Magellan Navigation, Inc. is an American producer of consumer and professional grade global positioning system receivers, named after

Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the Eas ...

, the first explorer to

circumnavigate Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body (e.g. a planet or moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first recorded circumnavigation of the Earth was the Magel ...

the globe. Headquartered in

San Dimas, California San Dimas ( Spanish for "Saint Dismas") is a city in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, its population was 34,924. It historically took its name from San Dimas Canyon in the San Gabriel ...

, with European sales and engineering centres in Nantes,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, Magellan also produces aftermarket automotive

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

units, including the Hertz Neverlost system found in

Hertz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that o ...

rental cars. The Maestro, RoadMate, Triton, and eXplorist lines are Magellan's current consumer offerings. The company also produces proprietary road maps (DirectRoute), topographic maps (Topo), and marine charts (BlueNav) for use with its consumer

GPS receiver A satellite navigation device (satnav device) is a user equipment that uses one or more of several global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) to calculate the device's geographical position and provide navigational advice. Depending on the ...

History

Magellan started as an independent company. It was once owned by

Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital Sciences Corporation (commonly referred to as Orbital) was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture, and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial, military and other governmen ...

, which purchased it in 1994. In 2001,

Thales Group Thales Group () is a French multinational company that designs, develops and manufactures electrical systems as well as devices and equipment for the aerospace, defence, transportation and security sectors. The company is headquartered in Paris' ...

purchased the Magellan division of Orbital Sciences for about $70 million and the company became known as Thales Navigation. Five years later, private equity firm Shah Capital Partners and other investors purchased Thales Navigation for $170 million and the company was officially renamed Magellan Navigation. Magellan was the creator of the Magellan NAV 1000—the world’s first commercial handheld GPS receiver, which debuted in 1989. In 1997, Magellan also introduced the first handheld global satellite communicator—the GSC 100. Later consumer handheld products included the Magellan GPS 2000, GPS 315, Meridian, SporTrak, and Magellan RoadMate models. The MobileMapper CE and ProMark3 have been marketed to professionals like surveyors and GIS ( geographic information systems) users. The consumer division of Magellan was purchased by Mio Technology subsidiary of

MiTAC MiTAC Holdings Corporation, formerly MiTAC International Corp. () is a Taiwanese electronics company established 8 December 1982. It is a subsidiary of MiTAC-Synnex Group. Through a 100% stock swap from MiTAC International Corp., MiTAC Holdings ...

on December 15, 2008, who changed the name to "MiTAC Digital Corporation".

Consumer products

Magellan develops and distributes vehicle navigation, crossover GPS, and outdoor handheld navigation products. The Company also produces customized mapping software for topographic, marine, and street navigation. Current GPS products as of 2016 include: *The Magellan RoadMate and Magellan Maestro series of portable car navigation systems *The Magellan CrossoverGPS for automobile and handheld navigation *The Magellan eXplorist and Magellan Triton series of outdoor handheld navigation devices *The Hertz NeverLost car navigation system *The Magellan TRX Off-Road navigation systems Magellan GPS units include a variety of different viewing options, including a 3D bird's-eye view, a night view, and pop-up visuals of upcoming turns. Some models use SiRFstarIII for position accuracy within three metres, and voice and onscreen prompts that provide directions on how to drive to a particular destination. Certain Magellan vehicle navigation systems are also Bluetooth-compatible for integration with mobile phones, and traffic upgradeable for real-time traffic information. The Maestro 4050 is the first portable vehicle navigation device to offer drivers the convenience of voice command capabilities. The Company has a partnership with

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Airports * Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA) * Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA) Arts, entertainment, and me ...

that provides drivers with AAA TourBook guide travel information, AAA Member Roadside Assistance details, and AAA Show Your Card & Save Member Discount locations on specific models.

Maps

Magellan products currently use Navteq based maps. Map errors are handled by the Navteq Map Reporter. Errors can be reported using the Navteq Map Reporter map feedback page.

References

External links

Magellan Consumer GPSNavteq Map ReporterMaps4me.de: Free OpenStreetMaps for Magellan systemsOpenstreetmap.org: OSM Map on Magellan
— ''details on Magellan map making''.
Magellan GPS Map UpdatesMagellan Roadmate Update
{{MiTAC Holdings, state=autocollapse Navigation system companies Technology companies based in Greater Los Angeles Companies based in Los Angeles County, California San Dimas, California American companies established in 1986 Technology companies established in 1986 1986 establishments in California Science and technology in Greater Los Angeles

History

Consumer products

Maps

See also

References

External links