Etak

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Etak, Inc. was an independent US-based vendor of automotive navigation system equipment, digital maps, and mapping software. It was founded in 1983^[1]. Its original headquarters were in Sunnyvale but the company later moved to 1430 O'Brien Drive in Menlo Park, California. The company finally ceased to exist under the name "Etak" shortly after its acquisition by Tele Atlas in 2000. In its time, it was a pioneer in commercializing automotive navigation systems and digital mapping, technologies that have since entered the mainstream.

1 Founding of the Company
2 Etak Navigator
3 The Move to Digital Mapping
4 Acquisitions
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Founding of the Company

Etak's initial start-up funding came from Nolan Bushnell, famous for starting Atari and Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theater^[2].

[Co-founder Stan Honey] was doing military-related research at SRI International in 1983 when he sailed with Pong inventor and Atari founder Nolan Bushnell to victory in a transpacific race. Bushnell was impressed with Honey's navigational electronics and asked whether he had any other ideas. Honey suggested a car navigation system. Bushnell gave him $500,000 in seed money, and digital-mapping firm Etak (named after a Polynesian term for navigation) was born.^[3]

Etak's Navigator was the first ^[4] ^[5] commercially available automotive navigation system any practical significance.^[6] Etak initially delivered the hardware system, the maps and dynamic content for its automotive navigation system.

[edit] Etak Navigator

Etak's initial product, the Navigator, was introduced in 1985. This system was the precursor to today's GPS-based automotive navigation systems, many of which trace a direct line of descent to Etak's technology.

The original Etak Navigator was a specially-packaged Intel 8088-based system with 256K RAM, 32K EPROM, 2K SRAM, and a cassette tape drive on which digital maps and some of the operating system were stored. The tapes did not hold much information, so for the Los Angeles area, for example, three to four tapes were required. When an edge of the map was reached, the driver needed to change cassette tapes to continue benefitting from the accuracy of map-matching. Since the CPU cabinet for the Navigator was typically installed in the car's trunk, this could mean stopping, getting out, and manually switching cassettes. The map moved on the screen as the car was driven, but instead of the color raster graphics display of today's systems it had a green vector display.

The Navigator had address geocoding (the ability to convert a street address to a latitude/longitude point). It worked by using a digital compass mounted somewhere in the car (typically inside the headliner) and two wheel sensors mounted on the rear wheels (with magnetic strips installed on the wheel rims themselves). The system used map-matching augmented dead reckoning^[7]. The user entered the location of the car where it was first installed, and took it on a short calibration drive. From then on, the system self-corrected -- i.e., error accumulated through dead reckoning could usually be reduced by checking to see if the current location and direction of movement corresponded to a street in the map data. These and other techniques developed by Etak would perhaps now be viewed as very high-end features for a car navigation system. At the time, however, because there was no GPS to provide an approximate absolute location, they were critically important.

[edit] The Move to Digital Mapping

The Navigator enjoyed a brief vogue, selling a few thousand units in a few years, and even finding its way to the dashboard of pop star Michael Jackson^[8]. However, Etak did not have the financial resources for mass production of improved models of the Navigator. In 1985, Etak had entered into an exclusive agreement with General Motors, under which they would have to continue paying Etak a certain minimum amount regardless of whether GM's Delco Electronics division fielded a car navigation product.^{[citation needed]}

Etak stopped making its own hardware and focused more on digital mapping technology with its Etak Maps and EtakGuide products. The transition away from automotive navigation engineering activities was gradual. Etak licensed its car navigation technology to other companies, notably Clarion in Japan, Bosch (Blaupunkt) in Germany (as the Travelpilot), as with Delco earlier^[9]. Etak continued to provide engineering support for the productization efforts of its licensees (except in the case of Delco, from which no product was forthcoming^{[citation needed]}), and continued to develop and support vertical market fleet vehicle applications that used both the original Navigator and the TravelPilot as in-vehicle platforms.

As early as 1987, Etak was mapping Japanese cities. However, this was in an era of conflict between the U.S. and Japan in the automotive market. Japan had gotten an earlier start in car navigation efforts with Honda's Electro Gyrocator and other projects, but hadn't created a successful product. It's been argued that the Japanese government shielded its own manufacturers, and Etak might have been shut out in its mapping efforts even after having been allowed in. As reported in Fortune magazine in 1992, Etak

... was the first to begin electronic mapping of Japanese cities in 1987, hoping to enable ambulance services and others to find addresses on computer screens. But a year later the government decided that Etak needed a license. By the time it came through, the company's head start was gone and a Japanese competitor had moved in. ^[10]

Etak's acquisition (for a reported $25 million) by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation marked a decisive change in emphasis. Murdoch had been persuaded that digital maps would be a major advertising medium, and Etak was arguably the leader in mapping the markets of major nations.^[11].

Sony Corporation in 1995 announced the Sony NVX-F160 system using Etak's digital mapping software^[12].

[edit] Acquisitions

Etak went through a number of acquisitions. Etak was acquired in 1989 by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. News Corp then sold Etak to Sony Corporation in May 1996^[13]. In May 2000, Etak, Inc. was acquired from Sony Corporation by Tele Atlas and became Tele Atlas North America. Etak, Inc. ceased to exist as a separate company soon after.