Dann kann Tele Atlas mit ihrer L&H Sprachsoftware wohl einpacken !
02/12/2002
NAVIGATION TECHNOLOGIES ANNOUNCES SIX COUNTRY, SIX LANGUAGE ROLLOUT OF VOICE DATA
CHICAGO, IL February 12, 2002– Navigation Technologies, aleading provider of digital maps for vehicle navigation, Internet / wirelessapplications and business solutions, will soon offer worldwide customers accessto NAVTECH? map data in a voice-enabled format. With their release of NAVTECHVoice Data, Navigation Technologies will become the first company to enablevoice recognition and speech synthesis in both Europe and North America thisyear. Philips Speech Processing, a recognized leader in voice-enabled data, isleading the Europe phonetic transcriptions while the U.S phonetic data is beingprovided by E-Speech.
Beginning with a February launch in Germany, Navigation Technologies willrollout NAVTECH Voice Data in France, Italy, the UK, Spain, and the U.S. in2002. Complete with all of the street names and administrative areas (includingcities) in the NAVTECH database, NAVTECH Voice Data will initially be availablein the native language of each country.
Systems leveraging the voice data will enable users to speak directly totheir navigation systems to tell them where they want to go, while the systemwill speak back to them, telling them how to get there using actual names everystep of the way. For example, today’s systems use generic, audible command andcontrol directions like "turn right" or "stay to the left".With the integration of Voice data into NAVTECH data, navigation systems willoffer specific spoken directions like "turn left onto Maple Street" or"Oak Street exit ahead".
"The ability to give voice commands that include street names enhancesthe driver experience by putting commonly used names into day-to-day use ofnavigation systems, making them more attractive to consumers. NavigationTechnologies is particularly well-suited to develop accurate voice translationsgiven the strong local knowledge of street and city pronunciation that comeswith driving the roads in both North America and Europe." said JohnMacLeod, Executive Vice President, North America & World Markets, NavigationTechnologies.
"We are pleased to create phonetic transcriptions of NAVTECH data forNavigation Technologies, " said Erwin J.H.M. Bouwense, Director Sales &Marketing, Voice Control, Philips Speech Processing, Europe. "With thedepth of information in the NAVTECH database, this is no small task. Workingclosely with Navigation Technologies field team, we will not only translate allof the data, but also manually review 100% of the phonetic data to ensure a highquality data product."
"After years spent developing algorithms for accurate translation ofEnglish words and names of persons and places into phonetic form, we are proudto be able to collaborate with Navigation Technologies on their voice dataproduct, " said Dan Kahn, Co-President of New Jersey based E-SpeechCorporation. "We are confident that our relationship with NavigationTechnologies will allow our technology to become a key component of a highlyuseful service to millions of customers."
About Philips Speech Processing – Voice Control
Philips Speech Processing, a business unit of Royal PhilipsElectronics, is a pioneer and global leader in speech recognition, naturaldialogue and language understanding technologies, with over 40 years experiencein the development and marketing of speech products. Philips offers a broadportfolio of speech technology solutions for dictation software and hardware,server-based telephony and embedded speech recognition solutions.
Voice Control – the business division responsible for embeddedspeech recognition technology – is combining the simplicity of speech withcutting-edge technology to create the most natural user/machine interface in theautomotive, mobile/cellular and consumer electronics markets. The completeportfolio of automatic speech recognition (ASR) technologies can be easilyintegrated into a variety of products, including cell phones, PDAs, telematicsand navigation systems, and virtually any household or consumer appliance.