2018

A Research Report on
GeoAnalytics

Demystifying Analytics
Individual Assignment 2

Submitted By
Post Graduate Diploma in Management
Fortune Institute of International Business, Rohit Verma (144)
New Delhi
Section C
 Table of Contents

Introduction to GeoAnalytics .............................................................2

Evolution of GeoAnalytics ..................................................................3

Current Technology Status ................................................................4

Business Applications of GeoAnalytics .............................................6

 Weather Related Forecasting: .................................................................. 6

 GeoAnalytics in Telecommunication: ........................................................ 6

 GeoAnalytics in Healthcare Services: ........................................................ 6

 GeoAnalytics in Energy and Power Services: ............................................. 7

 Some other business applications............................................................. 7

Challenges for GeoAnalytics ..............................................................8

Future Directions .................................................................................9

Bibliography..........................................................................................9
Introduction to GeoAnalytics

In today’s world science and technology are doing wonders in exploring path breaking
discoveries in almost every form which are playing some role in our life. The burdens of
producing science with global importance and global impact have made understanding and
using geographic data important to a large portion of scientific research. GIS is one of the
widely used technologies and became one of the best tools in exploring geographic area for
research studies and industrial applications. GIS (Geographic information systems) which is
designed to capture, store, manage, analyse and present geographic data. GIS applications are
being used in different projects in environmental science, public health, situational
awareness, policy and government and others. The geographic data created by these
applications and tools are extensively big and created a need for Big Data. Datasets important
to these projects are mostly big in size in terabytes, or they are quickly changing in streams of
complex data. The tools available for professionals today are not sufficient to meet the Big
Data problem. Old-style GIS enables researchers to create custom databases with analytics
and Google Maps let them to publish data to the web. Presently there are various open source
tools for specialized and general GIS purposes. But the world requires tools which can adapt
to new and different data in real time so as to meet the essentials for scientific researches,
social and industrial problems. Traditional GIS tools like ArcGIS and GRASS allow a user
to import a large number of maps and doing complex analysis for their projects but the results
produced by the tools are offline and relatively static. The second generation tools like
Google Maps and Google App engine enables user to quickly create a maps without any
former training, the users just need a web browser and text editor. These tools are simple to
use and embedded with good and easy functions that fulfil basic requirements for serious
scientific analysis. These tools present geographic datasets in a geographic visuals
presentation that are more users friendly and interactive but they do not store the data for
analysis. This adds difficulty in the scientific process and also discourages the sharing of
source data.

GeoAnalytics is a 3rd Generation solution developed according to real-world needs in

working with geographic data. GeoAnalytics is integration of traditional analytics, GIS
technology and big data usage. GeoAnalytics can handle big data’s update frequency, access
patterns and management of large scale data storage. It allows a user to quickly develop and
deploy models and finished solutions. GeoAnalytics is providing pathways to accomplish
common tasks by meeting the requirements like Visualization through Clustering and heat
maps, thematic maps, and routes. Analytics through complex filtering of data, numeric
calculations, charting and data set management. (Geopointe)

Some of the top GeoAnalytics companies are orbital Insight, Descartes Labs, Qlik
GeoAnalytics, Airpix Geoanalytics, TerraLoupe, OmniEarth and DataSpark Analytics. (Venture
Radar)

Evolution of GeoAnalytics

In the year 1854 in London, England Dr John snow made a map showing the clusters of
cholera cases in Broad Street, London. This map was one of the first uses of map-based
spatial analysis.

Spatial analysis is the early form in the evolution of GeoAnalytics. The spatial analysis is a
technique which study entities using their topological and geographic properties. (Wikipedia)

In the year 1968, Roger Tomlinson presented a paper titled "A Geographic Information
System for Regional Planning" and became the father of the term GIS. The GIS uses spatial
analysis as a technique for its working. Earlier in 1960, Roger Tomlinson also developed a
true operational GIS system named as Canada Geographic Information System (CGIS) which
is used to store, analyse and manipulate data which was collected by the Canada Land
Inventory for the federal Department of Forestry and Rural Development. (Wikipedia). Today
Modern GIS technologies are used in various industrial and research applications. GIS
technologies uses hard copy map or survey plan and ortho-rectified imagery (which are the
images taken by satellites, aircrafts and UAVs), and then GIS convert this into digital form
through process of digitization by using CAD programs. This data is then utilized in other
applications in different forms. Presently GIS applications are used widely everywhere in the
world real estate, national defence, natural resource exploration, climatology, crime
mapping, public health, regional and community planning, transportation and logistics and
landscape architecture. (grindgis)

With the emergence of google analytics in the year 2011 which was capable of handling big
datasets and analysing these datasets to produce insights from it. Since then analytics
technique is being experimented with different domains and when the analytics is applied to
the GIS technology a new form of technology came into an existence named as
GeoAnalytics. And various applications of this technology have been produced over the time.
Presently GeoAnalytics is being used in various applications like healthcare, census data,
weather forecast and tracking real time POS data.

