NAVTEQ Cites Top 10 Most Congested Cities in Europe

LONDON, Jan. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- NAVTEQ, the leading global provider of maps, traffic and location data enabling navigation, location-based services and mobile advertising around the world, today issued their experts' rankings of the Top 10 most congested rush hours in Europe. Topping the list are London, Paris and Dublin.  

NAVTEQ Traffic™ is used in leading automotive, personal navigation, mobile, and online solutions worldwide. In Europe, NAVTEQ Traffic spans 13 countries* providing consistent and seamless traffic information. That information is based on data from an unmatched portfolio of sources including billions of GPS probe data points per month, a vast sensor network, as well as event-based data collected from bodies such as the police force, emergency services and road charge organizations.

NAVTEQ composed its Top 10 "most congested" list based on a mix of criteria including greatest rush hour delay in Western European cities containing more than one million inhabitants. The Top Ten list includes:

1. London
2. Paris
3. Dublin
4. Berlin
5. Stockholm
6. Hamburg
7. Manchester
8. Lyon
9. Vienna
10. Marseilles

With NAVTEQ® quality-tested traffic data, drivers get a comprehensive solution that links up-to-the minute traffic information to map data and enables wireless transmission directly to in-vehicle navigation systems, personal navigation devices and mobile phones.  NAVTEQ Traffic delivers detailed information about current traffic conditions, allowing drivers to make better routing and re- routing decisions.

NAVTEQ Traffic experts note that, aside from variable issues such as traffic incidents, time of day and weather, traffic is influenced by constant factors, among them:  

• Specific topographical circumstances, e.g. significant bodies of water like rivers, lakes or coasts, small valleys and high mountains
• Population and working places in cities and suburbs creating different traffic situations
• Intelligent interaction of individual and public traveling and transport systems

"These circumstances and many others intersect with time to produce traffic," says Andreas Erwig, Director, NAVTEQ Traffic Europe. "Because the fascinating complexity of traffic is that it's not only about movement from here to there, but from now to then."

To detect and understand those complex traffic processes NAVTEQ acquires data not only from different technologies, but also from different user groups, e.g. GPS consumer data and GPS commercial data.

A video featuring Mr. Erwig may be found at http://www.youtube.com/user/NAVTEQCompany.

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 5,100 employees located in 212 offices in 48 countries.

NAVTEQ and NAVTEQ Traffic are trademarks in the U.S. and other countries. All rights reserved.

* Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom

(Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20060313/NAVTEQLOGO)

SOURCE NAVTEQ