Its time again to revisit maps. In the surprisingly popular blog post “Please stop calling me the mapping guy” I took exception at being pigeon-holed. I (we) are far more valuable to organizations than simply being seen as producers of maps. We are solution providers. Maps are simply a key output from our work: intuitive and easy to understand. In this post I will broaden the conversation.
Our GIS Emphasis Should be Business Outcomes not Maps
What are business outcomes? There are 5 key components:
1. Profitable growth
2. Customer engagement
3. Business sustainability
4. Productivity
5. Business agility
Five words: growth, engagement, sustainability, productivity, agility. Technology is a key driver behind business outcomes. Innovative organizations are looking for competitive advantages; how to do things better, more efficiently, faster. Business outcomes are not applicable just to private companies, all organizations are focused on improvement.
GIS should be one of the core technology drivers behind business outcomes. It should be a mission-critical business system. And yet adoption remains slow. Why?
Ok so I often say in this blog “we live in exciting times”. GIS is coming out of the shadows. Innovation is taking off. New thinkers are bringing fascinating ideas forward.
I became very interested in work being done by a UK based company called what3words. After meeting Chris Sheldrick the co-founder, we thought it worth spending time looking at their technology and ways to integrate it with ArcGIS.
Water utilities both big and small are faced with a range of different challenges. A recent American Water Works Association (AWWA) report listed but a few:
1. Condition of water/wastewater infrastructure
2. Water scarcity/supply
3. Drought potential
4. Customer/community relations
5. Emergency planning and response
6. Government regulations
7. Managing assets
New technology is today helping to provide solutions to these challenges. Key among these technologies is GIS.
Water Utilities: GIS has Changed Have You?
GIS is not new. It is a technology which today is undergoing dramatic changes. Changes which are making it easier to afford, access and use. So what are these changes?
GIS is widely understood to be mapping technology. Answering questions like “How do i get from A to B?”. It is true that maps are the common output from a GIS, but in reality the technology answers any and all location based questions. In the commercial sector these are often questions which today go unanswered. But, as we will discuss in this post, staying focused on and changing workflows is the key to commercial GIS success.
Changing Workflows is the key to Commercial GIS Success
Let’s start by discussing what we mean by workflows with some examples:
Property Listing in Real Estate
Workflow: “Today to list a new property on our web site or listings service, we first visit the property and make notes, take pictures. Next we input this information into a computer system. Once completed we update our web site with this new information, and share the listing with public property listing services.”
Challenge: Getting a new property listed so we can start marketing and selling can take up to a week.
Commercial real estate (CRE) has been slow in adopting new technology. The expense involved, and the time required to learn how to use the technology as well as incorporate it into daily operations are common reasons. But in an ever more competitive environment, those not looking to improve their workflows are rapidly being left behind.
Commercial real estate is about closing deals. The smoother the process the better. New technology is helping to provide dramatic improvements in process. There are signs that 2015 will be a watershed year in terms of new technology and CRM.
Digital mapping is becoming increasingly more popular across the real estate industry. The technology itself has been experiencing rapid evolution, and is now more user-friendly, accessible and affordable. With the popularity of mobile devices, new apps are becoming available which provide access to both digital maps and location based analysis to CRM agents, brokers and clients.
In this article we will discuss some of the applications of digital mapping technology in CRM.
With the 2016 elections just around the corner, we wondered how many organizations will be using maps and GIS (or location intelligence) to help boost their campaign. If you aren’t we will discuss in the article how WebMapSolutions are helping a number of different organizations boost their election campaigns.
Will you be using GIS and maps for your 2016 election campaign?
(GIS) can literally take dozens of pages of complex information and make a single, multicolored map that shows factors such as household density, family size, or racial and socioeconomic composition of neighborhoods along with their implied political and social attitudes where available from public opinion data” (Novotny & Jacobs)
GIS (can be used) to analyze fundraising patterns … and target areas that likely contained a large number of potential donors (Jardine, 2003)
Historically, GIS asset management systems have been dominated by enterprise solutions. These are large, complex systems, which often integrate with a third party GIS like ArcGIS from Esri. In recent times, there has been a growing demand for GIS asset management solutions which are more affordable, and easier to set up and use. Advances in software technology, including the release of new GIS and mapping services, has made the building of low cost, simple GIS asset management systems far easier.
Low Cost, Simple Mobile GIS Asset Management Systems for Local Government
We were approached earlier in 2015 by a group of small public municipalities who were looking for an affordable GIS asset management system. The requirement was for a single mobile GIS asset management app which could be used on any device – laptop, tablet, smartphone – whether in the office or the field. An application for managing utility assets which had the ability to update and synchronize the organizations central GIS or mapping system automatically. Key elements require included:
Are you wondering about Mobile GIS? Looking to improve how your field staff get their work done, looking to provide access to maps and GIS from any device and any mobile platform? In this article we will discuss some of the core elements of mobile GIS.
Mobile GIS Platform
Often a first question for those of us looking to use or build mobile GIS apps is: which mobile platform should we target – Apple, Android, Windows? At one time, this singular question was popular. We were focused on one platform, then often the popular choice was targeting Apple devices; the iPad and iPhone. But things are changing. The popularity of mobile devices means users have a mix of Apple, Android, and Windows devices. Cross-platform is increasingly the focus of today. That is mobile GIS apps which run on any device. Mobile Web GIS is one of the best cross-platform solutions. Ever more of our mobile development, as a company, is web focused for this reason.
I remember clearly the first music album I bought. Then we listened to vinyl LPS’s. I was 18, still living in England, and between school and University. The album was by The Tubes. One rather odd song stood out for me: What do you want from life?
At 18 it was a question I was beginning to ask myself. For me then my immediate focus was on geography. I never gave location or spatial a thought. Geography for me was about process. How was that wave cut platform formed? Intrigue over U shaped valleys. Marvelling at thunderstorms. On and on.
Mobiles are everywhere. Smartphones, tablets, even these new ‘somewhere in between’ phablets. They are cheap, come with amazing additions (GPS, camera, compass etc) and most importantly can be loaded up with an incredible assortment of apps. Go to the various app stores and the selection is amazing. Add to this those ever more popular Web apps, opened in your mobile browser, and things become almost overwhelming. Mobile technology has changed our world. Look around you and see how many people have their noses in a mobile.
GIS Transforming Data Collection
This post is focused on how location technologies like GIS in combination with mobiles are transforming how we gather and share data. We can split data collection into 3 distinct phases:
