3D Detail and Texture Create Life-Like Renderings of the Locations People Wish to Find, Navigate and Experience, with Software GPS Helping to Make Devices More Affordable
3DLABS Inc., Ltd., a fabless semiconductor company, today demonstrated at Navigation USA, 2006 what next-generation portable navigation and location aware devices could look like running on the recently announced DMS-02 media processor. Working closely with Tele Atlas, a leading global provider of digital maps and dynamic content for navigation and location based solutions, 3DLABS demonstrated how the navigation experience can be enhanced by providing high fidelity 3D detail and texture to create life-like renderings of the locations people wish to find, navigate and experience.
At the same event 3DLABS announced its collaboration with NORDNAV to bring low-cost, high-quality software based GPS solutions to market that utilise the architecture and low-power floating-point performance of the DMS-02 media processor to accelerate acquisition times, enhance tracking accuracy and reduce costs.
“With a DMS-02 based PNAV product, users of location aware devices will be able to experience a rich 3D environment that reflects the reality they can see, including landmarks, landscapes, points-of-interest and individual buildings.” said Tim Lewis, director sales and marketing at 3DLABS. “Combine 3D and software GPS with the DMS-02’s media processing capabilities and you have a complete platform for enabling feature rich navigation products with extended battery life.
“The market is evolving to more realistically represent the world as we know it,” said Jack Reinelt, Managing Director Europe, Tele Atlas. “Enriched maps that offer more visual information to make navigation easier and enhance location based services will replace flat maps and Tele Atlas are at the forefront of reflecting this reality, complete with 3D landmarks and other data. Enhanced 3D visualization will make maps even more attractive, informative and interesting with a range of consumer applications.”
“By leveraging the floating-point processing capabilities of the 3DLABS DMS-02 media processor, our E5000 software GPS provides fast time to first fix and gives users continuous tracking and advanced navigation filtering even in the most challenging environments.” Said Mattias Astrom, CEO of Nordnav. “Software based GPS provides significant advantages with lower cost, smaller foot-print and the ability for users to continuously upgrade the GPS performance and the 3DLABS architecture provides an ideal platform for our software.”
The DMS-02 Media Processor
Based on a fully programmable array of floating-point processors the DMS-02 is the first handheld media processor capable of HD 720p H.264 video playback and fully exploits the parallel nature of traditional video, image, audio, 2D/3D graphics and signal processing while having the flexibility to adapt to emerging standards and applications such as software GPS, software defined radio, digital media broadcast and physics processing for game engines.
The DMS-02 incorporates 24 floating-point processing elements, dual ARM 926EJ cores, multi-level caches, three bi-directional video stream ports, 32 or 64-bit mobile memory for up to 1.6 GBytes of bandwidth and peripheral interfaces to LCDs, CMOS sensors, IDE Disks, USB OTG, Flash memory and Audio DACs. The device is OS independent with first Software Development Kits supporting embedded Linux 2.6.
About 3DLABS
3DLABS is a pioneering fabless semiconductor supplier of fully programmable media processors that deliver a rich mix of video, imaging, 2D/3D graphics, audio and floating-point capabilities. Based on an array of floating-point processing elements and dual ARM cores the architecture has the performance, flexibility and low power consumption required to target a broad range of devices; portable media players, navigation systems, automotive infotainment, video conference and surveillance, mobile handsets and embedded systems. 3DLABS was originally founded in 1994 and has experience in developing fully programmable visual computing solutions with expertise in complex silicon design, parallel processing, hardware design and software development, including pioneering work on OpenGL 2.0 and OpenGL ES. 3DLABS has design centres based in England, and offices in Milpitas, California and Huntsville, Alabama.
3DLABS is a registered trademark of 3DLABS Inc., Ltd. in the United States and/or other countries. All other brand and product names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby recognised as such.
About Tele Atlas
Tele Atlas delivers the digital maps and dynamic content that power the world’s most essential navigation and location-based services. The information is the foundation for a wide range of personal and in-car navigation systems, mobile and Internet map applications that help users find the people, places, products and services they need, wherever they are. Tele Atlas also works with business partners that deliver critical applications for emergency, business fleet and infrastructure services. Founded in 1984, the company provides maps covering 54 countries around the world. Tele Atlas employs approximately 2,300 full-time staff and contract cartographers at offices in 20 countries and uses a sophisticated network of professional drivers, mobile mapping vans and more than 50,000 data resources to continually update its maps. Tele Atlas is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (TA6) and on Euronext Amsterdam (TA). For more information, visit http://www.teleatlas.com.
About Nordnav
Nordnav develops and licenses software GPS and Galileo receivers to leading manufacturers in the mobile, automotive, and consumer electronics industries that enable high quality location functionality to be built into a wide range of devices at reduced cost. Nordnav is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. http://www.nordnav.com
