Navigation Data Standard

Visions and Goals

The vision of NDS is to provide a leading world-wide map standard for automotive-grade use. A “leading standard” means that the map format shall:

“Automotive grade” implies that:

To realize this vision, NDS pursues the following goals:

To support the adoption of the navigation standard and reach its goals, NDS supports NDS projects (e.g. by providing tools and support), constantly develops the standard technically, and aims at enlarging the association.

Design Model

NDS uses the SQLite Database File Format. An NDS database can consist of several product databases, and each product database may be divided further into update regions. This concept supports a flexible and consistent versioning concept for NDS databases and makes it possible to integrate databases from different database suppliers into one NDS database. The inner structure of databases complying with Navigation Data Standard is further characterized by building blocks, levels and the content itself.

Product Database

Each product database is delivered by one database supplier, has its own version control and can therefore be updated independently from other product databases. Product databases can contain one or more building blocks. Product databases cover a geographic area, which can be further divided into several update regions. Example of a product database: Europe basic navigation supplied by TomTom.

Update Region

An update region represents a geographic area in a database that can be subject to an update. Update regions thus enable incremental and partial updating of defined geographic regions within an NDS database. Example: Each European country within the product “Europe basic navigation” may be presented by a separate update region.

Building Block

All navigation data in an NDS database belongs a specific building block. Each building block addresses specific functional aspects of navigation, such as names for location input, routing, or map display. To cover specific use cases, navigation systems and applications may be required to filter and aggregate data from different building blocks, e.g. from both Routing and Map Display in order to calculate a route and show it to the user. Each update region may contain data from multiple building blocks. Within a product database, which has several update regions, there may thus be several instances of the same building block. Example: In a Europe product database, there may be a Basic Map Display building block in the update region “France” and a Basic Map Display building block in the update region “Germany”.

Tooling and Documentation

The NDS standard is documented regarding database structures, interoperability requirements, and update processes. The NDS association provides various tools that can be used by the NDS members to develop and validate maps:

Members and Legal Form

The NDS association was founded in September 2008 as a German registered association (German: “Eingetragener Verein”). The NDS articles and the associated bylaws form the legal basis of the NDS association. As of January 2017, the NDS association has the following members:

The members of the NDS association are legally established companies or bodies. NDS members nominate persons who represent the members in the respective bodies. NDS has the following bodies: