Navigation Software

A navigation software company produces a route-finding program for use on PCs, PDAs, and cell phones. It stores information on road segments, points of interest, postal codes, and the like. A decade or so ago, when they first wrote the application, they developed their own embedded database to manage this information.

CHALLENGES

Since they're experts in mapping and route-finding, not data management, their database’s performance is considerably slower than competitors'. Their database code is difficult to maintain - only one developer really understands it, and he has other responsibilities. They do practically no data compression, so they can fit less data than they'd like on a DVD, or PDAs and cell phones. Although the data don't change much, they do change, and their database offers no possibility of incremental update.

SOLUTIONS

We are experts in data management, and our performance is superior. We have a very simple, clear API, so the surrounding code can be understandable and easy to maintain. Our data store compresses automatically; this compression can be enhanced for special kinds of data through plug-ins. We optimize for databases that don't change much, but we handle changes, especially additions, reasonably efficiently.