IoT and Location Intelligence

5 Industries Being Transformed by IoT and Location Intelligence

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Read to learn how the fusion of location data with the Internet of Things (IoT) is making organizations smarter and more efficient across industries

So many devices around us have steadily gotten connected to the Internet that we hardly even notice how extensive the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem has become. Our computers and smartphones may be the most obvious IoT players, but today, everything from household items to manufacturing machinery has been embedded with sensors which are generating and streaming data without any kind of human intervention.

Given this pace of proliferation, Gartner says we should expect to see more than 20 billion Internet-connected devices by 2020. And McKinsey maintains that IoT applications could have a global economic impact to the tune of $3.9 trillion to $11.1 trillion per year by 2025. These incredible figures start to sound all too plausible when you look at the developments closer home.

According to IDC Canada, over 45% of Canadian organizations today have dipped their toes in the IoT pool and the IoT market in the Great White North alone is predicted to reach a value of $13.5 billion by 2019. When you consider how IoT is giving businesses access to knowledge they could never tap into before, the optimism for IoT applications gets more than justified.

IoT sensors generate a massive amount of data every day. To both increase revenue and decrease costs, all companies need to do is know how to extract actionable insights from the information at their disposal. Many industries have discovered that the best way to do that is to tie disparate information streams together using an easy-to-recognize context called location.

By using precise location data, organizations can easily visualize what is happening where. And by analyzing historical data bound by spatial awareness, they can map trends and use these insights to optimize business processes.

Let’s dig a little deeper into how various industries are becoming smarter and more efficient by fusing IoT with location intelligence:

Smart Cities

Urban analytics is an essential component of smart city development. IoT and location intelligence are allowing governments and municipal agencies to quickly gather regional insights to identify inefficiencies as well as environmental impacts and risks. For instance, smart sensors on wheels can not only identify most congested areas, they can also provide a telling picture of pollution hotspots. Further, IoT and location intelligence are also creating ladders of opportunities for businesses. For example, the Canadian city of Mississauga publishes its real-time bus locations as a live open data set. A gallery can easily use that information to tell a commuter about an art exhibit they could visit at the next stop.

Supply Chain and Logistics

The marriage of IoT with location intelligence is bringing greater levels of transparency and efficiency in the supply chain, and changing the playing field for organizations that deal with logistics. Embedding tags in cargos is leading to an unprecedented ease in asset tracking and tracing – both during in-freight operations and at the time of inventory management in a warehouse. Distribution centres are also able to manage their yards more effectively by providing up-to-the-minute directions to truckers based on the type of goods they are carrying. And businesses even have an opportunity to provide early intervention in case an asset goes missing or is out-of-place.

Consumer Retail

A study undertaken by Deloitte and the Retail Council of Canada has found that retailers are using smartphone-based traffic analysis to understand the foot traffic outside and inside stores during different times of the day. This data is helping retailers to implement strategies to grow in-store traffic at preferred times. But that’s not the only way how location intelligence and IoT are transforming consumer retail in Canada. Retailers are also using these technologies to execute everything from offering in-store navigation to identifying profitable locations for new stores.

Insurance Companies

According to PWC Canada, 63% of insurance CEOs are convinced that IoT will be strategically important for their organization. And location intelligence is a natural fit for this bundle. Sensor data backed by spatial awareness can give insurance providers first-hand information about what happened, improving their ability to proactively address claims. Insurance companies can also use the location-backed data to improve their risk rating, detect fraud, and improve customer loyalty. For instance, a car insurance provider can offer discounts on premiums to its customers based on their real-time driving data.

Energy and Utilities

Providing reliable, high-quality and uninterrupted service requires a great amount of visibility and control across the entire utility network. IoT and location intelligence make that possible in ways more than one. Peterborough Utilities Group in Ontario, Canada efficiently manages outages and voltage discrepancies in its distribution network by using IoT to capture multiple data points like temperature, board status, etc., every few minutes from its metering points. Meanwhile, BC Hydro, the chief electric utility for British Columbia, has found that it can restore power faster and isolate faults to the smallest possible area leveraging an IoT-based smart grid system.

