ViaMichelin designs, develops and markets digital travel assistance products and services. Set up at the end of 2000, ViaMichelin shares the desire of its sole shareholder, the Michelin Group, to contribute to improving mobility by becoming a major European supplier of innovative services in the field of travel. It combines Michelin's unique and renowned know-how in the publication of maps and guides with constantly changing technological expertise.
A complete range of services
With the its range of services, ViaMichelin is targeting European road users (for leisure or business) and companies. The services offered include: displaying maps and locating places on them, route planning, finding hotels and restaurants, tourist sights, traffic and weather information, etc... In order to become the 'travel companion' of British and European motorists, ViaMichelin makes itself available everywhere and at any time by offering its services on a range of media : the Internet, mobile phones, in-car navigation systems and software for personal digital assistants (PDAs)...
Unique content with a European dimension
ViaMichelin provides exclusive mapping coverage - over 42 European countries, from national road maps to detailed town plans. The regularly updated European database contains some 7 million kilometres (4.4 million miles) of mapped roads and streets (including towns and cities down to street-level detail). In addition, ViaMichelin highlights and describes some 18,000 tourist locations and 62,000 hotels and restaurants, as tested and recommended by The MICHELIN® Guide inspectors throughout Europe. Finally, ViaMichelin also provides information on weather forecasts, traffic reports, service station locations...
Know-how
To develop its services and to guarantee the quality of these services to its customers, ViaMichelin has unique skills:
digital mapping expertise reinforced by a great deal of experience and built on mapping and IT skills
proven know-how in geographical information processing and geo-locating
a capacity for innovation shown by the filing of patents
Anxious to use the latest techniques to deploy its range of services efficiently on a variety of media, the company has set up:
a multi-channel broadcasting platform, based on Websphere, supporting all of the on-line services available on the Internet, connected mobile phones ("Web services") or Minitel (France only)
a framework offering a mutualization of 'profession' components (route computer, image server, etc.) for the rapid extension to all the services of each new function developed.
The continuous availability of services to customers is another key advantage. For ViaMichelin, it is the duty of new technologies to meet the same quality requirements as a brick'n'mortar business. Considerable resources have therefore been committed:
a hosting centre, for the production of services, properly equipped with about a hundred servers
24 hour a day supervision
The accessibility rates and availability of ViaMichelin's services are measured continuously by an independent body which rates them amongst the best in the Internet world.
ViaMichelin 110, Avenue Victor Hugo 92514 Boulogne-Billancourt cedex, France