Location Intelligence (LI) is the process of extracting insights from location data in order to answer spatial questions. LI is more than just putting data on maps. It also includes analyzing location data as a part of a business or social problem.
Who uses Location Intelligence within an organization?
Gone are the days when location-related analysis was relegated to a siloed GIS department employing antiquated desktop-based solutions. LI is now being used from the frontline seller all the way up to the boardroom.
Marketing departments use it to increase campaign ROI, operations to optimize fleet activity, sales to balance territory design, HR to track employee travel, and strategists to make sound M&A decisions.
Employees with more technical skills may do their own analysis and app development, while those with more commercial interests may use web apps that work with their existing systems, like CRMs or ERPs.
What data types are used in Location Intelligence?
Addresses and latitude/longitude coordinates, as well as points, lines, and polygons, are examples of location data. Spatial data can also be created using place names and administrative units such as countries and states.
Organizations, in addition to using internal data from their organizations, regularly gather publicly available data to enrich their analysis. More and more people are using premium spatial data streams, such as financial, weather, road traffic, points of interest, climate, housing, and how people move around.
What are Location Intelligence challenges?
Data discovery, evaluation, and cleansing are significant challenges for LI professionals. Only 20% of their time is spent on analysis, while the remaining 80% is spent on preparation. Organizations that want to run their operations in a more spatial context must use the right tools and find people with the right skill sets to reduce the 80% and increase the amount of time spent on analysis so that they can act on relevant, key insights in their business faster.
What distinguishes Location Intelligence (LI) from Business Intelligence (BI)?
Data Concentration BI is primarily concerned with temporal data, with maps appearing on occasion. LI is based on location-first analysis. BI platforms for analysis visualize and display pre-processed sets of results on a map. Iterative analysis of multiple interactive data layers is possible with LI.
Typical User Behavior
Users in BI discuss zooming, filtering, and printing. We discuss analyzing, comparing, predicting, augmenting, and publishing interactive results in LI.
Questions and Answers
BI is concerned with where things are and what has happened to a company. LI focuses on the why of those questions. Why did sales increase by 20% in these locations? How did the weather and foot traffic affect revenue?
How does AirSage help with Location Intelligence?
The emerging Location Intelligence technology enables transportation and logistics firms to plan, source, and make informed decisions in order to meet exact capacity and market-based preferences while also improving transportation systems and regulations.
Do you want to know more? You can now book a free discovery call with one of AirSage's transportation and data experts.