Clearly, location awareness is indispensable for an effective IoT network. Location intelligence can provide both context and relevance to an organization’s decisions supported by sensor data and open up a wealth of opportunities for smarter growth.

To know more about how you can benefit from adding precise location data to your IoT setup, contact us.

Additional Reading:

5 Ways Canadian Retailers Should Be Using Location Data and Technology

Mexico Business Directory Data

Doing Business In Mexico: The Largest And Only Location-Based Mexico Business Dataset

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Doing business in Mexico?

Growth-minded companies are increasingly investing in and marketing to businesses in Mexico. This emerging market offers huge potential with a stable economy and currency, a growing middle class, skilled workforce, and low cost of manufacturing. Plus, free trade agreements offer favorable incentives, making it easier to do business in Mexico than in many other countries.

If you’re looking to invest resources in Mexico, you need reliable and accurate information to ensure that your decisions support current business objectives. Knowledge is your greatest asset when doing business in Mexico and location-based data should be central to your research as you look into the assets and resources that will help your business grow.

Leveraging location-based data will help you uncover reliable partners, opportunities, and most importantly, provide the knowledge you need to support your decisions.

See the map below to understand our coverage by state:

What is Location-Based Data?

First, an explanation of exactly what location-based data is and why it’s important. Also known as ‘location intelligence,’ location-based data displays information layered onto a map. It shows how various points of information spatially relate to each other, helping to support analysis and decision making.

Maps bring information to life, allowing you to understand information and relationships geographically, and uncover valuable insights.

How Location-Based Data Helps You When Doing Business in Mexico

Growing any business involves risk and reward. Risk increases when expanding into a new market. Foreign competition in Mexico is growing as more businesses recognize the advantages of doing business there. This means you need to identify the best opportunities quickly and act on them as soon as possible. Making effective decisions begins with leveraging accurate location-based data.

Once you’ve evaluated your needs, you need to do research and analysis to support your objectives. Location-based data allows you to get very familiar with target geographies or industries, helping you to find the most cost-effective dataset.
For example, if you’re looking for people and companies you want to do business with, here’s a summary of the data fields available:

  • Industry Sector
  • Major SIC Category (2 Digit)
  • Sub SIC Category (4 Digit)
  • Product or Service Description
  • Company Name, Address, Colonia, City, State, Zip/Postal Code

Also, our location-based data can be delivered as a complete dataset or as a subset. Here are our most popular subsets:

  • Point of Interest (POI) Dataset
  • Mexico Manufacturers Dataset
  • Mexico Email Dataset
  • Mexico Importers and Exporters Dataset
  • Mexico Wholesalers & Distributors Dataset
  • Mexico Retailers Dataset
  • Mexico Head Office Dataset

Additionally, if you need a subset of businesses located near an airport or other transportation hubs, contact us. If you need a subset of businesses located near a particular distribution center or closer to an agricultural area, all of this information is easier to see and understand when it’s on a map.

Doing Business In Mexico: Use Data to Save Costs and Drive Revenue

Instant access to Mexico business data will improve your potential for expansion and growth. It will help you determine the best options for cost-effective solutions, as well as identify how you can mitigate risk. For example, accurate location data helps your company identify the best locations for doing business, and the best people and companies within those locations that will help your company realize its objectives.

You’ll be able to make effective decisions faster than your competitors with the right location data, helping you to meet the growing demands of your business and facilitate growth. However, that data needs to be accurate and timely to positively impact business outcomes. When seeking business opportunities in Mexico, location data needs to be flexible, allowing you to filter and manipulate data so that you can analyze it according to your specific business needs.

The Largest Source of Location-Based Mexico Business Data

Accessing location data in large countries can be a major challenge. Many businesses come across unexpected obstacles to accessing the information they need, including bureaucratic issues, and cultural and language barriers. Once information is found, it’s difficult to determine if it’s accurate and reliable. To maximize your use of the data, you need to ensure that it’s accurate, continually updated, and will flow freely into your hands when you need it.

