NAVTEQ , announced at Mobile World Congress 2008 that UbiEst is the European grand prize winner of this year’s Global LBS Challenge.
The winning application, UbiSafe, a new LBS service that gives families the peace of mind of always knowing the location of loved ones. Users can set preferences or get notifications via their mobile phone to know instantly that a child has left school or a user defined safety zone.
Three runners-up were also selected by the judging panel and include:
Senda: Chronomove; Chronomove reduces the daily stress of commuting by taking the mystery out of travel times. Drivers get fastest route options based on real time traffic conditions and highly accurate travel time estimates with this always on solution. Chronomove is powered by AtlasCT.
Oxford Softworks: Nearme
Nearme is a highly portable LBS application that enables advanced POI searches based on user location and preferences. Branded and trusted content such as reviews, pricing and photos are delivered to cell phones to empower users to explore their surroundings and make informed decisions. Nearme is powered by deCarta.
GyPSii:
GyPSii is an integrated web and wireless application that connects user-generated content (such as restaurant reviews) to people and places. Find friends, view shared videos and photos in real time, or explore the environment around you.
The worldwide contest, which has established a reputation as the premier event in the location-based services (LBS) industry, challenges application developers to build innovative location-based services which work with mobile phones and/or wireless handheld devices using dynamic positioning technology and NAVTEQ maps.
This is the third year for the Challenge in the Europe, Middle East and African Region, the fifth year in the Americas Region and this year it has also been expanded to include the Asia-Pacific Region. There are five solution categories in which to submit applications, including: Content, Enterprise, Entertainment, Navigation and Social Networking.
Judges and sponsors
Over 316 companies registered for this year’s Challenge globally, of which twelve advanced to the final judging in the European division. The finalists represented a broad spectrum of wireless applications and were selected based on commercial feasibility, functionality, ease of use and design. The final judging panel, which included executives from Autodesk, Deutsche Telekom, GPS and Co, Innovacom, Nokia, O2, Telecom Italia, Truffle Ventures, Vodafone, and WebMobility, based their decisions on the same key criteria.
Nokia is globally sponsoring the Challenge for the third consecutive year together with Autodesk for 2008. Joining them, are deCarta, and PTV as Platinum sponsors, Telefonica (Movistar) and Orange as Gold sponsors and GPS World as a media sponsor. Both sponsors and partners offered the European applicants free access to tools and platforms.
“Nokia is once again proud to sponsor this important global program, and supports NAVTEQ in its commitment to encourage the development and emergence of innovative location-aware solutions,” said Rick Witham, Forum Nokia. “The Global LBS Challenge creates an outlet for the developer community to gain unique industry access and exposure, and its success can be seen in the prevalence of wireless location and navigation services. The innovation seen in the applications demonstrated today has been motivating — Congratulations to all of the winners.”
“The NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge provides a showcase for developers to demonstrate their latest innovations to leading mobile operators,” commented Joe Astroth, Executive Vice President, Autodesk Locations Services. “As a leading solution and platform provider to both mobile operators and LBS application developers, the event supports Autodesk’s mission to bring profitable, ground-breaking location-based services to market.”
“In the last twelve months location-based content has become a hot topic and this was reflected at Mobile World in the number of wireless LBS solutions on show,” commented Jeff Mize, Executive Vice President, NAVTEQ Global Sales. “The Global LBS Challenge is designed to create momentum for more innovation by providing a forum for key industry players to collaborate with application developers, and this year we were once again impressed by the ingenuity of the entries. None of this would, of course, be possible without the continuing support of the sponsors and judges.”