Living at
the edge
Location intelligencein a 5G MEC world

1 Unlocking the full potential of 5G MEC with location intelligence		

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2 Reinventing telecom network planning for 5G MEC				

6

3 A leap in positioning accuracy and latency				10

4 Location-enabled edge use cases				

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5 Enabling the data infrastructure for the vehicles of tomorrow			166 Location data privacy in the age of 5G MEC				21

7 The HERE platform: supporting businesses on their 5G MEC journey		

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Executive
summary
Consumers, enterprises and governments will benefit greatly as 5G
networks and Multi-Access Edge Computing (or MEC, formerly known
as Mobile Edge Computing) capabilities are deployed over the next
decade. Together, 5G and MEC can deliver the compute and network
performance required to serve even the most demanding applications in
our emerging autonomous world. Yet getting the most out of these exciting
technologies will require the help of another: location intelligence.
The field of location intelligence has developed significantly inrecent years. Today, organizations harness highly-accurate geospatial
data and advanced location technology to address a wide range ofbusiness needs. In this position paper, we consider the vital rolelocation intelligence plays in a 5G MEC world – from building out
the infrastructure to enabling a new generation of use cases acrossindustries in both enterprise and consumer. Our hope is that this paper
offers useful insights to executives from various sectors, especiallythose in the telecommunications and automotive industries.
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We discuss how location data and technology are indispensable in:→ Driving higher ROI 5G radio and MEC network planning and deployment→ Realizing the full benefits of low latency and high throughput
applications enabled by 5G MEC, including hyper-personalized
experiences and hyper-precise real-time location awarenessfor people and machines on the move
→ Enabling automotive companies to maximize 5G MEC for safer,automated driving, and→ Enabling people to manage their privacy in a 5G MEC world

Our views throughout this paper are based on two fundamental beliefs– namely, that in no generation of mobile technology has location
intelligence been more critical or precise than in 5G; and that in nobusiness is it more critical than one that is inherently mobile.
©HERE 2020 | here.com

Unlocking thefull potential of 5G
MEC with location
intelligence

Solving the‘where’ dilemma

The importance of fast andreliable connectivity has neverbeen more evident than inrecent months. With COVID-19
confining people to their homes,
communications networks havehelped them stay connected
and employed, and given
countless businesses continued
access to the digital infrastructure
they need to weather the crisis.

Building, operating and leveraging
this new infrastructure can bepotentially lucrative. According to
Arthur D. Little, some $1.5 trillionof 5G-enabled revenue is up for
grabs between now and 2030.
The traditional mobile network
operators (MNOs) will be vying fora slice of that, along with smallerscale ‘micro operators’, towercompanies, network equipmentvendors, system integrators,
cloud providers and application
developers from various industries.
But commercial success is far
from assured. 5G MEC requires
high upfront investment andcomes with significant risks.
Cloud processing and storage
capabilities will need to be
deployed closer to where theconsumers, workers, cars, robots
and industries of tomorrow will be.
The question is where will they be?

At the same time, modern
network technologies also holdthe key to a global recovery.
In the post-pandemic era,
nearly all industries will seek
to accelerate their efforts toautomate, digitize and enhancetheir capability to operate
remotely. For this, the continued
advance of 5G, presently stillin the early stages of a multiyear build-out, is critical.

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But there are other pieces tothe puzzle too. In particular,
Multi-Access Edge Computing(MEC) technology, which brings
cloud computing to the edgeof the mobile network, isgaining recognition as a key
component of the networks
needed in the future. Today,
several commercial and pilot
deployments are in operation
globally. When combined with
5G, MEC promises unprecedented
levels of compute and network
performance, with highbandwidth data transfers andultra-low-latency connections– the kind of connectivity thatcan power the autonomous
services of the future.

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This is a question that another key
technology can help resolve. For along time, location intelligence has
played a mostly peripheral role inenterprise decision-making andapplication development. In recent
years, however, it has exploded
with context richness, fueled byaffordable, low-powered sensors,
big data analytics, and artificial
intelligence. This new generationof location intelligence is now at
the core of the next wave of digitaltransformation and helping drive
better real-world outcomes.

spaced-out cell towers, 5G MEC
will leverage a dense and complex
network of small cells along with
optimally placed edge servers.
Fortunately, rich layers of visualand informational geospatial
context can now be folded into theprocess of network planning andoptimization. In section two of thispaper, we discuss how MNOs andothers involved in the deployment
of 5G MEC infrastructure canbenefit from location intelligence.

Its emergence is also perfectly
timed to meet the needs of 5G
MEC deployment. The physics of
millimeter wave spectrum andbeamforming technologies require
the infrastructure to be different
from earlier generations of mobile
networks. Instead of today’s©HERE 2020 | here.com

Location dataprocessing moves
to the edge

Once deployed, these network
technologies open up new horizons
for consumers, businesses andgovernments. Among the major
benefits, described in section three,
are improved positioning accuracy
and latency, which in turn enables
a host of new edge services.
Autonomous vehicles, first
responders and drones will harness
these benefits for attaining realtime positioning and situationalawareness. Immersive Augmented
Reality user interfaces will use highresolution location data to overlay
computer-generated imagery on
the world and enhance mobile
experiences as well as enable
deeper user engagement, richer
services and novel advertisingmodels. Gaming studios andbrands will add rich location
context to business data to deliver

5

Figure 1: Location intelligence delivers
several customer and consumer
benefits in a 5G MEC world

hyper-personalized experiences
for users and consumers.
In section four, we outline a few
examples, touching on how MNOs
and a broader ecosystem ofdevelopers can create
value, while section five considers
the opportunities for automakers
and the broader mobility industry
to boost safety and autonomy
on our roads. In section six, we
discuss how privacy-first location
intelligence is a requisite inthis new world of 5G-enabled
positioning, before we conclude
with an overview of how HERE
Technologies can serve companies
eyeing the 5G MEC opportunity.

