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Nowadays, to stay relevant in your field, you have to look for new sources of insights and innovation. Among such, GIS analytics is probably the most underestimated. The main reason is that for very long you had to maintain a separate IT department to avail of this great source of data. Luckily, now things are much simpler with user-friendly tools that cut the learning curve and require little effort to tap on the massive volumes of insights hidden within map-based analytics.

Here are the top usages for the most lucrative industries of today:

Real Estate

As a market, real estate is already using GIS to gain additional insights and create new advantages. However, it’s mostly limited to mapping locations and combining multiple 3rd party maps for better property listing via IDX.

The new financially capable and tech-savvy clientele is already out there, showing a very miscellaneous map of preferences both for commercial and residential real estate. With GIS the industry is able to cover them all. Here are a few examples:

• Better spatial analysis

The GIS allows creating data-rich maps that grant new heights of awareness in terms of living conditions within each specific area. Air, noise pollution, availability of parks, train stations, all of these are important factors in the buyer’s choice.

• Enhanced market analytics

By using open-source data from various MLS providers, you can create very informative region maps with things like area-price charts, interior and exterior images of the property. These will allow you to build complex visual market models for a wide range of specialists and clients.

• Providing understandable visualizations of complex datasets

When location data is multifaceted it gets progressively harder to convey its meaning. By putting it on a region map like a many-layered batch of pancakes, you can organize it and make it clear for your team members, end-users and stakeholders.

Retail

Supermarkets and large retail networks are a great example of dynamic growth strategies. Over the last 20 years, many have tried to rapidly expand and open multiple new store locations. Not every growth model was a success though. There have been many displays of chaotic expansion that culminated into what’s also known as retail apocalypse.

Ever since 2010 and up until today, over 12,000 brick-and-mortar stores have to be closed. Some brands have sagged while others became stronger. With cases like Forever21, it is now estimated that 28 more retailers are at the brink of bankruptcy. The factors are many, and so the success is deeply correlated with the power of the analytical apparatus. As it is for many industries, in retail the power of GIS is going to change the way we operate and organize our workflows. Here is how it can help:

• Find new locations for your brick-and-mortar

There are many factors at play when choosing a new site. By creating geo-based datasets on demographics, you can open new stores where they will really matter.

• Competitor geospatial analysis online

Done in the right way, GIS can allow you to create a customizable military chart that combines all the essential intel on rivals, their locations, open hours coverage, etc.

• Geo-demographics analysis

By utilizing internal data acquired from the available customer base you can drive correlations that will give you more precision on your target audience and reveal new ways you engage with it.

• Logistics, supply routing

When operating a fleet of delivery transport, having an advanced GIS solution is important. It helps in scheduling orders, organizing arrival and departure, creating routes and more.

• Geo-targeted marketing campaigns

Spatial analytics is a game-changer for companies looking to build a truly comprehensive picture of their niche. They allow prioritizing demographics that are more gainful and tap onto opportunities overlooked by competitors.

Here is a simple map that was created to showcase the store locations of Walmart. It is displaying a pattern in how they are placed in regards to population income levels across North America, segmented by states.

This multilayered online map gives great insight into store profitability, the potential for new lucrative opportunities in specific areas of the country and many more factors.

Government/Smart City

With the rapid growth of technology, the idea of a smart city had quickly grown from an idealistic concept to a great variety of innovations in urban amenities. Metropolitan planning and development are hard to imagine without information technology that allows looking at the city from a great perspective. Population data that is visualized and laid down on maps can help to define different areas and manage the city with efficiency.

• Optimization of public services

Shown through precise area maps, data can reveal new ways to improve government services and distribute them evenly. These are matters like waste management, development of infrastructure or budget distribution.

• Creating powerful sources of information for the public

When it comes to publically available data insights, making them available for every citizen is especially important. Check this map of London and see how the main infrastructural objects are highlighted through filters.

A detailed map can serve as a great point of attraction. This is especially relevant for the cities in rural regions of Western Europe that are trying to build their population. Some regions use public online maps to show their investment potential for corporations in terms of economic potential and available human resources.

Improving the efficiency of logistics and emergency responses

Disaster and accident management can be drastically improved by optimizing response times towards the main risk areas.

• Public health control

Geospatial analytics on population density, demographics and ecological factors can help to establish major risk points within the populated area and come up with ways to mitigate them locally.

• Introducing change in a more integrated fashion

Thanks to cityscape mapping, the government can introduce new services more methodically. By appearing exactly where people need them, new utilities are much better at catering to the commonwealth.

In a nutshell, we’ve now reached a point where our world has become so transparent that we can easily extract and utilize stats that have significant implications for business planning. Not only can we observe and track global changes on the planet surface, but we can now fetch stats for most any area of the world and use it to create local geographical charts.

With so much information released publicly, it is now much more about creating powerful data displays that cater to wider audiences. Aside from GIS specialists, many other SMEs need to use it to drive important decisions and boost their business efficiency. Now, it boils down to who will be among the first few to harness geo-based data and, secondly, how far they’ll be able to take it.

Which areas of your life and work can you improve with visualized GIS?