I saw four Tele Atlas vans as I was riding my bike near my home yesterday. It looks like they are on a mapping mission in New Jersey. On their roofs, the vans have a GPS antenna and up to eight cameras facing forward, back, sideways, and up. Obviously, they are collecting a lot more than street centerline data.

Why is this relevant? The Tele Atlas data may be available to New Jersey counties and municipalities through a state-wide license held by the NJ Office of GIS. When, what kind of data, how much detail? I am researching the issue, and will be posting details as they become available.

[UPDATE] According to Andy Rowan, Director of the New Jersey State Office of GIS (NJ OGIS), the collections and update activities of the Tele Atlas vans are routine internal updates and not specifically for the NJ OGIS. The State still has a site license for the Tele Atlas data. Thank you, Andy!



[UPDATE May 23, 2007] c|net posts today eight photos (internal and external) of Tele Atlas vans in Europe.

[UPDATE July 23, 2007] Dutch navigation systems company TomTom announced today that it plans to buy its main map supplier, Tele Atlas. Some 40% of Tele Atlas's revenue in the second quarter of 2007 was from TomTom.