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©HERE 2020 | here.com

Reinventing telecom
network planningfor 5G MEC
Moving compute, storage andprocessing resources from acentralized cloud to the networkedge is a tantalizing prospectfor 5G use cases. Networks will
better handle surges in data
traffic and applications that
require low-latency traffic canbe located physically closer tocustomers. This reduces transfer
costs and the load on central
data centers while improving
and guaranteeing performance.
A big part of the cost of enabling
5G MEC infrastructure stems fromthe network planning involved,
such as determining the optimal
locations for network equipment,
performing site surveys, acquiring
the real estate that hosts
infrastructure, and supporting
consumers and businesses inself-install deployments of the
fixed-wireless access antenna.
Small cells will play an increasingly
important role in realizing future

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networks. The consequence isthat Radio Access Network (RAN)
equipment will come down fromelevated positions on towers
and rooftops into the clutter,
residing on new hosts like street
furniture. As millimeter waves
cannot penetrate obstacles likebuildings, trees and billboards,
small cells must be deployed indense clusters to ensure adequate
and consistent coverage.
Deciding where to place a small
cell is challenging. Aside fromconsiderations resulting frompropagation modeling, MNOs
need to factor in accessibility,
safety, security, cost and aesthetics,
not to mention environmental andlegal constraints and demands
imposed by various local andnational authorities and the newhosts of their equipment, be theyutility companies, city governments
or other entities. Multiply thoseconsiderations with the millions of

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Choosing where to invest becomes a complex
set of tradeoffs between latencies and deployment
costs,to be minimized, and device connections andcoverage, to be maximized.
small cells that will be deployedaround the globe in the coming
years and the sheer size of thechallenge that MNOs and theirpartners face becomes clear.
Identifying locations for edge
servers further adds to theplanning headache. Can they beplaced at existing cell sites or canthey be located deeper into the
network at aggregation sites? How
do you balance out the network
deployment strategy with careful
use of millimeter wave, midband and low-band 5G to serve
the needs of all customers types
and profiles? Deploying 5G andedge in indoor-outdoor facilities
such as airports, factories, mines
and yards may also add to thecomplexity. For private 5G networks
in environments like these,planners may need to create theirown indoor and yard map data toensure their networks meet theirlocation-based service needs.

The process involves resolving several questions
with a geospatial dimension. For example,
considerations must be made for:
→ The physical distances between current
and planned cell sites, street cabinets
and edge servers that affect latencies→ The optimal proximity and distributionof infrastructure in relation to the expected
number of users, commercial centers, theroad network and administrative boundaries→ The predicted attenuation and propagation
losses of signals at any given site based onsurrounding geographical features, such aspoles, trees, terrain and buildings, and→ The expected workloads and computational
capacities of edge servers that would affectthe density of servers required in different areas.

©HERE 2020 | here.com

Customer
demandFrom the field
to the desktop

The scale and scope of the job ofconfiguring the building blocks of
our future smart cities exceeds
the limits of what the human mind
is capable of. Increasingly, tasks
like radio frequency propagation
modeling and line-of-sight
simulations must leverage large
amounts of location data andprocessing combined with powerful
location-enabled machine learning.
Figure 2 outlines an intelligent
data foundation designed to delivera deep understanding of operator
data, demand, the competitive
landscape, and location intelligence.
Within the location intelligence
category there are several
data inputs that can enhance
network planning – reducing
the number of field surveys
and enabling key aspects ofthe process to be performed
using a desktop computer. We
summarize these in Figure 3.

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Operatordata

When added to the othercomponents of the intelligent data
foundation, these data inputs
enable powerful 360-degree,
HD views that help MNOs andother market participants model
deployment and install scenarios.
Various benefits can be realized,
including a reduction in thenumber and length of physicalsite surveys, more accurate lineof-sight calculations, and faster
identification of real estate
for acquisition. Additionally,customer self-installations
become easier and more accurate,
while optimized placement of
infrastructure also minimizes
the total sites and equipmentthat need to be run. Finally, with
network design tasks taking just a
few days, it is quicker to perform
upgrades, install new equipment,
add capacity, and respond tochanges in the environment.

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Location
intelligence
Competitive
landscapeFigure 2: The intelligent data foundation for
network planning and optimization
Source: Accenture and HERE Technologies©HERE 2020 | here.com

Figure 3

Different location datasets for 5G MEC
network planning and deployment
Map
data

Frequently updated with up to centimeter-level precisionin all three dimensions, and covering hundreds of attributes,
for informed site migration and expansion planning

3D
geospatial
data

Enables digital twin capability and minimizes field surveys
during dimensioning phase; provides sub-meter accuracy
for vastly improved calculated coverage; includes accurate
3D data objects (poles, trees, buildings) and their attributes
for the next generation of RF propagation modeling andline-of-sight analysis algorithms

TerrainmodelsSupport propagation modeling and site identification
with height, land elevation, and terrain texture maps

Pointsof Interest
data

Aids prioritization of ‘must cover’ sites and includes
building shape and boundaries data, which can be
combined with movement signals and patterns fromuser devices to identify indoor coverage needs

Cartographic
layersProvide linear and polygonal data representing landuse display class and feature types enables desk-based
coverage calculations

Traffic
patterns

Real-time and historical insights for major road networks
for informed site migration and expansion planning

Indoormap data

Provides accurate geospatial indoor space information,
including building geometry and entrances and exits,
critical for venue coverage planning and the creationof indoor coverage solutions

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Site
selections

Site surveys

RFpropagation

Line of sight
simulations

Reducing 5G
deployment
costs with new
geospatial data

Harnessing the power of 5G
millimeter wave frequencies
has a two-fold impact on
deployment cost. The propagation
characteristics require more
hardware to be purchased,
increasing CAPEX. Deploying
more cells means more truck
rolls and field work, increasing
OPEX, which is further increasedby the work to ensure eachsmall cell site has a clear lineof sight to its targeted area.

based LiDAR to capture digital 3D
digital representations of buildings,
trees, roadside objects and otherinfrastructure that can impact 5G
radio frequencies. HERE’s vast
network of partners integrate HERE
Geodata Models into their network
planning solutions for centralized,
digital field surveys. Our estimatesshow that, by streamlining network
planning and design workflows, thesolution can cut OPEX by up to 40%.

To help reduce 5G deployment
cost, Accenture, a leading global
professional services company,
uses HERE Geodata Models in
its digital twin technology, whichenables simulations of planned
network site performance fromthe desktop, without having toinstall any cells or visit sites.HERE
Geodata Models uses terrestrial-©HERE 2020 | here.com

Figure 4

Next generation planningand design with HERE
Geodata Models. 3D citymodels are the basis for
RF propagation modelingand line of sight simulations.
HERE processes large, precise and scalable 3D datasetsfrom terrestrial LiDAR and other remote sensed content.
The expertise of HERE in extracting features and 3D
derivative objects such as poles, trees, terrain models
and buildings lends a new level of precision to RF planningfor 5G mmWave networks that far surpasses the accuracyof conventional GIS data.

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©HERE 2020 | here.com

A leap in
positioning
accuracyand latency

Organizations across various
industry sectors invariably
need to locate something –devices, personnel, goods,
vehicles, customers – in order toimplement their business model
successfully. In some cases,
they will need to do so quickly,
precisely and continuously.
New network technologies
make this possible, working inconcert with precise mapping todeliver unprecedented levels of
positioning accuracy and enable
a multitude of new use cases.
Positioning technology has beensomething of an ‘add-on’ featurein previous generations of mobile
networks. 4G, for example, has
primarily been deployed toserve smartphones and fairly
modest positioning requirements.
With 5G, however, positioning

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technology has been baked into
the development of the standard
from the beginning. This is no
accident: the authors of the 5G
standard have sought to ensurethat future networks will be able toserve the demanding positioning
requirements of a wide range ofvertical industry use cases acrossoutdoor and indoor environments.
Additionally, they have resolvedthat future solutions must be able
to seamlessly harness multiple
positioning technologies to deliver
the best possible performancein terms of accuracy, power
consumption, cost and scale.
After all, not every application
will have the same requirements.
Accordingly, alongside positioning
techniques relying on the new
5G air interface (also known as
5G New Radio), the 5G standard
integrates a broad spectrum of

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positioning technologies, including
4G, GNSS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth LE.

a high density of small cells and
Wi-Fi positioning beacons.

