In a move that could end items being delivered to the wrong address, California-based Mapbox is publicly previewing doorway-level entrance data, helping companies guide drivers to the correct door.

The capability improves arrival accuracy for delivery, logistics and ride-hailing applications by enabling routing to within five metres or less of a specific building entrance.

Companies building with Mapbox Geocoding (www.mapbox.com/geocoding) can now account for where people actually enter buildings, reducing time spent circling blocks, searching for access points, or making failed drop-offs. The entrance data are available for more than 100 million addresses in the USA.

Mapbox analysis of feedback from on-demand logistics customers indicates that nearly 70% of failed deliveries in the last 100 metres occur in the final ten metres of a trip. According to McKinsey research, misplaced or inefficient drop-off locations can account for up to 19% of logistics costs tied to support requests, driver dwell time, lost packages, missed pickups and redeliveries. Doorway-level entrance data help to address this final-metres problem by guiding drivers to the most relevant entry point for a destination.

“Entrance data have saved our drivers time,” said Chris Heffernan, CEO at Dlivrd (dlivrd.io). “They spend less time searching and more time setting up. Delivery times are down 7%, support questions are resolved 25% faster, and many never reach us at all.”

Cherie Wong, senior vice president at Mapbox, added: “Doorway-level entrance data help solve one of the most persistent challenges in delivery and ride-hailing: knowing exactly where to be. Instead of ending navigation with just ‘you have arrived’, companies can guide drivers to the right spot, the door that actually matters.”

With the entrance parameter enabled, the Geocoding API returns precise building entrance locations when converting an address into geographic coordinates. Developers can use these data to power turn-by-turn navigation that accounts for which side of a building to approach and where to stop, rather than routing to a generic pin placed at the centre of a building. Designers can also visualise entrance locations directly on maps, helping drivers and end users quickly understand where to go.

The result is clearer arrivals, fewer failed handoffs and less time wasted navigating complex buildings or dense urban environments.

Delivery platforms, logistics providers and mobility companies use Mapbox for flexible location services that scale with demand and adapt to real-world arrival scenarios. By combining entrance data with Mapbox navigation, routing, maps and the Mapbox Feedback Agent, companies can build end-to-end navigation experiences that continue to improve as drivers and users interact with the map.

To learn more about entrance data in Mapbox Geocoding, go to www.mapbox.com/blog/get-drivers-to-the-right-entrance-with-mapbox-geocoding.

Headquartered in San Francisco, Mapbox (www.mapbox.com) provides developers and businesses with cloud-based APIs, SDKs and data services for maps, navigation, and place and address search. Founded in 2010, Mapbox delivers scalable, customisable geospatial technology that powers billions of location experiences worldwide.