Published At: June 2, 2022
UNL is a micro-location and 3D mapping platform. Developed "from scratch", UNL is creating the mapping infrastructure for the decades to come. We assist UNL by making their platform work in the Indonesian context.
Xander van der Heijden, UNL CEO and co-founder, and Itsavirus CEO, Jochem Verheul, know each other for many years. Both were successful entrepreneurs in Amsterdam, before moving their businesses to Asia. Xander operates from Singapore, Jochem from Indonesia. As both founders share a passion for mobility and technology, it is no coincidence that now, Itsavirus is helping UNL to expand its business in Indonesia.
The current mapping and addressing system is very sophisticated. However, mapping has not fundamentally changed in the past centuries. Yes, we had a digital revolution that facilitated many innovations in mapping the geospatial space. These innovations so far have been largely focused on data, content, and data visualisation. Despite these innovations, we still have two main challenges with mapping as it is today.
It is not perfect! First of all, the current addressing system does not provide us with very exact locations. Even in countries that have rather advanced addressing systems, the system cannot be used for pinpoint exactness . This is true for many countries. At best, an address gives back a location that is approximate and not every person has an address that leads to an exact location on a map.
It is 2D! Current addressing is based on 2 dimensional shapes. However, new technologies like drones, autonomous and flying vehicles, 5G, IoT, among others, are demanding a new wave of more exact spatial innovation. Micro-locations, hyper-local data and 3D positioning will be critical to the success of these new technologies and the evolution of the location-based economy.
UNL is a micro-location and 3D mapping platform building the Internet of Places in which every cubic centimeter has an unique and verifiable digital address (UNL geoID). You can state that UNL has pixelated the world by providing digitized verifiable digital addresses to an unparalleled precision. Outdoor, indoor and in elevation.
The UNL platform offers companies mapping, location, and data tools to create their own Virtual Private Maps. Businesses can bring and manage their own data, tap into their workforce experience regarding local navigation and train their own UNL private routers for optimal efficiency. Based on the foundations of the UNL platform, we can make concepts like drone delivery a reality. Companies can program (temporary) drone highways and collaborate with other companies that share the same airspace.
We help UNL to accurately link UNL geoID with locations, based on available addressing data. Doing this requires both technical knowledge as well as a deep understanding of how the Indonesian addressing system works. Furthermore, we need to take into account descriptive addresses like "this shop is next to the large villa" and develop technology that can translate them into something that can be used by an algorithm. Activating the UNL tech stack for optimal precision within the Indonesian context, will give businesses and governmental organizations in Indonesia a lot of new opportunities. We are looking forward to see the first drone deliveries in Indonesia!
To conclude: UNL technology is a zero-legacy 3D geospatial infrastructure, able to solve some of the greatest hyperlocal challenges that traditional mapping has failed – starting with accuracy and precision in mapping, addressing, real-time routing and self-healing maps. To work with UNL has been a pleasure. To allow the UNL tech to work in Indonesia is complex from a technical perspective and important from a societal point of view.