5G NR itself is a welcome addition
to the positioning toolset, withthe ability to provide greater
positioning accuracy andavailability than 4G. Much depends
on how dense those formationsof millimeter wave small cells willbe. Industry estimates suggest thatbuilding out sufficient coverage of
5G signals could result in between
four to ten times as many cell sites
per square kilometer compared
to 4G networks. That kind of
density significantly increases
a device’s visibility to multiple
beacons, while wider bandwidths
especially at high frequencies –together with enhanced antenna
solutions – can theoreticallyenable more accurate location
estimations. Positioning accuracy
can be further enhanced byalgorithms running in MEC servers.

Most location services today areenabled through a combinationof on-device processing of
positioning data and the transfer
of some data for processing by aserver in a remote central cloud.
Calculating a position this way
tends to involve multiple hops
and takes time. While 5G devices
can perform calculations to workout their own location, including
drawing on terrestrial and satellite
signals, doing so can quickly drain
the battery. 5G MEC networks
allow for the computing effort
involved to be offloaded from thedevice to nearby edge servers. This
enables devices to be continuously
positioned in real-time by theedge network. By having the
network do the processing work,
more computationally intensive
positioning techniques andalgorithms can also be utilized tosupport novel use cases (see e.g.
visual positioning in section four).
Alternatively, devices might use
Sidelink, which is emerging as amethod of communication for 4G
LTE and 5G networks that allows
for one device to communicate
directly with another, without going
through a base station. Either way,
the central cloud is taken out ofthe picture, save for the transfer
of any non-time-sensitive datafor cumulative record keeping.

3GPP 5G specifications in Release
16, finalized in mid-2020, aim
for positional accuracy of threemeters in indoor scenarios andten meters for outdoor use cases.
However, Release 17, which might
be ready before 2022, introduces
new methodologies for positioningthat shoot for sub-meter accuracy,
along with 10 ms latency. This
would be possible both inindoor and dense urban outdoor
environments wherever there is an
optimal deployment of different
positioning technologies, including©HERE 2020 | here.com

Locationenablededge usecases
As edge-based clouds begin toprocess large volumes of location
data, they can also be opened up
to third parties. ETSI, the standards
body driving MEC, has defined APIs
that provide access to the RAN
and expose data for positioning.
The positioning data alone has
limited value, but location
intelligence enables developers to
exploit it in the creation of new orrearchitected applications for the
new edge computing environment.
Across industry sectors, there areample opportunities for developers
to do this. McKinsey & Company
identified 107 edge use cases indevelopment, ranging from remotemonitoring of mines to automateddriving and location-based
advertising. The real number islikely bigger, but what is striking
is how location data is a common
theme across these scenarios– and often the key ingredient,

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especially where there is a highdegree of mobility and autonomy
involved. While the latency andthroughput needs of edge cases areheterogenous, many are reliant on
location precision and context.
In Figure 5, we highlight a few
important examples from acrossthe three broad types of use casesthat 5G technology will serve:→ Enhanced Mobile Broadband(eMBB), describing use cases
requiring high data rates,
such as video streaming and
VR. Location can play an enablingrole for these kindsof use cases – for example,
through location-based
beamforming and proactive
resource management→ Ultra-Reliable Low-LatencyCommunication (URLLC),
characterized by delay- andmission-critical use cases, such as
intelligent transportation systems
and autonomous driving, and→ Massive Machine Type
Communication (mMTC),
characterized by industrial
and other use cases where
millions of IoT sensors spreadover geographically small areas
require connectivity for tracking,monitoring and reporting.
For each, we also list one ormore positioning technologies
supported by 5G standards that wedeem suitable for that use case.

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Figure 5

5G use cases and possible
5G positioning technologies
VR/AR
HD-GNSS, 3GPP-RAT

Peak data rate
20 Gbit/s
High importanceUser experienced
data rate
100 Mbit/s

MediumArea traffic
capacity
10 Mbit/s/m2

Location-based beamforming
Proactive radio
resource management
GNSS, WiFi/BLE, 5G NR

Spectrumefficiency
3x wrt. LTE

Low

High-speed trains
Highways & platooning
GNSS, HD-GNSS, 5G NR

Network optimization
Network planning
WiFi/BLE, GNSS, 3GPP-RAT

Network energy
efficiency
100x wrt. LTE

Mobility
500 km/h
Traffic management & control
HD-GNSS, sensors, WiFi, 5G NR

Location-based
advertising
WiFi/BLE, GNSS
Asset tracking
IoT devices
Industrial sensors
WiFi/BLE, HD-GNSS, 5G NR

Connection
density
1 M devices/km2

Latency
1 msAutonomous driving
Collision avoidance
Situational awareness
HD-GNSS, sensors, 5G NR

Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB)
Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communications (URLLC)
Massive Machine-Type Commnunications (MMTC)©HERE 2020 | here.com

Opportunities tocreate value – consumer
experiences

By opening their MEC networks
to third-party developers, MNOs
can also foster an open ecosystemof services at the edge – giving
application and service developers
more choices than a pure cloudinstantiation of their systems ever
could. This allows MNOs to monetize
access to various location-centric
platform services, including thosethat take advantage of accurate
positioning and geometry. Figure 6
summarizes the opportunities for
MNOs to directly and indirectly
monetize the consumer experience.

These spatial contextual linkages
go to the heart of modern
location intelligence. As every
piece of data has a location anda timestamp, location graphtechnologies can help businesses
understand the spatial andtemporal connections between
different datasets. Insights gobeyond what can be represented
on a map – they can also present
themselves as a numericalquantity, outcome or experience.

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Direct monetization fromconsumers by MNOs
(app or partnerships)

Accurate, real-time positioning
will become a key element in
a new generation of consumer
experiences. MNOs and otherbusinesses will be able to use
positioning data to add valuable
context to transactional, userand social information, andenable adaptive applications tobetter understand a subscriber’s
spatial environment. For many
advertisers, content providers,gaming studios and highfootfall venues like malls
and stadiums, the ability tounderstand how people, places
and things relate to each otherwill be worth paying for.

Features andcapabilities
powered by
5G MEC
Indirect monetization fromconsumers by MNOs throughecosystem partnerships

Thousands of businesses
from across the broader
telecommunications ecosystem
will be seeking to apply their
domain experience and create
value in a 5G MEC world. For MNOs
themselves, paths to monetization
will be varied. Many want to be firstto market with MEC networks, withthe aim of securing a foothold in
new use cases. Location precision
will redesign the exchange of value
between MNOs and consumers,
giving MNOs the ability to own
the experience, monetize data,
increase ARPU (average revenue
per user) and enhance theirposition in the overall value chain.