For companies looking to grow in Mexico, Digital Map Products offers the largest and only location-enabled dataset for Mexico business data. Contact us to learn about available data and pricing.

Want to see a sample of the data and how it’s structured?

Click here to download a sample dataset.

GIS Crime mapping app

Toronto Police Launch New Crime GIS Mapping Tool

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Mapping data using visualization tools is a powerful way to engage your audience. Today’s announcement by the Toronto Police of a crime-mapping tool is a great example of an interactive, online map to further engage the public. Crime-mapping tools can help solve major crimes by being able to visualize data on a map. Here’s a snippet of the story:

“The set of tools provides interactive mapping of crime information that will give the public up-to-date locations of what’s been happening in their communities,” Ian Williams, acting manager of business intelligence and analytics, said in a release.

Interacting with GIS Data

Data growth is set to continue at a fast rate, with data growing in volume, breadth, and complexity.

GIS has always been a powerful tool to help analysts make sense of vast amounts of information. We now have the ability to make this data available in a way that allows average users to interact and interpret the data. Audiences that don’t have traditional GIS background or experience in mapping can also use these tools.

Many datasets within our enterprises are capable of being mapped, but accurate geocoding, datasets and easy to use visualization tools are the key.

DMTI Spatial Data Visualization

Did you know that DMTI Spatial provides options?   Our datasets cover over 97% of Canadian addresses.  We update over 2,100 postal codes and 2,300 municipalities across Canada in the last 3 months alone.  And this data is available for use in mapping apps as well.   Our API brings high precision geocoding and address points directly into your customer solutions.

Are you struggling to implement data visualization? What challenges do you run up against in engaging your audience through mapping technologies?   Click here to learn how DMTI Spatial can help.

GIS Mapping Software

A Lesson in Map-Folding Origami

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Do you use maps? I’m fairly certain you do, possibly a GIS mapping app on a daily basis. When I was 16 and learning to drive maps were these sticky, dirty, impossible to fold, gigantic pieces of paper I always managed to rip while shoving back into the glove box. “You be the navigator, I’ll be the driver.” Remember those days?

Today we don’t have to worry about map origami (seriously, who actually folded it right the first time?!). I personally have 2 mapping apps on my Android, both of which have totally different purposes.

GIS Mapping Apps in order of favouritism:

1) Waze – Hands down one of the most fun and accurate traffic applications out there. Excellent UI and hilariously fun Voice Navigation, (I highly encourage everyone to try “Boy Band”). This app is intended to effortlessly navigate you through high traffic and accident-prone areas. Definitely my choice of app when it comes to getting from A to B.

2) Google Maps – With over 4.8 million Android users alone, this application is well known for its pros and cons. While it is definitely the easiest application to operate, it nearly never locates my gps position in under 5 minutes. This is my app of choice when looking up an area or trying to find a specific address.

You will notice these apps are very centered around my inability to navigate when driving, or using transit. How else would I use maps as a consumer?

Here’s Why the Average Person Needs a GIS Mapping App:

  • Get me from Home to ‘X’
  • Get me from Work to ‘X’
  • Find me the closest Subway to ‘X’

Pretty simple isn’t it? Not if you’re a Business.

Using GIS Mapping Software in the Business World

Maps in the business world are complex. Heck, that’s why we have GIS mapping apps. As this Esri link tells us, nearly every business benefits from understanding their environment. Better decision making, cost savings, etc. Whether you are in Retail, Land Development, or Health Care, it matters to know where your Customers/Clients are located. Better yet, if you have a GIS professional on your team – they can build you a map!

Take Health Care for example. DMTI Spatial worked with the Ontario Medical Association to understand where their Physicians were located in relation to the population in Ontario. While this exercise sounds easy, it was a complex project that resulted in a table of over 142 billion records – one of the largest data deliveries in DMTI’s 20 year history. Where your Customers are located matters.