Current Technology Status

Presently location based data is being utilized in various industrial applications and also in
scientific researches. This data is used in industries to generate insights for businesses like
increasing workforce in a particular region according to demand and supply forces, setting up
of warehouses and delivery centres for the company to reduce logistics cost and improve
efficiency of supply chain management. Today 80% of the data generated in the world has
some geospatial or location based component embedded in it. Presently location based
intelligence is doing well and proved itself in day to day workings Uber is an great example
which is using GeoAnalytics in their business model where the data collected through
mapping data from drivers GPS is being used to analyse traffic patterns and company use this
analysis in its services of pick-up/drop-off locations with less traffic density. HP at Singapore
is using GeoAnalytics for their logistics network and warehouse planning. With the usage of
GeoAnalytics HP reduced its logistics cost by more than 50%. Telecom service providers are
using this technology in planning tower locations for their network by analysing geographic
population and geographic features of the areas with the GeoAnalytics Tools; this has
enabled companies to achieve faster service with high quality and low cost operations.
Presently we have popular GeoAnalytics tools like Qlik which has produced different
versions of GeoAnalytics usage for businesses. This popular tools comes with some great
features like Ease of use where we can simply drag and drop maps for our analysis, it permits
user to see multilayer maps in a single window and can add various layer types such as
bubble, line and area. Thematic colour based maps which look great and help user to
differentiate between areas. (Axis Group) Qlik can perform spatial analytics and can generate
useful insights out of it. Several others features of this tools are Drill down mapping
capability, indoor mapping capability, Animation control and Connectivity. ArcGIS
GeoAnalytics servers have revolutionized the experience for the users. Now users have more
accessible datasets which are stored on the ArcGIS servers and can perform more refined
analysis of the Geographic data for a region. Below is a beautiful example that shows the
power of GeoAnalytics, helping in generating insights.

The picture above shows the crime points in Vancouver over the years from 2003 to 2016.
These crime points are scattered all over the map and it is difficult for the researcher to
interpret the crime point clusters on the map to pinpoint the crime centres in Vancouver. The
image shown below is the sample what the GeoAnalytics is capable of doing. (Xing)

By using GeoAnalytics tools like ArcGIS GeoAnalytics, the researchers can easily
differentiate between regions to pin point the crime centres in Vancouver.
Business Applications of GeoAnalytics

 Weather Related Forecasting: In the year 2012 when the Hurricane sandy hit US
eastern seaboard, the devastation occur due to it made the government to think about
solutions which can help the government to plan for the natural disasters and identify
techniques by which proper planning of resources and measures can be taken care off.
GeoAnalytics is now being used by the National weather service of US to analyse pattern
of hurricanes and the way hurricane travels, it also help to monitor risks associated with
hurricanes and help in planning critical services needed at the time of hurricane hit so
that government can take preventive measures. (ArcGIS)

 GeoAnalytics in Telecommunication: In telecommunication operators use heat maps

to identify the heavy load areas and use this data to identify areas for preventive actions
before there is service disruptions. The mobile network signal quality can also be
monitored with Geoanalytics in spatial terms which will allow operators to offer
distinguished service quality based on location. (Williamson)

 GeoAnalytics in Healthcare Services: In healthcare services GeoAnalytics is

extensively used to discover lifestyle and demographics of people in various geographies
and this data is utilised by the agencies for disease prediction, report and control. Health
 agencies can target high-risk areas with preventive countermeasures. It can also be used
to enhance the location of new facilities and resources based on forecasted need and
demand. (Crockett)

 GeoAnalytics in Energy and Power Services: GeoAnalytics can provide geographic

view of domestic and industrial user power consumption and can help company to
balance demand and supply of power at peak times. It can be used in predictive planning
of fault locations, fault warning and categorization of repairs according to previous fault
pattern and locations in power lines. By this we can take protective measures for more
vulnerable grid infrastructure components. (Williamson)

 Some other business applications where GeoAnalytics can be used are ; Planning
Smart cities, Environmental modelling, Logistics and warehouse planning, traffic
tracking and management, census data and Insurance industry.
Challenges for GeoAnalytics

 Data Privacy: Gathering and analysis of data about individuals is vital for development
in many areas such as public health, transportation, security and many more. With the
rapid development, Technologies are collecting various kinds of personal data for
analysis and the negative side of technological progress is the increasing threat to
personal privacy. This collected data contains location of people and the analysis of such
data may conflict with the individual person rights to prevent disclosure of the location
of individual home, workplace, trips and activities.