Visual positioning
with Verizon
Connectivity
services

Social media companies
Gaming apps

In network hosting ofpeering and cache servers

On edge network hostingof peering and cache server

Publishers

Smart glasses (2021+)
Visual positioning
AR overlay

Precise positioningA
suppodror pa ted
id

Safety services(e.g. 24/7 pinpoint roadsideassistance, accident response)
Tracking devices (e.g. pet, car)Car-to-home connectivity
services

5G subscription package(may include/bundle
devices to help ARPU)
Quintuple Play poweredby 5G: car, phone,voice, Internet, TV

Precise positioning
services

Imagery processing
services

Quality of Service/prioritization services‘Follow me’ services(e.g. car rental)

App, service orafter market device(end-user facing)Operator charges for
MEC services

AdTech stack which
may be owned by MNO

Network access

Platform andbusiness stack

One location intelligence capability
noted in Figure 6 is visual
positioning, a novel method of
positioning that works optimallyon a 5G MEC network. HERE has
been exploring visual positioning
as a proof of concept with Verizon.
This advanced technique issimilar to the way humans locate
themselves; we analyze what we
see around us, accessing our visualmemories of places. Similarly,
visual positioning compares
imagery of specific locations to a
database of 3D geometry objects,
created from LiDAR-captured 3D
pixel-point cloud maps and stored
on MEC servers for fast access. The
computation is aided by machinelearning and the provision of an
accurate position is performed inreal-time. While not native to the
5G positioning standard, visual
positioning is complementary
to 5G MEC as it does not rely
on a remote server and is nothampered by tall buildings, urban
canyons or signal deserts.

Figure 6: Ways for MNOs to monetize
consumer experiences in a 5G MEC world©HERE 2020 | here.com

Hyper-targeted,as-it-happens
consumer engagement
One area of promise is hyper-targeted consumer
engagement within immersive experiences, suchas AR-based games, as well as across other outof-home channels. In an always-on marketplace,
consumers expect frictionless experiences andreal-time access to information and services.
Location data helps connect the dots across foottraffic to various points of interest, illuminating
patterns in movement that can enhance the way
brands segment and reach audiences. Meanwhile,
5G MEC enables the real-time processing of thatdata at the edge, supported by rapid data transfersand gigabit-per-second throughputs. Music venues,
retail shelves and even entire cities could be turned
into digital canvasses for 4K location-based,
as-it-happens ad campaigns.

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©HERE 2020 | here.com

Immersive
virtualcollaboration
In the world of VR and virtual
collaboration, spaces withcomplex 3D geometry and objects
require a lot of heavy graphics
rendering, which can prove toomuch for some hardware. Users
with limited internet bandwidth
will experience longer loading
times and standalone headmounted displays (HMDs) withless powerful GPUs can suffer
serious frame rate reduction oreven system crashes. 5G naturally
reduces latency and boosts
bandwidths but offloading someof the workloads to MEC platforms– something known as split
rendering – also helps enhanceuser experiences and eliminate
drops in performance. This gives
developers more flexibility inthe development of immersive
multi-user experiences, such as
VR-based training simulations andremote surgery. The addition oflocation data further widens thepossibilities. For example, precise
positioning and location context
supports spatially unrestricted
experiences, where users wearing
standalone HMDs roam freely
in a real-world environment.
Location data captured from 5G
MEC networks can also help train

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machine learning models used in
the generation of realistic virtual
simulations of settings whose
real-world equivalents might bedangerous or inaccessible – such as
research into road safety or virtual
exploration of faraway places.

GamingSplit rendering is useful in lowlatency, real-time gaming too.
The use of decentralized, low-cost
data centers facilitates streamingof titles in 4K at 60 frames per
second, without downloading
the games onto their console ordevice. Rich real-world location
data can also be added to enhancethe experience. Niantic’s “Pokémon
GO”, which overlays physicalenvironments with computergenerated imagery, was thefirst location-based AR game toachieve mainstream popularity.
Other titles like “Harry Potter:
Wizards Unite” and “The Walking
Dead” take a similar approach,combining positioning data and a
device’s camera to enable players
to experience fictional worlds
in real-world environments.
By moving heavy processing
to the edge, 5G MEC raises theprospect of location-based AR
gaming on steroids, with everricher graphics, more precise andefficient real-world 3D positioning,and greater AR accuracy.

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Opportunities tocreate value –enterprise andindustrial
use cases
Location technology and network
technology go together in theenterprise and industrial arenas
too. Precision positioning
supports the advanced tracking
and monitoring of personnel
and mobile assets, which opens
up numerous possibilities. We
outline two examples here.

First responder
edge tracking
HERE is working with one MNO
to provide precise, real-time 3D
tracking of emergency response
personnel during building sweeps
and rescue missions. The solution,
which works in both indoor andoutdoor environments, boosts
safety, expedites response times
and improves operational efficiency.
Real world scenarios include:→ Locating mobile emergency calls
for accurate indoor positioning→ Advising drivers to pull overupon detection of approaching
emergency vehicles→ Communicating with traffic
lights for ‘green waves’, and→ Overlaying indoor maps withaugmented reality graphics toshow mission-critical Information,such as accessibility routes, firstaid kits, water hose hookups, andthe location of people or animals
in need of assistance.

©HERE 2020 | here.com

Smart factoryand other Industry
4.0 applications
Although 4G LTE can handle themajority of industrial IOT use cases
today, advanced manufacturingsystems, logistics hubs andmining facilities have increasingly
demanding requirements around
latency, reliability, and security.
Robust networks and location
technology are necessary to
run mission-critical operational
processes as well as maintainan accurate and trusted realtime and historical record ofitems across indoor and outdoor
environments. To boost reliability,
many businesses are also taking
advantage of newly-available
spectrum and building their own
private 5G networks. Location
technology can play a vital role in
the private domain too – in termsof both realizing networks and inenabling a range of services andapplications that reap the benefitsof the enhanced connectivity thata private network can bring.
During the next five to ten
years, we expect businesses todraw increasing benefits fromlocation data and technology.
This is in line with anticipateddevelopments in 5G and MEC,
which we summarize in Figure 7.

