Are maps really broken?

Evi TsokanakiFebruary 2, 2023

Unreliable mapping, addressing and geocoding remain amongst the biggest challenges that last-mile companies face today. Even though e-commerce and door-to-door delivery are increasing in demand, current maps often represent inconsistent address and point-of-interest data that doesn’t reflect real-time context.

The inefficiencies of today’s addressing and geocoding systems translate to huge revenue losses for logistic companies. In fact, 40-55% of total supply chain costs are attributed to the last mile, making it the most complex and expensive part of the supply chain. Some of the most common issues found in the last leg concern:

Lost deliveries
Late or failed deliveries
Unreliable & inaccurate ETAs, and
Challenges in locating pick-up & drop-off locations

But, to fully understand the magnitude of repercussions unreliable mapping and addressing have in the current logistics operations, let’s dive into some last-mile statistics that will make us rethink the current state of mapping.

43% of customers say that lost deliveries remain one of their main issues

Late deliveries are continuing to create strong customer dissatisfaction and insecurity around effective parcel delivery. Logistic companies have yet to unlock ways to achieve more accurate ETAs and faster delivery times. And that is because accurate addressing and geocoding are some of the biggest hyperlocal challenges, with traditional mapping providers struggling to achieve more than 60-70% geocoding accuracy.

Source: HERE Technologies, “The pressure is on: the true costs of last-mile delivery”

95% of drivers face problems with inaccurate mapping

Addressing systems are complex and non-standardized. They vary from country to country, across localities and admirative areas. In emerging and developing countries, such as Indonesia, the Philippines and India, addressing systems are often descriptive and landmark-based, for instance, “the entrance is across the ATM.”

When the address is inaccurate, drivers often face challenges with locating and navigating to the exact pick-up and drop-off location. This impacts the efficiency of the delivery experience, adding additional time for searching and locating the precise location.

Source: Mapillary, “Mapping in Logistics Report: The Impact of Broken Maps on Last-Mile Deliveries”

65% of businesses state that failed or late delivery is a significant cost of their operation

The lack of precision in addressing leads to unnecessary rides, multiple trips and longer routes to complete a delivery order, which has significant implications on planning, delivery times, costs and customer satisfaction. An average expense of $5 per order is incurred when deliveries fail due to lost, damaged or late deliveries while customer dissatisfaction can have an indirect effect on revenue since it greatly impacts brand loyalty.

Source: Loqate, “Fixing failed deliveries”

$2.5B wasted annually due to maps taking drivers to the wrong place

Considering the existing wide variance in addressing formats, logistics companies remain vulnerable to compromised last-mile efficiency. Without accurate addresses and geocodes, routing engines and optimization algorithms become obsolete. Even a single wrong address can create a huge loss in revenue and profits.

Source: Mapillary, “Mapping in Logistics Report: The Impact of Broken Maps on Last-Mile Deliveries”

A new generation of maps

At UNL, we give companies of any size, the tools to build and manage their own Virtual Private Maps (VPMs). Following a modular, data-agnostic design companies can securely bring their own business data and connect third-party location data providers at various geographic levels, to create scalable maps that truly fit and grow alongside their business operations.

Location data is dynamic, so we designed simple flows for businesses to seamlessly source, update and publish data, such as workforce knowledge and insights, in real-time through automated data pipelines and feedback loops.

All VPM data can be used across all UNL location services, including plug-and-play mapping, geocoding, search, routing and data management APIs, SDKs and plug-ins.

Ready to break down industry limitations? Reach out to our team and request your VPM demo here.