Dutch Sat-Nav specialist TomTom has launched its new Location Based Services (LBS) platform and developer portal. TomTom LBS provides developers with the content and tools to create location-enabled applications for a variety of commercial and consumer markets.

NOTE: Example applications that can be created here include fleet management, route planning, traffic management, and geospatial analysis.

The cloud-based LBS Platform enables businesses to access TomTom's location and navigation services including map display, routing, traffic, and geocoding. In addition, the TomTom Developer Portal gives developers tools to build web and mobile apps using APIs and SDKs with supporting documentation.

"In response to the increasing demand for top quality data and services, TomTom is offering a comprehensive, easy to use solution for adding location intelligence to applications," said Dan Adams, vice president of Location and Live Services at TomTom. "The launch of the TomTom LBS Platform is an important evolution. Now we can provide application developers with web-based access to high-quality location content worldwide."

The TomTom LBS Platform and Developer Portal currently includes a geocoding web service, enabling both free text forward geocoding (find a location by entering an unstructured address, place, or POI) and reverse geocoding (identify a location from a pair of latitude and longitude coordinates).

There is also a routing web service, which provides accurate point to point routing and route recalculation using TomTom's own algorithms. Features here also are downloadable for iOS, Android, and JavaScript software development kits (SDKs) to develop location-based applications using TomTom APIs.