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Improved UX

5G location differentiation

Proof of concepts

Improved service management

Faster connectivity

Lower latency

Scaled location value

Low cost, low complexity
IoT devices

Location
value
Location for
private networks

National services

Global operations

MEC
location pilots

MEC Service
Enablers

MEC services deployment orchestration in 5G base stations

MEC services deployment orchestration in private networks

AWS, Azure MEC cloud software development platforms

MEC in ETSI standard (Micro services, Kubernates, Containers, APIs…)
Virtualized & hosted telco operator networks

5G Radio
Enablers

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5G NR SA private networks

5G NR SA public networks (mMIMO, URLLC, mMTC, beamforming, slicing, mmWave)
Upgrade LTE (4G) to 5G NSA (eMBB)

Figure 7: Location intelligencedelivers increasing value as 5G
and MEC infrastructure roll out©HERE 2020 | here.com

Enabling the data
infrastructure for thevehicles of tomorrow

One of the most interestinguses of 5G MEC is how it can beincorporated into improving roadsafety, reducing traffic congestion,
cutting pollution, and enabling
new vehicle-centric experiences.
The vision enabled by 5G isthat vehicles can be continuallyconnected to the internet andeach other, as well as to traffic
lights and road infrastructure.
MEC, meanwhile, enables large
volumes of data from vehicles
and infrastructure in any given
area to be rapidly aggregated,
analyzed and redistributed. The
greater compute and network
performance will acceleratevehicle-to-everything (V2X)
communication, enable vehicles
to tap into their surroundingsfor greater situationalawareness and, if all goes toplan, facilitate the transition to
full autonomy on our roads.

16

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Transforming
the in-car media
and infotainment
experience
From intermittent
to continuous datadeliveryStandard 4G LTE wireless networks
are generally sufficient for today’sconnected vehicle services.
Telematics data can typically becached and communicated later
if there is a drop in coverage.
Over-the-air updates for nonsafety critical system and strategicplanning can usually wait for good

network coverage and throughput.
Similarly, infotainment systems
that offer live traffic-aware routing,surface parking availability, or
enable payment at a drive-throughcoffee house generally do notneed round-trip latencies of afew milliseconds. However, there
are plenty of ways 5G MEC could
transform the in-car experience.
One example is in delivering
seamless high-definition 3D views
and augmented heads-up-displaysof the driving environment. 3D
maps tend to be highly memoryintensive, restricting their storage
in the car. Their size makes
downloading them over a 4G
network challenging too. 5G MEC
solves this problem, enablingrich map tiles and data layers
to be cached at the edge andstreamed on demand based on
the vehicle’s planned route.

©HERE 2020 | here.com

Rich maps as context
and insight into
vehicle behavior
As vehicles become more
automated, rich maps also keep
passengers informed of why
they make certain decisions –for example, changing lanes toavoid an obstacle on the roadahead, or pulling over to allow anapproaching emergency vehicle
to pass. The car’s access to a live
representation of its environmentis enhanced by 5G MEC technology,
enabling passengers to be given
timely insight into the vehicle’s
behavior.

Parking and indoor
venue experiences
HERE recently teamed up with
ParkHub, the leading B2B parking
technology company, to help
consumers find convenient parking
spots and help automakers create
delightful location-enabled user
experiences with high definitionindoor parking locations. Enabling
5G and MEC can bring precision tovehicles, objects and consumers
within parking structures andeventually to the venues they17

serve. This precision is delivered
virtually over one infrastructure
without dedicated hardware.

Connectivity
maps forreliable alwayson mobility
Just as with today’s networks,
connectivity in the era of 5G
MEC will not be uniformly robust
everywhere. Levels of service willvary across cities and rural areas,
owing to anticipated variationsin the availability of frequency
bands, signal attenuation, and thechanging number of end-users
and their data traffic load. The
operation of some vehicles will
require a continual connection
to low-latency information andedge compute capabilities. For
them, anticipating the levelof connectivity will become
imperative. Cars, trucks andmachinery might even re-route toensure a continued connection
to the resources they need.
Such connectivity maps alsoenable MNOs to anticipate theneeds of moving subscribers
to better manage their service,
drive network efficiencies,and enable, where necessary,
context-aware handovers.

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Connectivity tosupport vehicle
safety andautomation
The biggest impact that 5G MEC
and location intelligence will
have on road transportation isin terms of vehicle safety andautomation. As the automotive
industry embraces ZERO vision,
including reducing accidents
and deaths on the road, it must
optimize investment in newtechnologies that build trust in
automated systems. Location
data, 5G and MEC infrastructure
are critical trust-enablers forsuch systems. This is because
they work to enable a real-timedata infrastructure that helps
vehicles see and understand theirsurroundings, know where they
are going, and make safe, efficient,and legal driving decisions.
The successful introduction ofautonomous transportationon our roads will depend on
vehicles driving in a way that is
acceptable to their occupants.

awareness and visibility location
data provides becomes a morecritical element of vehicle path andstrategy planning. For that, highdata volumes must be transmitted
fast. A vehicle needs awarenessof the road environment in theform of lane configurations, therules of the road, traffic flows,road construction, hazards, andweather conditions. Data inputs
like these enrich the AI-based
systems that support decisionmaking by vehicles. In such a
dynamic environment, the speed
and accuracy of these inputs
are vital. Without it, safety ispossible, but far from assured.

Today, vehicle ADAS functions
are mostly reliant on input fromon-board sensors, which havea limited sensing range. As theindustry shifts from today’s
relatively low levels of automation
to greater autonomy, the extended©HERE 2020 | here.com

Towards
collaborative
safety with C-V2X
V2X powered by cellular networks,
known as C-V2X, has emerged as
a compelling alternative to WiFi-based Dedicated Short-Range
Communication (DSRC or 802.11p)
technology in recent years. In themedium-term, it has the potential
to gain further favorability amid
the growth of 5G and MEC. Several
major automakers, including
BMW and Ford, have signaled
their support for C-V2X, while theexpanding membership of the 5G
Automotive Association (5GAA)
also suggests a large part of theindustry is inclined to support 5G
cellular connectivity. Regulatory
factors also influence rollouts, but
the signs are that C-V2X is gaining
momentum in most regions asa preferred way for vehicles tocommunicate with one anotherand their surroundings. The
European Union had diverged
from the global trend towards
cellular-based V2X connectivity,
though is now adopting atechnology-neutral stance whichallows for C-V2X deployment. The
United States is also technology
neutral, while China is a strong
promoter of both C-V2X and 5G.
Sidelink is another importantelement in the build out of C-V2X.

18

Figure 8:

The Now

5G MEC and location technology
are boosting vehicle safety and automation

Within a 5G network, Sidelink will
enable direct communication
between 5G-equipped vehicles
and devices within a certain range.
After decades of development,
the expectation now is that
V2X, in its C-V2X form, canfinally move beyond piecemeal
deployments to start fulfilling its
key promises: safer roads, greater
traffic efficiency, intelligent
transport and energy savings.
We consider three waves of
C-V2X developments – Now,
Next and Long – which reflect
our core assumption about theincreasing impact of improved
connectivity and location
intelligence on automotive safety
and vehicle automation over the
next ten years. During this time,
vehicles will evolve to become
more proactive in their driving
strategies, harnessing information
shared across the road network todevelop a clear and uninterrupted
understanding of the environment
in which they are traveling. As
5G MEC networks roll out, we
anticipate a significant increasein collaborative safety, ultimately
laying the ground for coordinatedautonomous driving before 2030.

