TomTom collaborates with STMicroelectronics on new innovative geolocation-based tools and services
Location-based services and technologies are transforming the lives of citizens by changing the way cities operate. ST and location technology specialist Tomtom have unveiled a new hardware and software package of new geolocation based tools and services to enable developers to create innovative, location-aware applications faster and more efficiently, according to the companies.
This hardware and software includes development boards and positioning technology from ST along with dedicated software to connect to TomTom online services. It will be available on ST.com by October 2018, the announcement states.
Innovative geolocation-based tools and services
The development tools are part of the STM32 Open Development Environment that connect directly to TomTom Maps APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) for location, tracking, and mapping data services.
This development package consists of an STM32 Discovery host board for 2G/3G cellular-to-cloud connectivity, a GNSS expansion board based on ST’s Teseo satellite navigation technology, and a software Function Pack that connects your Internet-of-Things (IoT) node via a cellular network to a range of TomTom Maps APIs.
With this hardware and software package and a TomTom developer account, developers can quickly add location-based services to their IoT and Smart City applications, the announcement states.
Among these services are the translation of GPS coordinates into a street address inside a map (Reverse Geocoding), retrieval of nearby point of interests, and the production of accurate navigation directions.
Anders Truelsen, Managing Director of TomTom’s Enterprise Business Unit, said: “We have combined TomTom’s industry-leading location-based and mapmaking technologies with ST’s unrivaled combination of silicon and system expertise to create a unique offering that provides easy access to TomTom’s Maps APIs to empower developers to create groundbreaking, location-aware applications faster and more efficiently.”
“Supporting our efforts to facilitate location-based product development, our collaboration with TomTom has built on each company’s strengths to assemble a tailored package of hardware and software tools that is already fully integrated with TomTom cloud services, around the popular STM32 development ecosystem,” said Alessandro Cremonesi, Group Vice President, STMicroelectronics. “These tools enable native STM32-based location services to accelerate application development of Geo-IoT solutions for fleet management, item tracking, and many other services that depend on fast, accurate location detection.”
In addition to the STM32 family of Arm Cortex-M core microcontrollers, the development tools leverage ST’s multi-constellation Teseo positioning-receiver technology to perform all positioning operations including tracking, acquisition, navigation, and data output.
