The development of a new automated translation solution “TerraLexicon”, which is focused on translation of geographical names, is completed by two of the largest map companies in the Baltic States – Karšu izdevniecība Jāņa sēta Ltd from Latvia and Regio Ltd from Estonia.
Available translation tools are not capable of translating geographical names and translation has to be done manually, making it expensive because of high labour costs. Since both map companies have been facing this problem for a long time, it was decided to develop a completely new, automated translation solution together.
Unlike common translation services, “TerraLexicon” focuses on translating proper nouns – geographical names at the moment, but also other proper nouns in the near future. Yet, “TerraLexicon” is more than a translator – its uniqueness is in replacing the original names with the translated ones directly in the vector graphic file, significantly reducing the time and cost needed for editing. Therefore, not only these two map companies who have been behind the development of “TerraLexicon”, but also layout designers and cartographers from other publishers, as well as translation companies or professionals in geographic information, cartography and other related disciplines will benefit from this new translation solution.
“In parallel with the development of the translation solution, we have already addressed potential users to get involved in product testing, which allowed us to identify specific needs. At the end of the product development phase, we organized online workshops in Latvian, Estonian and English to acquaint those interested with the technical possibilities and operation of the solution. We are glad that the automated translation solution TerraLexicon has already been tried by several users,” says Mareks Kilups, Co-CEO of Karšu izdevniecība Jāņa sēta Ltd.
Leida Lepik, CEO of Regio Ltd adds: “Having been in need of such an automated translation solution for years, we are now very pleased to see that we have turned our ideas into reality. We have now a tool, which will have a positive impact on our export potential as well as helping us in our daily work. The development of this rather specific translation solution in cooperation between two companies gave us a great opportunity to use each other's knowhow and also to share the costs.”
TerraLexicon translation service is available at www.terralexicon.eu
The project “Geoname translator for maps” (Est-Lat112) is supported by the European Regional Development Fund, the Estonian - Latvian cross-border cooperation programme Interreg. The project is being implemented in the Estonian – Latvian (EST-LAT) cross-border cooperation programme in the thematic objective "Increasing the competitiveness of SMEs" priority axis "Active and attractive business environment." The project started in September 2019 and ends in March 2021.