GeoAnalytics: Important Milestone in Business Analysis

In recent decades, the concept of “geospatial data” has made a powerful breakthrough in development. Access to geospatial data found a bunch of opportunities not only in the environmental sector. And today, geospatial data analysis is a highly versatile thing.

As of 2020, the global geo-analytics market size was estimated at $60.94 billion. Based on the current growth, the market will reach $209.47 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 13.0% from 2021.

In this article, we will define “What is geospatial data?” and “Who needs geospatial analytics?” We’ll also have a brief but precise overview of the main benefits of implementing geospatial analytics to your business and provide you with success cases of different industries.

What is geospatial data & geospatial analytics?

Geospatial data is all the information regarding the location of any object or group of objects on the planet Earth. This information is usually stored in geographical coordinates and topologies and represented in geocodes. The sources of geospatial data are the following:

• Global Positioning System (well-known as GPS) is a satellite navigation system that provides a precise location from every part of Earth.
• Satellite imagery is picture-like information about the Earth or different space objects captured from satellites.
• Drone data – photo or video captures of the Earth’s surface from the remotely operated unmanned aerial vehicle.

Geospatial data analytics covers collecting, processing, and mapping the data using the coordinates of the Global Positioning System, geographical coordinates and indicators, and, of course, remote sensing data.

Mobile technology has become an excellent instrument for geospatial data collection during the last decades. Modern technology devices include built-in sensors that gather geodata and detect their own geographical position. What do they do with all these data? Geospatial analytics applications transform the data into maps, graphs, and statistics to make it understandable and ready to use.

It is the simplest example of how geospatial data analytics appears in our daily lives, and even our smartphones can provide us with geoanalytics.

Benefits of applying geospatial analytics in business

Geospatial analysis is beneficial for both governmental/nonprofit units and businesses. Businesses need to know the difference between their customers’ (future customers’) needs depending on their region to meet the demand (or expand). On the other hand, governmental and nonprofit organizations can use geospatial data analysis for urban management, land-use planning, military operations monitoring, and more.

Relying on geospatial data analysis, people get access to powerful decision-making instruments that also provide with following benefits:

• Information visualization in diverse ways. We already understand what is geospatial data and geospatial analysis. However, we should mention that these data and location positioning must be transformed into valuable insights using information visualization. The data we have and the connection between data points allow us to visualize information in multiple ways.
• Fuel for the transformation in a connected age. In the time of digital transformation, technology – is the primary driver, and data – is its fuel. Today this fuel is inexhaustible since most of the data is connected with a location. We can specify its position on the map to foster decision-making and expand the potential of the raw data.
• New opportunities and boost of productivity. Understanding your customers and their needs is essential for successful business development. Geoanalytics precisely determine needs and priorities depending on location and provide insights into filling diverse clients’ needs to enhance the business.
• Geospatial analysis as an essential element of new digital products. Due to the rapid spread of location-based technologies, it didn’t take long to wait for new hardware and software products built on geospatial analytics. It is worth noting that today we observe the emergence of new grounds for geo analysis to put down roots into it. For example, the COVID-19 outbreak amplified the development of geoanalytics solutions for detecting crowded areas.
• Explore the market to expand your business. The location-based insights of geoanalytics allow for discovering opportunities for expanding new markets by analyzing demographical, infrastructure, economic, and other factors that influence the business. It also helps develop a strategy for connecting the new marketplace with the existing ones and cohesive supply chain processes.

Geoanalytics use cases

Everything has its location despite being a physical thing or an abstract process. It makes geospatial analysis a common factor for handling various issues. Here are the real-world cases of how you can use geospatial analytics to your company’s advantage.

• To refine risk analysis. Risk analysis is complex, and geospatial analytics make it more advanced for different industries. For instance, the agricultural sector is highly dependent on weather conditions. Geospatial data allow determining weather phenomena in particular areas, their intensity, and frequency.
• To improve logistics and transportation. Geoanalytics is also incredibly useful for setting efficient logistics. Geospatial data combined with GIS software predict the fastest and cheapest route from the warehouse to the customer. It also allows monitoring your package and estimating delivery time.
• To increase awareness and predict violations. Most law enforcement agencies use geospatial analysis to detect areas with a high crime risk. This crime mapping enriches raw data with the geographical content for better decision-making. Such techniques allow to predict and respond better to a crime.
• To better location planning. The most crucial factor for some businesses to succeed is the location. Geospatial analytics plays the primary role for new or expanding businesses in such a situation. For example, companies should consider the following factors of geoanalytics: competitors in targeted areas, logistics issues, target market, and much more.
• To improve marketing and sales process. Since geospatial analytics divides customers into groups with specific needs depending on their location and provides them with a better customer experience, it may be the most popular request of the existing businesses. With location data, businesses can increase sales with targeted promotions, special loyalty programs, and other benefits.

Industries that could benefit from geoanalytics the most

Let’s consider the six examples of how geospatial analytics can be valuable for businesses in various industries.

Agritech

In a recent study, 95% of surveyed executives across various industries said that mapping and geodata analysis is crucial in achieving business increases. And that’s the truth since modern data-driven applications built on the synergy of mapping and geospatial data analysis accelerate the productivity of company performance.

For example, in the agricultural industry, enterprises are boosting their productivity by more than 40% by using precision agriculture products like farming AI solution or Cloud-based platform.

Both applications use satellite imagery or satellite data combined with aerial imagery from drones to analyze such information about crops and fields as NDVI, anomalies, diseases, and detect ripe fruits. They also update information from time to time and transform the data for better decision-making.

Transport and Logistics

In the age of the technological revolution, geospatial data and geoanalytics generate real value future businesses depend on.

Powered by geoanalytics, new products enter the market to solve a particular problem and shortly become not an innovation but our reality.

The same thing happened with the drone delivery services. Even with the limited distance they can pass, drone delivery service adoption can fill the gap in companies’ logistics and delivery services. According to the SOTI report, 59% of logistics companies in the US and 78 of Canada struggle with last-mile delivery. And this is the issue drones have the potential to solve.

And today, people use a drone delivery platform as a quick, casual, and safe (during COVID-19) delivery service for goods.

Retail

There are many businesses today that largely depend on the transportation of goods. And the retail industry isn’t an exception. With the growth of navigation applications, such as Google Maps, Waze, and Maps.me that take into account traffic, road maintenance, car accidents, and even weather, companies can build their supply chain short and cost-effective. But there is the simplest example.

Another benefit of geospatial analysis usage in retail – is gaining personalized insights about customers’ priorities depending on location. This information is helpful in designing a custom recommendation based on the client’s previous purchases.

According to the Global BCG Survey conducted with Google, the retail industry increased their average check size by 11% to 15% using the location-based insights of geospatial analytics for precise suggestions and delivering better customer experience.

Insurance

Geospatial analysis to represent geographical conditions has evolved from the simplest maps since many years ago. What is geospatial data for insurance companies today, and what is its value?

Natural catastrophes are sudden and always come without warning. But there is a chance to monitor the nature of these events and even to predict their development. Insurance companies rely on satellite imagery and geospatial analysis as the most reasonable way to gain predictions on possible natural disasters for further risk management. With access to the current time and historical data, insurance companies discover potential crises and solutions in particular areas.

Healthcare

When it comes down to the health industry, it can boast about multiple usage areas as well. Not to mention that all the navigation applications in smartphones can guide us to reach the needed medical facility in the shortest possible time.

Epidemiologists fully rely on the unlimited potential of geospatial analytics in the matter of establishing and responding to epidemic cases. Visualizing the data into a heat map helps them to understand the spread of the disease and how to deal with it.

The latest pandemic experience was a great example of how geospatial analysis is instrumental in informing about the potential disease outbreak in the neighborhood. You can also find more about our experience of using geospatial analysis in healthcare.

Banking

Today, the financial sector is one of the most developing technology-oriented industries — the moving of banking to digitalization and automation demands a new banking analytics approach. That is where geospatial analysis brings banking analytics to the next level.

Geospatial analytics convert tons of financial data to simplify financial operations for banking professionals and bring more personalized analytics for its clients. Geospatial data analysis allows the banking sector to determine who their customers are, where they are from, where they spend, how much they spend, and for what. This data is useful for banks in setting different loyalty and reward programs, lotteries, and other activities.

Conclusions

Geospatial analytics definitely can be the next step for your business to obtain a better performance. Adopting geospatial analytics for businesses can benefit greatly — from setting up efficient logistics and handling transportation issues to enhancing the sales process and building precise marketing campaigns through the personalized approach. With a huge experience in data analytics working with geo solutions in a core, Quantum can be a trustworthy partner in handling your business issue with a custom solution.