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NAVTEQ has launched Transport - satellite navigation data for the UK haulage industry. The information is truck-specific and distinctly different from its car driver's data. Peter Beaumont, NAVTEQ's European customer marketing director, explains that it differs in various ways. One of these is the inclus-ion of physical restrictions, such as height, weight, width and length.

It allows navigation specialists using the data in their products, such as ALK Technologies and Siemens VDO, to  incorporate a function that allows drivers to enter data specific to their vehicle. A route can then be planned accordingly. Legal factors have been considered too, such as junctions where trucks are forbidden to make turns, and HAZMAT restrictions.

Points of interest, such as truck stops and fuel avail-ability, are included in the data - although curiously this first version of NAVTEQ Transport does not have any information regarding the availability of AdBlue. But you do get warnings regarding steep inclines, sharp bends, vehicle grounding and potentially hazardous high-wind areas. The system has already been launched in France and Ger-many, and a Benelux version will appear later this year.

Although this first UK offering covers the bulk of roads, it is not complete. While 100% of main routes are included, only 40% of the lowest volume roads are covered. For this reason we question its value to home delivery firms operating at 7.5 tonnes. But a second phase, due  out in 2008, will cover 100% of the UK's roads.

Although NAVTEQ says it prides itself on its accuracy, neither it, nor the firms that use its data in their satnav devices, are prepared to provide any guarantee that the information provided is correct. And similarly, drivers who stray out of the covered area and hit a bridge, will not be getting any compensation from anyone. "It's like flying a plane," explains Beaumont. "You can't rely solely on the dials. You also need to look out of the window."