HERE Technologies made several product announcements during CES 2023, the annual tech event in Las Vegas: UniMap, a new mapmaking technology that automates map data processing and map creation; new on-premise location services for clients and a new capability to build private location services experiences, extending HERE’s current POI collection with private location data tailored to specific user needs.
A new technology for fast data processing and map creation
UniMap is HERE’s latest technology for faster data processing and map creation. Using AI models, it’s now possible to process more sensor data from different sources than ever before and extract map features in both 2D and 3D for its maps quickly. This means that HERE is able to combine data from disparate types into a single, uniform map based on an extendable, unified map content data model. Detected changes will become available to the digital map within 24 hours, while companies can add their own data or crowdsources to the map to create private user experiences to generate new revenue streams.
Providing on-premise location services
HERE Technologies announced it now offers clients on-premises deployment of its location services. This means that clients can now have their own virtual version of HERE Location Services instead of using cloud-native deployment, where data, applications and infrastructure are deployed on the cloud. Running their own version of HERE Location Services on one’s own servers or cloud infrastructure foremost means more privacy and security when working with sensitive end user data, but there are more advantages such as more control over performance and monetization of user data.
This on-premises deployment is called HERE Location Services Self-Hosted and includes a large number of core services, including real-time and historical traffic flow and incident data, routing, map rendering, positioning and geofencing, among others. One company that recently deployed HERE Location Services Self-Hosted is TIMOCOM, a Germany-headquartered IT service provider for transport companies that supports more than 50,000 European customers.
Building private location services experiences
Another new platform capability enables global businesses that use HERE’s location data and technology platform to customize search outcomes with their own places of interest data that are displayed on top of HERE Map content. This new capability offers businesses new opportunities to generate new revenue streams, while offering a more personalized user experience at the same time. Such personalized places of interest are an add-on to HERE’s existing database of 140 million POIs.
At this moment, multiple pilots are run to create best use cases that benefit both companies and end users. One interesting example is that of an automotive OEM customer offering routing and POIs to their charging stations, a service that would only make sense to owners of specific car models rather than every single car owner. This way, HERE now enables companies to create private location services experiences that would also meet customer demands.