Now consider Retail. What if you found out your most loyal customers (aka the ones that spend the big bucks) are located within 10 km of your store. Would you consider marketing to these neighbourhoods? Or divert marketing dollars that were intended for a 30km + distribution?

Today we use maps to make business decisions. Only these maps are digital, and sometimes come with a boy band singsong voiceover (again, I highly suggest it).

Want to integrate a basic map into your Business process? Want to visualize where your customers are? Let me know and I can help. But, I can’t fold that blasted paper map back up for you.

Location Intelligence for Enterprise

Challenges, Drivers and the Need for Location Intelligence

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Even organizations that understand the value of location intelligence struggle to translate that understanding into meaningful profit-generating activities.

Much of the difficulty stems from the challenges of marrying enterprise data, which is typically housed in relational databases, to fully spatial-enabled information. New solutions that provide access to a platform of technology and crucial data building blocks that are integrated into an enterprise’s information processing cycle are available.

The result is a clean, current and consolidated view of enterprise information revealing new opportunities to enhance profitability.

3 drivers of location intelligence in the enterprise market are:

  1. The availability of high quality, current and complete data: Commercial geographic content providers are getting more sophisticated in the data offerings made available (e.g. to the building units in apartment buildings) allowing for a hyper-local perspective in business applications not previously available. Full service providers of location intelligence include subscriptions to geographic data that is maintained and developed on an on-going basis.
  2. Growing awareness of location-enabled services: Location intelligence has been popularized by business to consumer (B2C) applications from Internet search portals and personal navigation device (PND) vendors; and this increased awareness is moving into the Enterprise segment of the market.
  3. The rise of web services as a better-faster-cheaper deployment model: Software as a Service (SaaS) is now recognized as an agent that transforms how companies do business and is one of the most compelling innovations allowing for deployments of location intelligence that are cost effective. Solutions and delivery models are maturing and can be adopted without any disruption to existing IT structures or data modeling applications, reducing the attendant risk and expense.

More and more, the value of location intelligence is being linked to strategic and operational success at an enterprise level. As a means of generating revenues and controlling expenditures, location intelligence can directly impact profitability. Click here to learn more about how DMTI can help you leverage location intelligence.

Risk management for earthquakes

The Importance of Managing Earthquake Risk

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Do your risk management processes consider the risk of Earthquake?

October 16th marked the 7th annual ShakeOut where over 24 million participants worldwide will practice how to drop, cover and hold on at 10:16 a.m. during Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills.

“ShakeOut BC Day” started in 2011 and this year over 660,000 participants in British Columbia will participate in drills.  The Charlevoix region in Quebec started participating in 2013 and the entire province has joined in for 2014 with over 80,000 participants registered.

Canadian Regions at Risk for Earthquake

Most people would initially think that British Columbia is most at risk when thinking about the risk of earthquakes in Canada.  However, parts of Quebec and Eastern Ontario are also at risk for earthquakes.  At a recent earthquake response seminar held in Toronto by the Catastrophe Response Unit (CRU), Dr. Kristy Tiampo, professor of geophysical modeling methods at Western University’s department of earth sciences in London, Ont. who also works with the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) stated that “Montreal and Ottawa are both at significant risk of ground shaking” and noted that both cities have seen earthquakes that have measured around 6 on the Richter scale.

In an October 2013 report commissioned by the Insurance Bureau of Canada titled “Study of Impact and the Insurance and Economic Cost of a Major Earthquake in British Columbia and Ontario/Québec” two hypothetical earthquakes were modeled by AIR Worldwide.  One off the west coast of British Columbia measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale and one northeast of Quebec City measuring 7.1.  These two hypothetical scenarios would result in a combined estimated total insured losses of over $30 billion.

