GIS Tools and Resources for
Location-based Questions in
Business
Ben Mearns
Lead Geospatial Information Consultant
IT Client Support & Services
University of Delaware
Seminar Outline
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Why Location
What is GIS
Case Studies
Software Business Analyst
UD Resources
Q&A
Why Location
• GIS enhances BI with
geographic context and
external data
• Roughly 80% of business
data is location-based Pick
(2008)
• Visualizable = Effectively
communicate, make realtime insights
Source: Esri
Why Location Benefit/Cost
• GIS has lagged IT/BI adoption
• Adoption = Ecosystem = Value
http://www.opengeospatial.org/domain/geobi
Why Location Corporate Adoption
What is GIS
• GIS = Geographic Information Systems = the
tools for working with location-based
information
What is GIS Modeling Location
• Implements (potentially) precise, explicit systems for location
– Geocoding
• 20 Orchard Road Newark, DE 19716 (implicit location)  (39.6807,-75.7559)
• Topology : Modeling relationships between locations
– Points, lines, polygons
– Networks, etc.
• Geospatial data = points + topologies + grid + tables
Point
Line
Polygon
Grid (a.ka. Raster, Surface)
What is GIS Visualization
• Layers
Source: http://www.locationintel.com/
What is GIS Visualization
• Symbolization
What is GIS Visualization
• Interactive
What is GIS Visualization
• 3D
What is GIS Analysis
• Main Spatial Tool Types
– Overlay
– Proximity
– Table
– Surface
– Statistical
– Selection
What is GIS Enterprise Information
GIS Client or
Server
Modified from: http://www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/gis-and-business-intelligence.pdf
What is GIS Enterprise Information
Source: Imaging Notes Summer, 2010
Case Studies
Case Study Site Selection
• Wharton GIS Lab for Wawa
1. Customer Prospecting and
Hot Spot Analysis
2. Select a Site with the
Evaluate Site Tool
3. Create Trade Areas for the
Site
4. Create a Report for the site
5. Use the Huff Model to
forecast sales for the site
Directions Magazine 7/2/2005
Case Study Supply Chain
• Walmart
(WSJ 7/23/2010, Directions Magazine 7/29/2004)
– Supply Chain, Upstream
– Supply Chain, Downstream
• Home Depot
(Directions Magazine, 5/19/2006)
– Merchandise Mix
– Store Modernization
– Section Expansion (Garden Center, Home Builder)
Case Study Finance & Risk Analysis
• Financial Mitigation and
Governance
– Mortgage risk: what
are the geographic
trends? Fannie Mae
(2008)
– Reserve Size
– Compliance (Basel III,
CRA, HMDA)
• Insurance
– Premiums
– Risk diversification
– SwissRe: Reinsurance,
Natural hazard risk modeling
Source: http://www.esri.com/industries/insurance/pdfs/busgeoinfo-managing-risk.pdf
Case Study Marketing and Sales
“Half of all advertising is wasted, but no one knows which half that is”
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10098259-2.html
Business Analyst
• Now free for teaching and class related
student research
• Developed by Esri, part of ArcGIS
Business Analyst Components
• Data
– 11,000 variables
– Demographic (Current year, 5-year forecasts),
consumer spending, business locations, market
potential, crime, banking, major shopping centers,
traffic counts, lifestyle segmentation
• Software
– Business Analyst Online: market analysis, site
evaluation
– BA Desktop: Include in-house data
– BA Server: Follow in-house data life cycle
Business Analyst Lifestyle Segments
Business Analyst BAO Demonstration
UD Resources
UD Resources Learning
• Learning
– Workshops
– Virtual campus
– Webinars
– Classes
UD Resources Community
• Community for support and collaboration
– SMDC
• Getting started/basic map making
– Research Computing
• Troubleshooting
• Research support
• Ongoing support
– Collaboration
– UD GIS Email List
– Public Labs: Library SMDC, Pearson, Smith RC
UD Resources Software, Data, and Systems
• Software and Data
– Data acquistion
– Software selection
– UD licensed software: ArcGIS, Business Analyst, ERDAS
IMAGINE, ENVI, IDL, FME
– UD licensed data: Esri, ICPSR, etc.
• Systems
– Cloud based
– Virtual
– Cluster
UD GIS
We’re Open for Business
Ben Mearns, mearns@udel.edu
www.udel.edu/gis
Special thanks: Paul Amos,
Managing Director, Wharton GIS Lab