Maybe what 2001 has bequeathed to 2002 is the desire to return to meaningful work. People seem eager to roll up their sleeves, clear off their desks, and accomplish something useful. Because most geospatial projects start with basemap data, this article will herald the return to meaningful work by explaining trends in commercial spatial datasets and the three largest vendors in this market space: GDT (www.gdt.com), Navtech (www.navtech.com), and Tele Atlas (www.tele atlas.com). (Note: Tele Atlas, a European spatial data vendor, acquired long-time spatial dataset vendor Etak in 2001, thus historical references to Tele Atlas can be assumed to refer to Etak prior to the acquisition.)

The content of spatial datasets reflects industry trends in LBS, in-vehicle navigation systems, and real-time spatial decision-making in general. All three leading spatial data vendors are well aware that data content is at least as important as accuracy to emerging LBS and auto navigation customers. Consider, for instance, how Navtech hopes its data will support spatio-temporal applications (as explained on its Web site):