Nokia Location & Commerce reference data enables Ford Emergency Assistance to swiftly locate drivers

VELDHOVEN, Netherlands, Sept. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Nokia today announced that its Location & Commerce business is supplying modified pan-European reference data to the Ford Motor Company to enable its Emergency Assistance technology to not only identify the location of the driver in need of help, but also the appropriate language needed to alert local emergency service operators.  This system saves crucial seconds by sending automated voice messages and co-ordinates directly to local emergency service operators in their own language, rather than first routing through a third party call centre.

The recent winner of a 2012 Global Mobile Award, Ford's pioneering new system identifies the correct local language using modified geofences in the Nokia Location & Commerce reference data.  This language based geofencing defines both country borders and regional sub-divisions which effect language – for example within Belgium or Switzerland so that notification of an accident and precise location of the vehicle can be communicated to  the local emergency services.  Adapting the reference data to meet exact Ford requirements was key to the language identification feature of the service. 

In addition, to ensure that the emergency calls can be generated as quickly as possible, advanced storage and compression technology was used to produce a significantly smaller footprint.  With the minimum amount of data to process, the system can respond much quicker. The Nokia Location & Commerce solution combines several new techniques to compress the file without losing any valuable data.

"We are confident that solutions enabling fast and efficient connection to emergency services could help speed up response times and are delighted that Ford selected our data as part of the development of its Emergency Assistance technology," explained Bruno Bourguet, Senior Vice President of Sale and Business Development, Nokia Location & Commerce.  "With a consistent global specification, the reference data can be easily maintained or expanded to additional countries.  It could also be further adapted for other geofencing applications using the existing set of map conversion tools."

Emergency Assistance will be free-of-charge as part of the SYNC platform already found on over four million cars in the U.S. It makes its first European appearance on the B-MAX which will go on sale later this year.

About Nokia's Location & Commerce Business

Nokia is a global leader in mobile communications whose products have become an integral part of the lives of people around the world. The company's Location & Commerce business, including NAVTEQ® Maps products, the Nokia Location Platform as well as Nokia Maps, aims to build and monetize unique location experiences for great mobile products, as well as the navigation industry, the automotive market and government and business solutions. Begin to explore our capabilities at www.maps.nokia.com.

About Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 164,000 employees and about 70 plants worldwide, the company's automotive brands include Ford and Lincoln. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford and its products worldwide, please visit http://corporate.ford.com.

Ford of Europe is responsible for producing, selling and servicing Ford brand vehicles in 51 individual markets and employs approximately 66,000 employees. In addition to Ford Motor Credit Company, Ford of Europe operations include Ford Customer Service Division and 22 manufacturing facilities, including joint ventures. The first Ford cars were shipped to Europe in 1903 – the same year Ford Motor Company was founded. European production started in 1911.

SOURCE Nokia