HERE Tech, UNL to use location technology expertise to fight Covid-19

HERE Technologies, a leading player in mapping and location platform services and UNL, a global smart addressing platform have announced collaboration to fuel the ongoing fight against Covid-19 and future pandemics through location-based technology and services as part of their initiative under the Human Unlimited #tech4good foundation.

The partners says the initiative is part of a shared vision to amplify the use of technology to bring tangible and lasting benefits on a greater number of people. Under the Human Unlimited foundation program, HERE and UNL will provide the ‘Human Care app and platform’, an end-to-end solution for, during and post Covid-19 as well as future pandemics.

Human Care will provide an infrastructure for a tech-driven shift to a new normal by accelerating the information flow and collaboration between people, governments, NGOs, and businesses to co-create safer public environments powered by location and data.

Commenting on the announcement, Xander van der Heijden, CEO, UNL said: "We are building a global digital infrastructure to power the future of human care and the transition towards the new normal while keeping the virus spread under control. With Human Care we leverage tech to enable humans to be prepared for current and future pandemics or disasters. We seek to connect, include, and support the ones in need. We start by giving unique and verified addresses to 4 billion people without an address. Enabling them to get access to essential services like emergency response or direct relief. Leaving no one behind.”

With the Human Care App developed by UNL, users will be able to self-monitor, communicate their symptoms with local governments and businesses to bring transparency to new and developing cases based on geolocation. The solution will, in future releases, provide a universal address to places, enabling access for users via the app, to navigate and find important hubs like hospitals, pop-up clinics and relief centers to receive help within proximity of their location.

With lockdown easing up in many countries, government and businesses alike need to find sustainable, seamless, and human-led approach to resuming life and work outside the home, while tackling coronavirus risks. In addition to the Human Care App, the solution provides an analytics dashboard developed by HERE for governments, policy makers and businesses. The dashboard can identify high risk areas and layer supplementary special datasets to facilitate decision-making.

Stanimira Koleva, senior vice-president and GM and SVP for Asia Pacific, HERE Technologies said: “To coordinate any wide scale successful technology-led effort during a disaster event or a global pandemic such as Covid-19, the insight from location can make all the difference in access to critical care, the quality of service delivered and the possibility of achieving a constructive outcome. Our collaboration with UNL is in alignment with this philosophy and we are determined to leverage location intelligence in the fight against this pandemic and other future outbreaks or disasters. Together with UNL we hope to enable societies to make data-backed technology interventions.”