Big Data, Open Data, Meta Data but what about Spatial Data?

Spatial Data - A business intelligence tool without the hype

In a world of two and a half billion people connected with various devices, an explosion of sensor and behavioral data is being created. For most SME's in the world the most challenging aspect of any decision-making process has been finding, validating and massaging relevant data by visualising, analysing and optimising it in a manner that helps solve business problems.

In the last few years there has been a heightened awareness of both the challenges and benefits of harnessing business-relevant information that is inherent in the vast array of big data and open data that is available to us. It is this explosion of data from sources such as sensor networks, crowd sourcing and social media channels that ensures that ‘data’ is king when it comes to the discipline of business analytics.

Businesses now, more than ever before, need access to authoritative data content and relevant information, whether that content is contained in open data sources, big data sources, or in the case of a fast developing area of business analytics called location analytics, ‘spatial’ data sources.

Up to now, spatial data (to you and me this is simply data that can be viewed on a map) fell into that very specialist area of Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Now, spatial data is pretty much available and accessible to anyone with an internet connection, whether that is through a PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. Companies such as Esri, Google, Bluesky, Microsoft and HERE are providing large volumes of rich ready-to-use spatial data content, including high quality aerial imagery, street level data, census data, environmental data, health data, economic data and other business-relevant data such as demographic profiles, deprivation indexes and consumer spending.

Interestingly, spatial data has always been a part of business analytics, often helping answer questions such as: ‘Where should I locate my next store or branch?’ ‘Where are my existing customers and where are my target prospects?’ However, with the explosion of location based data collected through smartphones and other devices this has meant that the use of spatial data is now fast becoming a source of competitive advantage for the business sector.

Businesses now understand that spatial data is a powerful way to connect people to place, transactions to actions,responses to trends, and customers both to where they do business and what kinds of business they do.  Location based analytics makes use of this array of spatial data by combining it with your own business data in a way that will reveal trends and patterns that otherwise wouldn’t be visible with traditional business analytics tools and processes.

So, as we hear more and more from the open data and big data movements it is easy to get caught up in the hype around both of these data sources.  But let’s not forget about spatial data, which in itself is both open and big in the context of its impact and value proposition to the business community.