The role of location in the on-demand economy

Whether ordering flowers for a loved one, late night dinner or valet parking, the on-demand economy is fulfilling people’s desires in real time. It’s also raising expectations for services, and creating opportunities for service businesses.

HERE, the location cloud company, enables high quality maps and real-time location applications and experiences for consumers, vehicles, enterprises and cities. Nicholas Goubert, head of product management for the HERE platform, believes location is fundamental to the on-demand economy.

“You’re going to an event and need to get to the area, park your car and make your way to the venue. You need to know parking options, the most efficient route and your estimated travel time…will you spend longer queuing in traffic if you try to park closer to the venue? Would it work out quicker to park further away and walk or use public transport for the final part of the journey?”

“This is what we are already aggregating and we’re bringing this intelligence into all our services. We really see ourselves as basically doing all the heavy lifting under the hood so companies can build on-demand services on top,” he said.

“Maps have been used as survival kits for hundreds of years. Today with increased urbanization, the Internet of Things ecosystem and a multitude of sensors in play, the map is the most relevant canvas to integrate this activity data and make it relevant.”

“The problem with the data is that it’s mostly created in silos. We need to be able to break down these silos, bring that data into a platform that is capable of ingesting it, and creating intelligence for businesses and their customers.”

Already today, the HERE Platform processes over 48 billion transactions per month, incorporating over 80,000 different data sources. Goubert believes that this is just the foothills of the data mountain that lies before us.

Autonomous driving, traffic and fleet management, asset tracking, car sharing and parking services are major use cases. These are examples of situations where the HERE Platform and its highly precise maps can contextualize rich car sensor data from the millions of connected cars projected to be on the road in the next five to ten years, and use it to make driving and parking, safer and more gratifying.

About Here

HERE, the location cloud company, enables rich, real-time location applications and experiences for consumers, vehicles, enterprises and cities. HERE is backed by a consortium of leading automotive companies.

To learn more about us, including our work in the areas of connected and automated driving, visit http://360.here.com.