenge are trademarks of NAVTEQ in the U.S. and other countries. All rights reserved.

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SOURCE NAVTEQ

Web site: http://www.navteq.com/