It is imperative for insurance companies to have a complete and accurate picture of the location of the property that they are insuring in context to the risks that surround that property.  This will allow them to rate the policy correctly and also to determine whether or not they want to assume the risk.  Understanding where the property is in relation to an earthquake zone is very important.  But not only is it important to know if the property itself is at risk, but also knowing where that property is in relation to other items that could be impacted by an earthquake.  For example, what if the property was close to a natural gas pipeline or propane processing facility?  Knowing about these potential risks in isolation is important to the underwriting and rating decision. But, what about when you also factor in earthquake?  An earthquake of a small magnitude may not be enough to cause much damage the property.  But what if it was enough to cause a gas leak, that then lead to a fire and an explosion?  Having this level of information could mean a big difference.

Disaster Risk Management for Insurance Companies

Another factor to consider for insurance companies is the accumulation of risk.  While the risk for the single property may be acceptable, knowing where all your existing policyholders are at the time you underwrite a mortgage and their relation to risks such as earthquake zones will be critical in determining whether you are willing to assume this additional risk or if your exposure is too high.  If there are two major events in a given year, would your exposure be too high and you wouldn’t be able to pay out on all the claims?

In Canada, various forms of location such as postal code boundaries, municipalities and Catastrophe Risk Evaluating and Standardizing Target Accumulations (CRESTA) zones (for earthquakes) are used to determine the accumulation of risk.

As per the ICLR, Canadian reinsurers, insurers and regulators use Catastrophe Risk Evaluating and Standardizing Target Accumulations (CRESTA) zones as the minimum standard for the capture of data and first level of calculation of probable maximum loss (PML).  PML evaluations can influence underwriting decisions, and the amount of reinsurance allowed on a risk can be predicated on the PML valuation.

The original CRESTA zones were established in 1981 and introduced in Canada in 1986.  They have been recently re-worked globally and have been re-launched to the market for 2012/2013.

All businesses can use this information to help define their contingency plans in event of an earthquake. Which of my existing store or branch locations might be impacted?  Where are my employees situated?  How would I deploy resources to help my customers most efficiently?  Where would I situate them?Insurance underwriting and exposure analysis is only one area where this information can be used.  Other examples include:

  • Public Safety departments within governments can use this to build contingency plans for their citizens, determine where they would locate remote relief sites, sites for temporary housing or medical facilities.
  • Telecommunication companies could use this to gain a better understanding of the risks associated with building out infrastructure in various parts of the country

Click here to see how DMTI’s disaster risk management tools help insurance companies effectively plan for every possibility.

Developing Location Intelligence

Transforming Location Intelligence into Profit

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Over the next few weeks, this blog series will provide an overview of some of the basic uses of location intelligence (LI) at an enterprise level, its capacity to optimize business processes, and its hierarchy of benefits that impact positively on profitability and competitiveness.

Here’s what readers can expect to learn:

Location Intelligence: Definition and Context

Some progressive organizations are starting to recognize the value of location as an organizing principle. They see how it is embedded in corporate information, and can be applied to current business problems. Through the use of location intelligence technology, these organizations are finding ways to leverage a latent asset.

As a result, telecommunications companies are improving the serviceability of products across their customer base to increase profitability, insurance companies are better understanding risk and pricing to contain costs, utilities are more accurately meeting compliance requirements, and civil authorities are improving threat detection and emergency management capabilities. These are just some of the applications at an enterprise level.

The strategic use of location intelligence is being propelled by several key business drivers, including the need to increase revenue while simultaneously contain or reduce costs. These strategic imperatives form two sides of the profitability equation, which location intelligence is well-suited to solve.

Location intelligence describes the capacity of an entity or organization to use the principles of location to organize, reason, plan and problem solve. It is not defined by the mere presence of location-enabled technology, but moreover by the degree information is enriched by the perspective of location and the successful integration of this information into a process of decision making.

Specifically, location intelligence is the capability to organize and understand complex phenomena through the use of geographic relationships inherent in all information. Applied in a business context, the outcomes are meaningful, actionable and can provide a sustainable competitive advantage. Building location intelligence successfully requires business specific domain knowledge, formal frameworks, and a relentless focus on desired business outcomes. It’s about transforming business processes and creating opportunities.