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Level ofsafety andautomation

Collaborative Safety
for Driver AwarenessReal time Collaborative
Safety for ADAS/AD

Collaborative Safety for
Coordinated Autonomous
Driving

Current status: Leveraging
low throughput sensor
data (incident & GPS probe)from multiple OEMs toinform drivers of dangers
ahead

Locationtechnology

HERE Hazard Warnings,
HERE Safety Cameras and
HERE Real Time Traffic

Development: Low latency
C-V2X, vehicles capturingsafety critical data andcommunicating in real timewith centimeter precision toother vehicles, infrastructure
and pedestrians to prevent
collisions

Vision: collaborative highthroughput data sharing(camera feeds, Lidar, etc),
updating the digital environment and communicating
intention to forewarn
other vehicles/devices tocoordinate moves in real-time

HERE Hazard Warnings,
HERE Safety Cameras and
HERE Real Time Traffic
HERE Live Sense SDK, HD GNSS

HD location technology(as a system)

Network

3G/4G

4G/5G
(alternatively Sidelink PC5)

5G

ComputingIn vehicle andcentral cloud

In vehicle, MEC
and central cloud

In vehicle andhyperlocal MEC

Typicalthroughput< 25 Mb/s< 50 Mb/s> 200 Mb/s

Round-trip
latency

20-40 s(with high variability)<20 ms(with some variability)<20 ms(with low variability)

phase is characterized by the use
and exchange of low-throughput
data to enhance driver awareness.
Such services are already being
deployed today, providing
safety benefits, though none are
mission critical. Nor are 5G or
MEC technologies required forservices to operate as intended.
The primary role of location
intelligence in this phase is toprovide situation awareness andcontext for drivers and vehicles
to plan and react in near realtime to live road conditions.

The Next

phase introduces real-time,
low-latency V2X communication
to support ADAS and highly
automated driving use casesin the medium term. In thisphase, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V),
vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I),
vehicle-to-cloud or vehicleto-network (V2N), and vehicleto-pedestrian (V2P) come intoplay in a bigger way, with 5G
and MEC also featuring in manyuse cases. Location intelligence
becomes a more significant
input into the driving experience,
supporting vehicles with hyperprecise positioning and path
planning for automated driving.

©HERE 2020 | here.com

Below, we describe some of theother use cases we see possible
during Next.

Collision avoidancewith Verizon
HERE and Verizon collaborated to demonstratesome of the possibilities of combining thepower of 5G MEC with location intelligence. One
application that was developed – a prototype
collision avoidance application, aimed atincreasing pedestrian and driver safety – isemblematic of the innovations that will emerge
in the Next phase. The application leverages
HERE HD Live Map and HERE’s proprietary Live
Sense computer vision technology to create a V2N
communication system that identifies vehicles,
pedestrians, bicycles and barriers from a vehiclemounted smartphone. The data is then sent to
Verizon’s 5G MEC network, where the Collision
Avoidance AI predicts likely travel paths andwarns vehicles of impending potential collisions.

19

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→ Reactive and proactive vehicle
decision-making (V2V or V2N2V).
The ability of a car to instantly
communicate its condition andintent to nearby vehicles canprovide those vehicles with insightbeyond what their own onboard
sensors can detect, giving themmore response time. This makes
for safer reactive, tactical andstrategic maneuvering decisions.
For example, immediately
following an accident at a busy
junction, vehicles approachingfrom different directions andexpected to encounter the hazard
can be quickly informed about its
existence and precise location.
→ Intelligent traffic systems(V2I or V2N2I). Fast two-way
communication between vehicles
and roadside infrastructure brings
several potential safety, efficiency
and environmental benefits.
Connected traffic signal systems
can adapt to traffic conditions inreal-time to maximize flow andcreate ‘green waves’, alert vehicles
approaching a red light too fast,and enable emergency responders
to override signaling. 5G MEC alsoenhances other use cases wherereal-time V2I information flows areuseful, such as more intelligent
parking and real-time alerts on
hazards and nearby construction.

→ Platooning for transport fleets(V2V and V2N). The maturation of
V2V technology also offers newopportunities for transportationand logistics (T&L) companies
to deploy vehicles that are safer
for their drivers and other road
users. In controlled environments,
such as factories and container
terminals, the use of automatedvehicles and robotics isalready widespread. The Next
phase will also see the virtual
coupling of trucks in highway
driving, enabling them to drive
closer together, reducing wind
resistance, saving fuel and cutting
emissions. V2N communication isused to form a platoon, with V2V(and V2N as a backup channel)
used for control during travel.

→ Self-healing maps andswarm intelligence (V2N).
This is another fundamental
mode of V2X communication
wherein data is gathered fromvehicles in the cloud, withlocation intelligence helping
validate and stitch together
the information transmitted tobuild a real-time picture of theroad network from each car’s
experience before redistributing
relevant information to othervehicles that need it. As
cars scan and analyze theirsurroundings, 5G MEC networks
enable the rapid collation
and re-use of information, an
approach that also forms thebasis of some of today’s highdefinition self-healing maps.

→ Safety for vulnerable
road users (V2P or V2N2P).
Vulnerable road users (VRUs)
include pedestrians, walkers,
runners, people getting on andoff buses, cyclists and users ofscooters. The primary goal of V2Pcommunication is to improve
the safety of VRUs by providing
alerts to the driver of the vehicle
and/or the VRU of a potential
interaction. Significantly lessinvestment has been madein this area of V2X, but theimportance of making cities safe
for micromobility and pedestrians
suggests this will change.

The Long
Finally, the Long phase envisions
high throughput sharing ofdata on 5G MEC networks toenable autonomous vehicles
to coordinate driving strategies
in real-time. In this phase,
location intelligence becomes
indispensable to generatinga real-time representation of
cities and road networks inmotion, uniting disparate data
streams and harnessing machinelearning and advanced platform
analytics to orchestrate thedelivery of the right information
to the right people, devices andvehicles at the right time.

©HERE 2020 | here.com

The OEM
monetization
challenge
Advances in vehicle automation,connectivity and digitalization
will help create significant new
monetizable opportunities forthe automotive industry. Sizing
a nascent market is difficult,though ABI Research predicts
that sector 5G-enabled services
revenue could be worth $5.6
billion by 2025. That will besupported by a projected jumpin the number of 5G-readyconnected vehicles, fleet
telematics devices and in-vehicle
toll devices – from a few hundred
thousand today to more than 25
million units by 2023, according to
Gartner.
As the installed base grows,
automakers will be looking for
new ways to monetize theircustomers’ need for mobility– including through services
that boost safety, security andconvenience. They also recognize
the brand value of being firstor best at deploying these newcapabilities.
But the road to monetization
is not without risks. Equipping
vehicles to take advantage of 5G
MEC raises their average cost.
Some consumers will be willingto pay for increased safety.

