Website Design by Angela Freeman for Dau Consulting
Business GIS and Location Analytics
My last blog introduced concepts and issues associated with Business GIS and Location Analytics that help business leaders answer the following questions:
1. Where do my customers come from?
2. How far are they willing to travel to visit my business?
3. How do I find markets and customers similar to the customers we already serve?
4. How much competition, if any, is present in the market relating to products or services we are likely to produce?
5. Who are my customers regionally from a demographic profile and lifestyle pattern relating to consumer spending patterns?
This and following blogs will give real life examples of how this data is being used. The article below reflects how location analytics can address issues: how do you know where your customers come from and how far are they willing to travel to visit your business? Understanding this information will be critical to any business attempting to:
- develop a viable marketing plan
- identify consumer profile of customers
- gain an overall understanding of the geographic reach of your business
In the study linked below, entitled, What Does It Cost To Commute for Community College Students?, (Illinois GIS Association publication, GISNotes April 2013), it mapped the location of thousands of college students based on their location to the community college and estimated their commuting costs. College and universities could potentially leverage this type of visualization to explore issues with the creation of new satellite campuses or scheduling issues to maximize enrollments at current extension campuses.
(http://www.ilgisa.org/uploads/4/2/5/0/42506075/final_spring_2013_gis_notes.pdf)
The author, Mike Rudibaugh, is an economic geographer with master and doctoral degrees from Indiana State University. He works and teaches GIS courses at Lake Land College and also served on the Board of Directors of the Illinois GIS Association (ILGISA).
Any business or company marketing to customers need to understand both where they draw well from, but as well know which areas they are not drawing customers from and why. Business mapping analytics like this are now allowing organizations to pin point resources and target services to maximize marketing dollars and new site development opportunities.
