We are often asked to describe the importance of location to business and the value of capturing spatial data, analysing spatial information and distributing information through using mapping.
As mentioned on our main GIS web page it is estimated that 70-85 percent of all data used by and / or owned by a business has a geographic component. The most obvious instance of this is an address. The ability to visualise spatial information through plotting it on a map allows a business to discover trends simply not possible when data is listed as a spreadsheet. A list of addresses is simply a list of meaningless contacts. Put it on a map and you will see trends and relationships appear. Using this information to the advantage of your business is called locational intelligence.
Examples of locational intelligence use in business include:
- Identification of growth areas
- Delivery route efficiency
- Increase information sharing
- Risk management
- Deliveries management
- Location identification
Data held solely in tabular form will often be disparate and difficult to work with. Aggregating this data into a spatial context using a Geographic Information System will allow a far deeper understanding of your data and will allow for your data to be evaluated analysed and displayed. Cartographic tools can be used to display information about a particular location (called attribute data). GIS analysis will allow you to answer questions such as
How many properties are there within an area likely to flood?
Multi criteria analysis allows for many factors to be built into a model to identify a location (s) which adheres to preset requirements e.g. a supermarket may wish to identify a location which is within 10 km of a train station, 2 kilometres from a motorway, not in a flood plain and close to an area where the average income is over £50,000 per annum.
At Wilbourn Technology we are able to help you realise the potential of your business data as well as carry out analysis should you have a particular requirement.
- Data capture
- Digital mapping
- Spatial Analysis
- Data consultancy
- Bespoke plans.
- Open source software
- Google maps
Wilbourn Associates are partners of the Ordnance Survey.