Friday, May 28, 2010

2010 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge(R) Winners Announced for South America

UYMobile wins the Grand Prize valued at over $735,000 US for their location-based advertising application, TouristicPoint.

SAO PAULO -- NAVTEQ, the leading global provider of maps, traffic and location data enabling navigation, location-based services and mobile advertising around the world, announced last night that UYMobile is the Grand Prize winner of the South America edition of the 2010 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge competition. UYMobile will receive over $735,000 (US) in cash, data and tool licenses, and services, representing a sizeable share of the total global prize pool for the Global LBS Challenge, which is valued at a total over $10 million.

UYMobile (www.uymobile.com) won the competition with their location-aware mobile application, TouristicPoint, an application for locating tourist spots that offers non-intrusive advertisements based on the user's location. Users can find nearby services, see detailed information and photos, and receive routing information.

Two Runners-Up were also selected by the judging panel:

* First Runner-Up: NeuroX Solutions (www.neuroxsolutions.com), I Love Recycle allows people within communities, cities or countries to more effectively recycle materials by locating recycling stations, classified according to type, on a map.
* Second Runner-Up: EBECOM (www.ebecom.com.br), Healthroute is an interactive mobile application that highlights areas at risk of the mosquito that transmit dengue.


The applications were evaluated by a prominent panel of seven judges consisting of executives from leading wireless, technology and venture capital companies, including, deCarta, HTC, Microsoft Bing Maps, Research In Motion (RIM), MundoGeo, Samsung and Vivo.

"The South America region is poised to make great strides in mobile technology adoption and in particular mobile location-enabled solutions," said Dave Dale, vice president, Americas sales, NAVTEQ. "We are delighted to hold our first NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge competition dedicated to the South America region, and are committed to helping developers capitalize on these opportunities by providing high quality products and superior technical support."

In addition to the overall winners, a special recognition award for Best Use of User-Generated Content was presented to EBECOM for their application Healthroute.

With increasing consumer interest in navigation and LBS, more affordable devices being found in the marketplace, and expanded map overage of the region, LBS adoption is well-positioned for the South America region. NAVTEQ provides maps in the following South American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, French Guiana(1), Peru and Venezuela and is committed to expanding its coverage and content offering throughout the regions.

Visit www.LBSChallenge.com for information on the other four regions in this year's competition: Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA), North America, India and Asia-Pacific (APAC).

About the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge®

First launched in 2003, the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge is a worldwide competition conducted by NAVTEQ Network for Developers™ (NN4D), daring application developers around the world to build innovative location-based services (LBS) using dynamic positioning technology and NAVTEQ® maps. Integrating the accuracy and richness of NAVTEQ digital map data and LBS content facilitates the timely evolution of the next wave of location-aware applications. The Global LBS Challenge has become the premier event in the LBS industry for shining the spotlight on global LBS innovation and opportunity. Over 32% of the finalists from the past six years have gone on to receive venture capital funding or launch commercially-distributed applications. For more information on this year's competition, go to www.LBSChallenge.com.

About NAVTEQ Network for Developers™

NAVTEQ Network for Developers (NN4D) is a dynamic web portal and global community that provides developers and business partners with the technical and business support needed to build, showcase and launch the most innovative location-enabled solutions. NN4D includes resources such as mapping APIs, LBS content, point of interest data and routing information as well as geospatial platforms and tools from NAVTEQ and its partners. Members can rely on NN4D when creating GPS-based applications for the web, mobile phones, GIS and portable navigation devices that employ traffic, navigation, location content and location-based advertising for enterprise and consumer use. Connect with the people, tools and resources you need to build and market your location-enabled products by joining today at www.NN4D.com/joindevelopers.

About NAVTEQ

NAVTEQ is the leading global provider of maps, traffic and location data (digital location content) enabling navigation, location-based services and mobile advertising around the world. NAVTEQ supplies comprehensive digital location content to power automotive navigation systems, portable and wireless devices, Internet-based mapping applications and government and business solutions. The Chicago-based company was founded in 1985 and has approximately 4700 employees located in 204 offices in 46 countries.

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