Personal Navigation. NAVI-programme 2000-2002

The planning project for the Personal Navigation (NAVI) programme started in August 1999 and is now proposing a three-year national programme. About one hundred experts from enterprises, the administration, research institutes and universities have taken part in the planning project under the management of VTT Information Technology. The Ministry of Transport and Communications is prepared to launch the proposed programme in co-operation with many enterprises and partners in the administration. The kernel of the programme will be an open NAVI network for interaction between experts and partners. According to the proposal, the development and co-operation programme will last three years (2000-2002). The programme will include research, product and service development, regulation, awareness activities, education, follow-up, co-ordination and strategy work. The target level for the overall budget is EUR 15-20 million, half of which pay an annual fee in the region of EUR 2,000-3,000, and partners on the management board will contribute EUR 20,000-30,000 per annum to the funding of the horizontal support projects. The programme is expected to create new services as well as much new business and many internationally marketable products. The overall aim of the programme is to develop and test infrastructure, devides, software and services within the framework of consumer demand and the possibilities of technology. The services will help people to navigate on work-related and leisure journeys, to choose the route and mode of transport necessary to reach a particular destination, and to find the service or product that they desire. The guidance will be implemented on the basis of mobile multimedia and it should available in both outdoor and indoor environments. It should be possible to access the services via mobile phone, the Internet and digital television. The programme consists of vertical applications, generic technologies, horizontal support projects, practical training and co-operation. The seven vertical application areas are 1) mobile work, 2) transactions, shopping and delivery 3) hobbies and sports, 4) tourism and culture, 5) public transport, 6) welfare and unfettered mobility, 7) safety. The three support projects are 1) the regulatory framework, 2) usability and ethical audit, 3) service architecture and meta data. The four areas of generic technology are 1) map and route services, 2) in-door and guidance, 3) location services, 4) navigation devices. Personal navigation is one of the seven spearhead projects proposed in the national information society strategy co-ordinated by Sitra, the Finnish Fund for Research and Development. Thus the proposal for the NAVI programme will provide concrete content for the strategy. A wider backround report based on internal reports of the planning project has been produced. This report is available at http://www.vtt.fi or http://www.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/tiedotteet/2000/T2038.pdf