Introducing UNL VPMs: The single source of truth to power location-based businesses anywhere

ByAzryl AliMarch 1, 2023

With the digitization of almost any service over the past years, maps, location and geospatial capabilities have become more important than ever for businesses across industries.

From eCommerce, logistics and mobility to telecommunications, insurance and pharmaceuticals, location data is instrumental for:

driving innovation and sustainable growth,
solving business challenges,
strengthening operational efficiency, and
enhancing customer experience, among others.

How reliable are the maps of today?

The maps of today are built on a one-map-fits all philosophy – a single map to source, maintain, update and own all location data.

But locations are dynamic, data-rich spaces, with POI and location data changing every day. Capturing these changes and creating a consistent and hyperlocal level of accuracy and relevance of maps globally and across geographies can be too resource, asset, technology and labour heavy for a single mapping provider to guarantee.

While traditional mapping giants are competing on who has the most data and covers more regions, the quality and real-time relevance of maps is still a challenge that impacts the day-to-day operations of location-based businesses anywhere.

To this end, we developed a new generation of maps, Virtual Private Maps (VPMs).

Introducing UNL VPMs to usher a new generation of maps

UNL VPMs follow a modular, data-agnostic design to cater to the unique location data requirements of businesses. This way we enable businesses to select, bring, connect and leverage multiple sources of geospatial data, with the map serving as the underlying canvas that facilitates multiple data source integrations. These include:

securely bring-your-own business data.
connect various third party data sources of choice – private and open-source, global and local.
set-up automated data pipelines & feedback loops for continuous improvement and maintenance of the highest quality location data.

Who are VPMs for?

With VPMs, we are on a mission to democratize access to maps and give businesses complete control over the geospatial data sources and quality they consume and build with, creating their private and ultimate source of truth.

VPMs are for companies of any size:

big enterprises and SMEs that want to unlock the power of their business data without losing ownership to traditional providers.
start-ups and scale-ups that are looking for a no code solution to quickly bring new services to market with trusted data sources.
consumers and contributors, who want to contribute their data and be rewarded for that.

Data autonomy and ownership are at the core of UNL’s philosophy, so any business data that companies bring into VPM, remains 100% under the company’s control and ownership.

Furthermore, via VPMs we bring in capabilities for companies to securely share and monetize their proprietary data. By opening access to data that already exists, businesses are then able to unlock additional value, create new models and capitalize on their data, while retaining ownership and control at all times.

Harness the power of UNL Virtual Private Maps

VPMs are accessible via the UNL Micro-location Platform and can be seamlessly managed via the UNL Studio’s visual map editor.

With a single click, you can create your first Virtual Private Map.
Bring your-own-data, visualize, organize and manage proprietary location and POI data, indoor venues, etc., via the UNL Studio.
Connect to 3rd-party data sources.
Ingest, publish and leverage data in real-time via UNL location services.

VPMs can be easily deployed and embedded into any platform or application, based on the business requirements. All VPM location data can be integrated and consumed by all UNL Location Services – including  plug-and-play APIs, SDKs and widgets such as search, geocoding, route planning, waypoint sequencing, and more.