In-vehicle location and navigation expert TomTom has spotted a major business opportunity in Latin America where it is teaming with Digibase to expand operations from consumer, corporate sector to government and security services.

TomTom has headquarters in Amsterdam in the Netherlands but has a global presence as a provider of location and navigation products and services that are used by individuals, businesses and governments.

It said an expanded partnership with Digibase will enable it increase its footprint and business operations in Latin America.

TomTom plans to benefit from Digibase's local market expertise in Brazil and combine it with its own international resources including mapping capacity.

Increased economic prosperity has brought greater consumer demand for automobiles and also pushed forward the market for road transportation networks. A large part of Latin America is poorly mapped, however, and telecommunications coverage remains uneven but TomTom says it is poised to change that.

There is a growing demand for location information in the Latin America region and TomTom and Digibase say they want to respond to the needs of a wide range of location-based services and not just the ordinary motorists.

"Because the need for location information is exploding in Latin America, it is an increasingly important region for TomTom," the company's Licensing Managing Director Charles Cautley said.

"This partnership combines TomTom's accurate and rich maps with Digibase's local presence," Cautley said.

Digibase is a local reseller which, as a result of new agreements, will license TomTom maps and enhanced content for the Latin American region.

TomTom says it provides navigable coverage for more than 1 million miles of roads throughout the region, as well as about 1 million "points of interest."

Location and navigation software and hardware has opened opportunities for crime prevention and security agencies across the world and rising demand in Latin America is at least partly because of the equipment's useful in fighting crime.

A Research and Markets report looked at navigation and telematics services and predicted new opportunities for business expansion in Latin America.

It foresees further growth in partnerships between original equipment manufacturers and portable navigation device manufacturers such as TomTom.

New technologies are also integrating smartphone with security systems and Brazil is likely to take the lead with the introduction of the stolen vehicle tracking mandate in the manufacture of vehicles. The incorporation of stolen vehicle tracking systems "is expected to make the region one of the biggest markets for telematics by 2014," the report said.