20

Subscription models that offer
an alternative to outright vehicle
ownership will also help fan
demand. But it is questionable if
automakers will be able to pass on
the full cost, at least before these
new technologies commoditize.
Consequently, automakers will belooking to regulations, tax breaks
and other government stimulus
to help make the market – theexpectation being that the costsof those actions will be more thanoffset by the savings resulting
from a safer and more efficienttransport infrastructure.
Most automakers have alreadystarted pilots to evaluate
and demonstrate 5G MEC
opportunities. While aware of thepotential benefits, they are also
mindful of the ramifications of any
missteps. The wrong technology
decisions have a significant
cost impact, and that could
be debilitating for businesses
already hit by the pandemic.
Automakers are therefore
carefully selecting the partners
they work with in devising theirconnectivity strategy. As we haveoutlined in this paper, location
intelligence must be part of theequation for any automakers
looking to turn innovation into
a commercial reality. Only withreal-time and geo-referenced
data and precise positioning
will it be possible for industry
participants to deliver safer, moreenjoyable and more efficientuser-centric driving experiences

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©HERE 2020 | here.com

Location data
privacy in theage of 5G MEC

More than two-thirds of people
share their location data withapplication providers at least
sometimes, according to our
research. People do so forvarious reasons, ranging fromfood delivery and hailing a ride
to getting the most out of social
media. But while people see thebenefits, the majority still feel
uneasy: some 75 per cent told usthat they are concerned aboutsharing personal information
digitally. They do not really knowwhat happens to their informationand for what it is used.
The lack of trust is problematic
today, but we believe that there
could be greater challenges down
the road if privacy practices
continue to be dominated bya click-to-consent approach.
The European Union’s General

21

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Data Protection Regulation(GDPR) has sought to expand theability of people to control theirprivacy, enabling individuals to
grant their consent before theirdata is processed. In practice,
however, for the vast majority ofpeople this has become a merereflex and consent is seldom
informed consent. If our privacy
is inherently about control
over information relating toourselves, how then could wecontrol our exposure to others
in urban environments where
communications are machineto-machine and time-sensitiveand devices can be continuously
positioned to within a meter?

our mobility habits are unique to
us. Our route to the office, fromdoor to door, is different fromanyone else’s, and our traces
highly identifiable with only a few
location data points. Technologies
like anonymization offer service
providers ways to protect theirusers’ privacy while retaining
enough data to serve some utility.
But the challenge is finding thatbalance, as we discussed ina recent eBook. As regulations
tighten and people become moreprivacy-wary following a spate ofprivacy and data breach scandals,organizations must get smarter
about how they handle data.

Already today, we do not justblend into the crowd, especiallywhen our location data is partof the equation. This is because©HERE 2020 | here.com

Towards a systemof preference
management

Using location
context tomanage privacy
For people to enjoy uninterrupted
access to new services in a 5G
MEC world, a fundamental new
approach to managing privacy isneeded. Location intelligence has
a role to play here. This is because
privacy is always about context,
and location is an importantelement in determining context,
alongside other parameterssuch as time of the day, day of
the week and type of activity.
Individuals have multiple personas.
On the most basic level, we havea work persona and a free-time
persona. Privacy expectations differ
in each scenario. Beyond that, we
can ask: are you moving? Are you in
a car or on a bus, train, or bike? In
which jurisdiction are you? Is there
local or country-based context
that is important too? Location
drives context in many different
scenarios, and contextual thinking
can be an important part of helping
consumers control how and when
their data is shared and used.
Consider a car journey during the
Next or Long phase described in
section five. Roadside beacons

22

collect information about thevehicle to monitor traffic data,
while an edge-hosted application
identifies you as a passenger tounderstand that you are a local
commuter. The vehicle connects toyour digital task list in the cloudto plan a route for guiding the caron the most efficient path to run
all your errands. Parking garages
and tolling systems identify thevehicle and charge your accountappropriately. Data is exchanged
with other vehicles about roadhazards and relevant local street
conditions. And advertisers
request access to your data – suchas your age, language, income
and recent locations – to offer
promotions. A single trip likethis involves multiple instancesof seamless communication
with, and data transfer to, otherroad users and infrastructure.
In situations like these, click-toconsent is an ill-suited mechanism
by which to manage privacy – itwould be practically impossiblefor individuals to grant consent,
on a truly informed basis, eachtime before data is processed.

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In a world of ultra-fast networks
and edge computing, privacy
goes beyond consent to becomea set of multifarious preferences.
We therefore think not so muchabout consent management,
but about preference-based
privacy management.
A system of preference-based
privacy management can resolve
the central problem of consent. We
envision that we would empower avehicle or a digital personal agent
to act on our behalf, drawing on
a set of desired privacy settings
as well as spatial, temporal andother information, including ourhabits, preferred driving routes
and locations, parking garages,
methods of payment and soon. Machine learning will learn
about our consent preferencesin different scenarios and places,
relieving people from the burdenof deciding which data to share,
for which purposes, and forwhich benefits. Additionally,businesses will benefit fromefficient anonymization services
that integrate location intelligenceto effectively assess their data,

quantify privacy risks and remove
personal data where necessary.
Successful implementationsof preference-based privacy
management are likely to alsoutilize blockchain technology toshift control over personal datafrom central parties to individual
end-users. Blockchain-based
solutions enable a single stateof truth to be shared acrosspermissioned network participants,
where users decide what data theywant to share, for what purposes
and how long it can be stored.
Organizations benefit too. If an
enterprise or city is sourcing datathat may contain personal data,
the ledger stipulates whether
or not they have permission to
use that data, and operational
and planning decisions can bemade on the true digital record.

©HERE 2020 | here.com

Figure 9:

A high-levelview of the
HERE platform

The HERE platform:
supporting businesseson their 5G MEC journey
In this paper, we have discussed
how location intelligence isimportant both in building 5G
MEC and getting the most outof the new infrastructure. But
how do you access the location
data and tools required? In thepast, acquiring and working withlocation data was complex andarduous. This has changed. The
proliferation of location-based
sensors massively increases
data collection, while automatedprocessing of this data and new
platform technologies are making
it more accessible to businesses.
This is fueling the developmentof new cases, like those we
described in sections four and five.
HERE has a long legacy of acquiringand processing location-based
data across multiple industries, andwe have applied our deep industry
experience in the development ofa cloud-agnostic location data andtechnology platform. The platform
gives developers access to a wealthof location data, including much of
the data types we have referenced
in earlier sections of the paper.

