A fun visit with the guys who actually turn maps into the sort of instructions that on board navigation systems and map programs can use.
Navteq supplies the raw map data that underlies those directions. That data isn’t as raw as you might think, though. Unlike paper maps, Navteq’s digital maps have to include details about which roads are one way, which way, and things like whether left turns are illegal Monday through Friday, excluding holidays, from 7:00 a.m to 10:00 a.m. unless you’re driving a bus.
Users who rely on this data to guide them from one place to another expect an extremely high degree of accuracy. People who use paper maps understand that their map may be old and that the map can’t tell them which way they’re allowed to go at a given intersection. People using computer programs just expect them to be right.
Interesting stuff.
(via J-Walk)