Innovative Technology Companies Sponsor NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge

ESRI, Microsoft Corporation, SiRF Technology, Inc. and Telcontar Support Growth in Location-Based Services Sector

CHICAGO, Oct. 14 -- NAVTEQ , a leading global provider of digital map data for vehicle navigation and location-based solutions, has joined forces with influential location technology and media companies to sponsor the Global LBS Challenge: a contest that challenges developers to build location-enabled applications for wireless devices. The corporate sponsors include ESRI, Microsoft Corp., SiRF Technology, Inc. and Telcontar. Directions Magazine and the Wireless Innovation Network of British Columbia (WINBC) are the official media sponsors of the Challenge.

As part of the over $700,000 in cash and prizes that will be awarded to the contest winners, the four sponsors are giving all official contestants in the contest free access to each company's proprietary developer tools. These tools include:

ESRI ArcWeb Services

ESRI ArcWeb Services are hosted SOAP/XML Web services that include NAVTEQ(TM) Maps and the capabilities needed to add location, addresses, points-of-interest, maps and routing directions to location-based applications.

Microsoft MapPoint

MapPoint technology is the core technology behind Microsoft's mapping and location services platforms and applications. It is the basis for MapPoint's powerful business and consumer desktop applications and the application developer XML Web service platform. The power of MapPoint and Microsoft .NET technology combine to make a compelling offering for Web applications, desktop applications or handheld solutions. MapPoint Web Service enables developers to embed location and mapping capabilities into their consumer, business and wireless applications.

SiRF Technology Holdings Inc.

SiRF is providing a FREE GPS/BT receiver along with free access to SiRF's Multimode AGPS Server to the first 100 registered developers who are developing applications for Java(TM) or WinCE(R) platforms. This will provide developers from anywhere in the world with a state-of-the-art platform on which to develop their applications.

Telcontar

Telcontar's Drill Down Server (DDS) provides a client/server-based architecture for communication from the user application to a wide variety of spatially-based functionality from the server. Because all communication is done by sending text strings to and from the server, the client applications can run on any device from workstations to simple text-based handheld units, and can be written in any language. The server itself runs under Windows, Unix, Linux, FreeBSD, HPUX and Solaris platforms.

The two media sponsors -- Directions Magazine and WINBC -- are contributing editorial and advertising space in their respective publications.

"Having the support of these reputable industry organizations has really helped maintain the momentum generated by last year's Wireless LBS Challenge. The contestants will have access to a wide variety of tools which should help accelerate the development time and allow them to focus more energy on creative application design and functionality," said Winston Guillory, Senior Vice President - North American Sales. "NAVTEQ is proud to share the Challenge with such innovative and successful companies."

About NAVTEQ

NAVTEQ is a leading provider of comprehensive digital map information for automotive navigation systems, mobile navigation devices and Internet-based mapping applications. NAVTEQ creates the digital maps and map content that power navigation and location-based services solutions around the world. The Chicago-based company was founded in 1985 and has approximately 1,400 employees located in over 100 offices in 20 countries.

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