What is the NDS Association?

NDS is a registered association that develops a standardised Physical Storage Format (PSF) for maps in navigation systems. The NDS Association consists of car manufacturers, application/compiler developers and map providers.

What is the situation?

Today’s car navigation systems use proprietary physical formats for digital map data.  A direct exchange of map data between different car navigation systems is therefore not possible.

The objectives of the NDS Association

The NDS association provides a standard for representing digital map data, the NDS standard. The objectives of the NDS association are

• the further development of the NDS standard & the extension of the standard to preferably all current developments,
• the promotion of the NDS standard to increase its adoption in the navigation market,
• the licensing of the NDS standard,
• the furtherance of the certification of the conformity with the NDS standard.