Concentrated George Herring (41) sits behind the wheel of his dark blue vans, driving at a snail's pace through a new development area of Cologne. He turns to the right, driving into a roundabout, turning a lap and goes out again exactly where he is purely driven. Does he have to proceed? No. He does his job.
George Herring is a German of 70 geographic analysts at the U.S. company NAVTEQ. 365 days a year he is with a GPS antenna on the roof of the car and a camera on the dashboard in Cologne and its surroundings on the road - all the leaves from streets before they end up at some point in our navigation. And they were the world's largest computer fair CeBIT in Hanover (ends today), the winner.
A day-long Sunday Express has accompanied the geographic analysts in his arduous work. But who, he tells us, even now replaced by anything else: "Even satellite images, we can not use. Finally, traffic signs are seen from above, not more than one line. In addition, the subsequent Navi software can precisely only by the shut-down every street reflect the view of the motorist. "
"Start of new street. Name: Locomotive Street. Speedzone 30th "During the journey, George Herring speaks the names of the streets and the speed limit at the microphone on his headset. Everything in English, because the data collected is afterwards sold throughout the world.
That the slow car look with the plate-sized antenna on the roof again surprised passers-by after and annoyed honking motorists, is everyday life for George Herring. "To outsiders, it looks just like this as we would often drive around meaningless or did not know where we want," he sighs.
But what looks so easy yet not everyone can. "Most of us have studied geography," he explains. "It takes a very good sense of direction, to be perfectly able to read maps while driving and it should depend on a course not be bad."
Lots of stamina is also an advantage. For, because the road is always something changing, the work of the data collector no end. "That's a good thing," he says. "When I look behind my work in the Navi, I'm quite proud of. For if I had not missed the track that could lead anyone Navi there. "
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