23

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Developers can also use the HERE
platform to create, build and run
their own business applications
on 5G MEC infrastructure.
The platform is formed ofseveral blocks that are fully
tailored to location intelligence
applications. These include:→ A development environment(HERE Workspace)→ A data exchange & marketplace(HERE Marketplace)→ Map creation and visualization
capabilities (HERE Studio), and→ The industry’s largest setof location services (HERE
Location Services)→ The world’s leading global
map, with hundreds ofattributes (Content)
These capabilities leverage a
Platform Foundation that powers
any applications built on top
with high availability, security

and cloud-agnostic deployment.
The HERE platform introduces
many essential technological andarchitectural concepts that are
required for services to be run indifferent computing environments,
such as multi-cloud, microservices,
containers, security, and billing
and accounting. Accordingly,
the platform will provide theversatility for full, hybrid, and onpremises edge deployments.
For 5G MEC network planning anddeployment, the HERE platform
provides access to HERE Geodata
Models and other geospatial data.
A multitude of data and services
available through the platform
also enable businesses to exploit
5G MEC infrastructure in thedevelopment and operation oflocation-enabled use cases (seeFigure 10). These include dataand services such as HERE Lanes
and HERE HD Live Map that aredesigned to support automotive
companies building safer andincreasingly automated vehicles.

©HERE 2020 | here.com

Additionally, HERE is developinga suite of location privacy
services, which includes
several components: a set ofanonymization solutions that
service providers can use to protect
their users’ privacy while retaining
enough data to serve some utility;a privacy diagnostic tool thatorganizations can use to test how
well their anonymized datasets
stand up to a reconstruction
attack; and blockchain-based
consent management technology.

and performance needs, businessapplications will leverage 5G
New Radio, HD GNSS, A-GNSS,
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE and sensor
positioning, as well as visual
positioning (see section four)
for additional localization
support in certain scenariosand places, such as urban
canyons. Our positioning services
can be made to run on MEC
infrastructure, thereby ensuringthat the latency of positioningis optimal for advanced use
cases like real-time positioningof IoT devices and vehicles.

HERE roadmap
brings fullpositioning
support for
5G MECThe introduction of MEC will
also change the way maps ofthe radio environment – used
to help position devices – aremaintained. HERE anticipates that
MEC APIs will provide the radio
data required for 5G positioning,
ending the need for batteryintensive crowdsourcing of suchdata from devices themselves.

HERE Positioning (see Figure
11 and 12) presently supports a
broad range of satellite, cellular,
non-cellular radio and sensor
positioning technologies. Our
future positioning offering
will incorporate a range of 5G
positioning technologies essential
for indoor and outdoor use
cases. To meet cost, coverage

24

Positioning and localization
are also enriched by the HERE
Live Sense SDK, a softwaredevelopment kit (SDK) madeup of a collection of AI-based
perception models that use
a forward-facing camera on
smartphones, dashcams,
personal navigation devices
and vehicles to provide drivers
greater real-time awareness of
their environment. Using vision
technology, Live Sense SDK
detects different types of objects

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in the driver's environment.
Besides powering new locationcentric use cases, modern
network technologies provide
another major benefit: theyenhance HERE's ability to fully
automate the creation, storage,
and management of geospatial
content. 5G and MEC infrastructure
are a key part of that effort,
supporting rapid feedback loops
where changes detected at theedge can be quickly processed
and made available for customers
and their business applications.
The goal is to enable consistent,interoperable map data andlocation products that meet themost demanding requirements forscale and freshness, setting thestage for further waves of value
creation through the platform.

Figure 10

The HERE data universe
for 5G MEC planningand location-centric
innovation
Applications
Developer enablers
HERE Live Sense SDK

Location services

HERE Positioning
HERE Real-Time Traffic
HERE Transit
HERE Geocoding & Search
HERE Routing
HERE Destination Weather
HERE Tracking
HERE Hazard Warnings
HERE Connected Vehicle Services
HERE HD Live Map

HERE Navigation On Demand

Environments
HERE Marketplace
HERE Workspace
HERE StudioContent

HERE Geodata Models
SD and HD Maps
HERE Road Infrastructure & Usage
HERE Road Rules & Regulations
HERE Imagery & Topography
HERE Buildings & Structures
HERE Places & Points
HERE Areas & Boundaries
HERE Guidance & Routing
HERE Lanes©HERE 2020 | here.com

Figure 11

Figure 12

HERE 5G Positioning
enhancement
Precision

6G positioning
HERE 5G
Positioning

1 cm

5G NR
SLAM, positioning

1m

hybridHERE Bluetooth
positioning

3m

Visualpositioning

5G V2X,
IoT

HERE HD Wi-Fi

10 m
HERE A-GNSS(Cell positioning)

100 m

Industrial
Standard

25

HERE
Hi-Precision
GNSS

Sidelink

5G Positioning Technologies(as per 3GPP Rel16 standard)

HERE Positioning
Technologies

Satellite
positioning
methods

A-GNSS

HERE A-GNSS
ServiceUse global satellite navigation
systems such as GPS, Galileo,
GLONASS and Beidou,
together with auxiliary datafrom terrestrial networks
to increase the performanceand positioning accuracy
to sub-meter level.

High-Precision
GNSS – PPPHERE HD GNSS

High-Precision
GNSS - RTK

HERE HD GNSS

Non-cellularradio andsensor-based
methods

WLAN
positioning

HERE HD Wi-Fi
Positioning

Bluetooth
positioning

HERE Indoor
Positioning

Use radio systems such Wi-Fi,
Bluetooth, and embedded
sensors to position the devices
in urban and indoor environments with navigation-grade
performance.

HERE SD Wi-Fi

3GPP Rel 9(2010)

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5G + MEC
positioning
enhancement

3GPP Rel 16(2019)

3GPP Rel 17(2023)

Cellular radio
positioning
methods

Use (4G, 5G and 5G NR)
cellular radio signals anddata to position the devices
within the range of cellular
networks. The positioning
performance depends on thetype, quality and density ofthe measurements and data
available for the positioning
solution.

MEC Ready(in 2021)

Terrestrial Beacon
system positioning
Sensor-based
positioning-Motion

HERE Indoor
Positioning

Sensor-based
positioning–
Barometric pressure

HERE Indoor
Positioning

LTE E-CID

HERE Cell Positioning

LTE OTDOA
NR E-CID

HERE Cell Positioning

NR Multi-RTT, NR DL-AoD,
NR DL-TDOA, NR UL-TDOA,NR UL-AoA

In research(in 2021)©HERE 2020 | here.com

Consumers, enterprises and governments standto benefit enormously as 5G and MEC capabilities
deploy over the next decade. Yet fully exploiting
the transformative potential of these technologies
calls for location intelligence.
In this paper, we have sought to provide insights into how
location intelligence supports 5G MEC rollouts as well as directly
impacts a broad range of critical industries over the long term.
Better smartphone connectivity is only the start. 5G MEC networks
bring into view a wide array of exciting edge use cases where
location data and technology will be an essential ingredient.
To find out how HERE can help your business plan forand thrive in a 5G MEC world, get in touch.

Contact us

HERE, a location data and technology platform, moves people, businesses and citiesforward byharnessing the power of location. By leveraging our open platform, we empower our customers
to achieve better outcomes – from helping a city manage its infrastructure or a business optimize
its assets to guiding drivers to their destination safely. To learn more about HERE, including our new
generation of cloud-based location platform services, visit 360.here.com and www.here.com.

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©HERE 2020 | here.com