'We have mapped 4,125 cities in India'

What are your plans in India?

Well, India is a very important market for us and we see a huge opportunity here. Although navigation and location are at a nascent stage in India, but owing to the growth in population, rapid development, and the need to get to places on time navigation products and services are becoming crucial.

In addition, we have also set up 2 production centers in India in a span of two years. Research is at the heart of every product that we develop for the country. Nokia Location and Commerce has set up a global research & development center in Mumbai with approximately 150 engineers and developers focused on creating innovative map content, which would guide drivers through the unique demands of driving in India. On an average, we launched a new product every quarter in the last year.

How do you cover the places in India?

We continuously check and validate the accuracy of our maps. Our goal is to create data that reflects the roads and streets. To date, we have mapped 4,125 cities in India. We have over 6 mn Points of Interest (POI) across over 50 categories like cinema halls, temples, etc.

Then we get the search right, which is POIs like ATMs, restaurants, petrol pumps, religious places, and so on and so forth. Currently, we have over 6 mn POIs in the NAVTEQ Map of India which has the richest POI database in a constantly changing world.

Apart from consumer technology, do you focus on the enterprise segment?

Worldwide we work with companies in logistics and transport. In India, with growth in the number of merchants, there is a need for more efficiency, which is where our enterprise offerings will come in useful. We are positive and excited about the enterprise segment in India.

What were the roadblocks for the Indian market?

One of the unique characteristics of Indians is that they place value on guidance from people in order to reach their destination. And they look for this information in the form of POIs like banks, hospitals, movie theaters, places of worship, and traffic signals for guidance cues. We saw this uniqueness as an opportunity and created and launched the NAVTEQ Natural Guidance in India.

For the first time in India, navigation applications are able to provide guidance that moves beyond the norm of using only time and distance based directional cues-like 'turn right in 50 meters'-it guides users through vivid descriptions of static orientation point, for example, 'turn left after the blue glass building' or 'turn right at the traffic signal'.

How many countries have you mapped so far?

Globally, we have mapped 200 countries.