 Improve Infrastructure for Data Handling: During the last few years data sets are
growing fast in size and complexity. Tools to handle unstructured data may get outdated in the
future to handle, understand and discover patterns in the enormous data. Current approaches that
work need to be improved for the future to handle dynamic and complex data sets at supersonic
speed so that the real time analytics reports and insights can be generated at the time of
requirement.

 Data sharing between servers: ArcGIS servers are dedicated for providing storage
cloud services to the users and have tools for GeoAnalytics and GIS. The big data file
sharing problem have started arising with the servers and users sometime feel difficulty
in accessing file which may make the process slow for doing analytics.

 More customized Maps and Ease of use: The user are requiring more customized maps
and layer to get more information out of it but during the process of mapping some data
is lost due to in proper conversion of traditional maps. GeoAnalytics require trained
professionals and the user interface require developments so that most of the people can
use these tools in the government departments, offices and businesses.

 Mobile capability: Mobile has become an important source of data generation and
collection of information. It is recommended for companies to build collaborative,
mobile capable interactive sites that work with modern browsers.
 Limited Enterprise Applications: GeoAnalytics is a powerful technology and can be
used in various functions of business but the workforce required to build applications for
the business are not in ample number.

Future Directions

With the UBER success in the US and uber business model has a component of GeoAnalytics
in it which have produced enormous operational and financial benefits to the company and
with this the GeoAnalytics became power tool for various location based service companies
like Airbnb, Instacart and many more. According to Harvard studies location based data
services will be growing at rapid pace which will make this technology more precious. In
future GeoAnalytics will be used for planning new cities and improving resource planning for
existing cities. Researchers will be using this technology to explore nature and track
environmental changes in the geographies. GeoAnalytics will be a great opportunity to look
upon for the enterprises and for the government in the development of state infrastructures.

Bibliography

ArcGIS. (n.d.). Creating hurricane tracks using GeoAnalytics. Retrieved 11 29, 2018, from
developers.arcgis.com: https://developers.arcgis.com/python/sample-notebooks/creating-
hurricane-tracks-using-geoanalytics

Axis Group. (n.d.). 10 things I love about Qlik. Retrieved 11 29, 2018, from axisgroup.com:
http://www.axisgroup.com/data-industry-insights-blog/10-things-i-love-about-qlik-
geoanalytics

Crockett, D. (n.d.). The power of Geoanalytics in predictive analysis in healthcare. Retrieved 11 29,
2018, from healthcatalyst.com: https://www.healthcatalyst.com/geo-analytics-predictive-
analytics-healthcare

Geopointe. (n.d.). What is geo analytics and who needs it. Retrieved 11 28, 2018, from
geopointe.com: https://www.geopointe.com/2017/04/18/what-is-geo-analytics-and-who-
needs-it/

grindgis. (n.d.). 67 important gis applications and its uses. Retrieved 11 28, 2018, from grindgis.com:
https://grindgis.com/blog/gis-applications-uses
Venture Radar. (n.d.). Top GeoAnalytics Companies. Retrieved 11 28, 2018, from ventureradar.com:
https://www.ventureradar.com/keyword/Geoanalytics

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Geographic Information system. Retrieved 11 28, 2018, from en.wikipedia.org:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_information_system#History_of_development

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Spatial Analysis. Retrieved 11 28, 2018, from en.wikipedia.org:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_analysis

Williamson, J. (n.d.). Smart Ideas using GIS and GeoAnalytics. Retrieved 11 29, 2018, from
inform.tmforum.org: https://inform.tmforum.org/features-and-analysis/2015/02/smart-
ideas-using-gis-geoanalytics/

Xing, C. (n.d.). How to analyze Big Data. Retrieved 11 29, 2018, from resources.esri.ca:
https://resources.esri.ca/getting-technical/how-to-leverage-the-distributed-computing-
power-of-geoanalytics-server