Netherlands-based PND maker TomTom says that a large majority of Tele Atlas shareholders accounting for more than 97 percent of its shares have tendered those shares for acceptance under the terms of its merger offer.

TomTom has been pursuing a merger with the digital map data supplier for nearly a year, outbidding rival Garmin in the process, in a deal worth approximately €2.9 billion ($4.5 billion).

TomTom and Tele Atlas jointly announced that during the acceptance period, which ended May 30, some 63,625,232 shares had been tendered for acceptance. Together with the 27,235,651 shares already held by TomTom and 1,685,000 shares to be delivered by Tele Atlas board members, the shares totaled 92,545,883, or 97.48o percent of the total issued and outstanding shares of Tele Atlas capital.

In May of this year TomTom received unconditional approval for the merger from European anti-trust officials following a six-month review. In November of last year the European Commission, which handles antitrust regulatory duties within the European Union, initiated a second-phase review — it does so in only 3 percent of the mergers that it reviews. During that time, TomTom and regulators haggled over the question of future licensing of Tele Atlas maps. The commission concluded in May that the merger would not significantly impede effective competition in Europe.

TomTom said it will announce on or before Friday, June 6, whether the remaining conditions and details of the merger have been satisfied and will proceed.

There are no big surprises in the June issue of Consumer Reports magazine, which hit newsstands and mailboxes May 6 and contains a big review of personal navigation devices (PNDs). But what is notable is just how often the name Garmin pops up compared to that of its major competitors.

Garmin, TomTom and Magellan took up 16 of the top 20 rated models in Consumer Reports lab and road tests of 39 different PNDs. It picked the $600 Garmin Nuvi 760 as the best all-around device, giving it a score of "excellent." The Nuvi 760 was followed by the $500 Nuvi 660, the $650 TomTom Go 920T, $350 Garmin Nuvi 350, and the $400 Magellan Maestro 4250, respectively, in the magazine's top five.

The Nuvi 760, Nuvi 660, Maestro 4250 and the $400 TomTom Go 720 occupied the top four spots in the best overall category, according to Consumer Reports. Garmin also dominated the magazine's budget-minded Best Buys category, where it ranked the $350 Garmin Nuvi 350, $300 Garmin Nuvi 260, and the $200 TomTom One 3rd Edition in the top spots.

Of those three, only the TomTom doesn't include spoken street names, Consumer Reports noted. This was an important feature for the magazine in its testing, along with ease of use, screen size, and availability of traffic data. The magazine noted that cost isn't always an indicator of quality; some of the most expensive units tested ranked the worst in its survey. All of the units tested, however, achieved a ranking of "good" or better.

Garmin Ltd. has received Federal Aviation Administration supplemental type certification for its Synthetic Vision Technology (SVT), which presents a 3D depiction of terrain, obstacles, and traffic, the company said today.

Garmin SVT integrates with the company's G1000 avionics suite, replicating what a pilot would see outside the cockpit on a clear day on the G1000's primary flight-display, according to Garmin. SVT blends information about the aircraft's position with topographic databases to create and display the real-time 3D images. Land, water and sky are differentiated with shading and textures that are similar to the topographical colors found on the multi-function display moving map, the company said.

SVT also alerts pilots of potential ground hazards by displaying terrain and obstacles which pose a threat to the aircraft with appropriate TAWS alert coloring. Those flying with an optional TAWS-B-enabled G1000 avionics suite also have the benefit of receiving voice alerts, Garmin said. Terrain warnings are also depicted on the multi-function display with a traditional, color-coded "X" symbol. If the aircraft does not have TAWS-B enabled, reduced capability AC 23-26 compliant terrain alerting is included with SVT.

Garmin's SVT also offers highway-in-the-sky guidance. Depicted as 3D flying rectangles, pathway guidance symbols help pilots stay on course when flying en route legs, VNAV legs, GPS/WAAS vertical approach procedures, instrument-landing-system (ILS) approach procedures, and arrival and departure procedures, according to the company. When on an ILS approach, SVT relies on ILS signals to position the pathway, so when pilots fly through the SVT boxes on an ILS approach, they will automatically fly the precision glideslope. Pathways may be enabled or disabled via a primary flight display softkey.

"Because the G1000 is a truly integrated and expandable system, all major components are designed and manufactured by a single company so that they work together to give pilots the complete picture," said Gary Kelley, Garmin's vice president of marketing. "SVT is a retrofitable system and we are working with OEMs to develop a process whereby customers will have the option of adding SVT to their aircraft with very little downtime."

Other features of Garmin's SVT include:

• the ability to enlarge obstacles as an aircraft approaches.
• use of TAWS-based colors when the required obstacle clearance is not met or in the case of potential obstacle impact.
• TCAS traffic symbols represented in 3D that changes size relative to range.
• Flight Path Marker, which displays projected path of the aircraft.
• Zero Pitch Line, which distinguishes an aircraft's altitude in relation to nearby terrain.
• gridlines, which are dawn on the terrain surface to enhance distance perception.
• superimposed runway designations and thresholds on terrain data.
• Depiction of the identifier of nearby airports.

Garmin expects the SVT to be available on G900X-equipped aircraft by July 2008 and on the G1000 King Air C90 retrofit in 2009. Integration of SVT into existing G1000 systems or yet-to-be-delivered G1000 equipped aircraft is being coordinated with each aircraft manufacturer, the company said. Interested pilots should contact the individual aircraft manufacturer for SVT price and availability.

Garmin Ltd. today unveiled a "send-to" function for both Mapquest and Google Maps, enabling users of the rival mapping services to send locations directly to their Garmin navigation devices.

With the service on Mapquest.com, users can find a location as well as plan and research routes, and then send the locations directly to a Garmin GPS unit by using a Send To GPS drop-down option. The service for Google Maps works in a similar way; locations mapped in Google Maps can be saved directly to a Garmin device via a send-to function, the company said.

Both services will be available at the respective mapping sites in April, Garmin said.

Garmin Mobile Software Upgrades

In other Garmin news, the company also announced that its Garmin Mobile software is getting upgrades that include a new interface and Google Local search. These upgrades will be available on a variety of handsets and platforms including BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows Mobile smartphones beginning in July, the company said. The company also said that Garmin Mobile XT navigation software would serve as the basis for Samsung Mobile Navigator, the navigation application appearing on certain Samsung phones available in Europe and other parts of the world later this year.

The new Garmin Mobile interface is similar to that found on the company's Nuvi personal navigation devices, the company said. When the application is launched, "Where To?" and "View Map" icons appear; once Where To? is selected, icons such as "Address," "Recent Finds," "Food and Hotel," and "Google Local" appear.

The Google Local search provides access to point-of-interest information via the Internet and the popular search engine, Garmin said. The company also has created a quick-search feature that lets users search Google Local via categories, such as food, lodging, and fuel, rather than typing a word or phrase into the search box. Once users select a location, they can save the destination to a favorites folder, call the destination, or navigate to it with Garmin Mobile.

The announcements came at the CTIA Wireless tradeshow, being held in Las Vegas this week.

Magellan has unveiled three new additions to its RoadMate series of personal navigation devices (PNDs), bringing wide screens and live traffic updates to this entry-level line of products.

The introduction came at the CeBIT consumer electronics show, being held March 4 through March 9 in Hanover, Germany.

All three of the new RoadMate models include the following features:

• 4.3-inch WQVGA full-color, anti-glare touch-screen display.
• Centrality Atlas III GPS chipset.
• 2D and 3D map views with auto day and night switching mode.
• trip computer and planner.
• QuickSpell, which intelligently searches and checks spelling when entering addresses.
• SmartDetour, which routes drivers around heavy or stationary traffic.
• Postcode search, including seven-digit postcode searches in the United Kingdom and six-digit postcode searches in the Netherlands.
• pre-loaded speed-trap database providing known camera locations for each region.
• Secure Digital flash memory card slot for map data.
• USB port for PC connection and in-vehicle power
• worldwide reversible maps (U.S. maps are compatible with European, Middle Eastern, and African maps, and vice-versa).

The base model of the series, the RoadMate 1400, comes preloaded with Navteq road maps. Users can choose regional maps from among the following groups of countries: France, Italy, Austria, and Switzerland; Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark; Great Britain, Ireland, and Northern Ireland; Germany, Austria, and Switzerland; Spain and Portugal; and Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. It also comes pre-loaded with a database of European safety cameras, which provides locations of known cameras for each region. It retails for a suggested $272 (€179).

The RoadMate 1415 adds text-to-speech capability, announcing street name and direction of the next turn, according to Magellan. It comes pre-loaded with full European map coverage from Navteq, and also features thousands of points of interest (POI), such as gas stations, hotels, restaurants, and airports with contact details such as phone number, address and travel distance. It retails for a suggested $348 (€229).

The RoadMate 1425 adds a fully integrated live traffic feature and premium lifetime traffic subscription that uses real-time traffic update information to display incidents along the driver's route, Magellan said. The 1429 will also suggest alternative routes when a user wants to choose a route based on the fastest time to their destination; it also recalculates the expected arrival time based on the monitored traffic, according to the company. The unit also features one million searchable POIs. The antenna to receive traffic data is integrated into the unit's power cable. It retails for a suggested $424 (€279).

Garmin today said it was updating its 200-series entry-level Nuvi PND line with a beefier processor, the company's HotFix technology, and access to traffic data and MSN Direct.

The introduction of the new devices, dubbed Nuvi 2x5 models, came at the popular CeBIT consumer electronics show being held this week in Hannover, Germany.

"The Nuvi 2x5 products allow us to meet and exceed the basic needs of the budget-minded consumer while giving them further opportunity to expand," said Dan Bartel, Garmin's vice president of worldwide sales. "By making traffic and MSN Direct content accessible with our most basic Nuvi models, the choice is truly in the buyer's hands."

The Nuvi 2x5 models, which come with 4.3-inch and 3.5-inch screens, also feature a new shaded elevation mapping display, Garmin said. On the hardware side, they feature a 333 Mhz processor that enhances the device's map drawing and route calculation capability, according to the company.

Garmin said the 2x5 models also incorporate its new quick-fix technology. HotFix automatically calculates and stores satellite data and can use use that information to quickly calculate a position without waiting for data collection from satellites, according to the company.

The Nuvi 255 and 255W will be available in versions that include comprehensive coverage of North America, Europe, Australia or New Zealand, Garmin said. The models for North America, Australia or New Zealand also feature spoken street names. The Nuvi 205 and 205W will be available in versions that offer mapping choices such as the contiguous United States, Canada or regional sections of Europe.

All the Nuvi 2x5 versions will feature Garmin's Where Am I feature, which displays the user’s latitude and longitude coordinates, the nearest address and intersection, and the closest hospitals, police stations and gas stations on demand. The new models will also be compatible with Traffic Message Channel and MSN Direct receivers. After the introductory trial period with MSN Direct, users can re-subscribe for $49.95 a year, or a one-time charge of $129.95.

The Garmin 2x5 model Nuvis will be available sometime in Q2, according to the company's website. The 205 model will retail for a suggested $213.32; the widescreen version, the 205W, will retail for a suggested $266.66. The Nuvi 255 will retail for a suggested $319.99; the 255W will retail for a suggested $373.32.