Navigation Technologies Announces Six Country, Six Language Rollout of Voice Data -- Philips Speech Processing Tapped to Create Phonetic Transcriptions in Europe

Navigation Technologies, a leading provider of digital maps for vehicle navigation, Internet / wireless applications and business solutions, will soon offer worldwide customers access to NAVTECH(R) map data in a voice-enabled format. With their release of NAVTECH Voice Data, Navigation Technologies will become the first company to enable voice recognition and speech synthesis in both Europe and North America this year. Philips Speech Processing, a recognized leader in voice- enabled data, is leading the Europe phonetic transcriptions while the U.S. phonetic data is being provided by E-Speech.


Beginning with a February launch in Germany, Navigation Technologies will rollout NAVTECH Voice Data in France, Italy, the UK, Spain, and the U.S. in 2002. Complete with all of the street names and administrative areas (including cities) in the NAVTECH database, NAVTECH Voice Data will initially be available in the native language of each country.

Systems leveraging the voice data will enable users to speak directly to their navigation systems to tell them where they want to go, while the system will speak back to them, telling them how to get there using actual names every step of the way. For example, today's systems use generic, audible command and control directions like "turn right" or "stay to the left". With the integration of Voice data into NAVTECH data, navigation systems will offer specific spoken directions like "turn left onto Maple Street" or "Oak Street exit ahead".

"The ability to give voice commands that include street names enhances the driver experience by putting commonly used names into day-to-day use of navigation systems, making them more attractive to consumers. Navigation Technologies is particularly well-suited to develop accurate voice translations given the strong local knowledge of street and city pronunciation that comes with driving the roads in both North America and Europe," said John MacLeod, Executive Vice President, North America & World Markets, Navigation Technologies.

"We are pleased to create phonetic transcriptions of NAVTECH data for Navigation Technologies," said Erwin J.H.M. Bouwense, Director Sales & Marketing, Voice Control, Philips Speech Processing, Europe. "With the depth of information in the NAVTECH database, this is no small task. Working closely with Navigation Technologies field team, we will not only translate all of the data, but also manually review 100% of the phonetic data to ensure a high quality data product."

"After years spent developing algorithms for accurate translation of English words and names of persons and places into phonetic form, we are proud to be able to collaborate with Navigation Technologies on their voice data product," said Dan Kahn, Co-President of New Jersey based E-Speech Corporation. "We are confident that our relationship with Navigation Technologies will allow our technology to become a key component of a highly useful service to millions of customers."

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