Dimensions of Location Intelligence

Location intelligence applications are generally industry specific. However, within that framework, uses can be sub-sorted into three sub-categories:

Enterprise decision support: enterprise applications, often vertically focused, that illuminate optimal business strategy. For example, a telecom company consolidating newly acquired customers can identify common customers and determine how to offer services to achieve the greatest value. An insurance company can link geography dependent risk elements such as proximity to a flood zone or density of coverage in specific neighborhoods to better contain costs, and mitigate or more accurately price for risk.

Customer service: applications that facilitate customer service and self-service to improve the overall customer experience.For example, a government agency can more efficiently measure service levels or plan for the distribution of services that are in many cases dependent on variables that change over space, such as household income or number of children. Governments may also be able to better protect constituents by applying location intelligence to existing workflows so as to enhance fraud detection or threat detection capabilities.

Consumer applications: enterprise applications that build loyalty among customers and influence purchasing behaviors. For example, retailers can execute store-specific promotions with more accuracy, and profile and target their markets, resulting in the identification of higher value customers. Or retailers may use location intelligence to augment loyalty program services via internet channels, as in neighbourhood smart store offerings.

Table 1.0 – Use scenarios for location intelligence by industry

Uses of Location Intelligence
Communications & Media Insurance and Finance Government Services
Marketing

  • micro-marketing
  • assessing penetration levels
  • identifying competitive threats
 Portfolio Analysis

  • predictive analytics
  • pricing and loss reserving
  • assessing policy saturation
 Address Management

  • address validation
  • data cleansing
  • data maintenance
Customer Service

  • pre-sales qualification
  • dispatch efficiencies
  • multi-product eligibility
 Marketing Services

  • property-level campaigns
  • neighbourhood context
  • repeat marketing tracking
 Information Integration

  • improved data integrity
  • a “one client view”
  • reducing cascading error
Operations

  • customer serviceability
  • cost avoidance
  • network planning
 Sustainable Compliance

  • risk assessment
  • improved monitoring
  • compliance auditing & reporting
 Entity Authentication

  • fraud detection
  • risk profiling and scoring
  • advanced analytics

Up Next: Challenges, Drivers and the Need for Location Intelligence 

Understanding location-based marketing

The Continued Rise of Location-Based Marketing

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Location-based marketing is helping a whole new generation of marketers understand how using data helps them better find, target and message to their best prospects and customers.

A report from Juniper Research estimates that revenues from the Mobile Context and Location Services market will reach $43.3B by 2019 almost 4x the current market valuation at this point.

But how should marketers leverage location to better understand and reach their customer base?

How to Leverage Location to Understand Customers

The first thing to take into consideration is the accuracy of your location data, or the location data of your ad provider. Paying for ads that are presented to someone who is nowhere near your location defeats the entire purpose of location-based messaging.

According to a study published by ThinkLinear in July of this year:

“The problem is that, on average, only 34% of ad requests that include latitude and longitude data are accurate within 100 meters of a user’s location. That means advertisers are paying to target a user in a specific location, but the person isn’t really there. Advertisers aren’t getting what they paid for, performance suffers, and the whole industry ends up looking bad.”

In these types of instances, providers like DMTI Spatial are able to bring their GIS knowledge to the table to help – transforming traditional address data into geocoded roof-top accurate locations to ensure that advertisers have a much more accurate data set to work with.

How Different Demographics Use Location-Based Services

The second element to consider is how people access and leverage location based services.  For example, a recent survey posed by the Location Based Marketing Association (LBMA) titled “The Internet of Things: The Future” found that:

Women are slightly more likely than men (54 percent vs. 47 percent) to share data from their connected car in exchange for location-based coupons or discounts.

Men are more likely than women (33 percent vs. 22 percent) to share data from their connected car if informed of potentially interesting locations along their route.

These behavior patterns mirror what we as marketers might expect from the non-location marketing based world, but are worth taking into consideration when considering the use of location-based marketing to reach out to your customers.  Who are you looking to target, and what information do they want to receive from you on their mobile device.

The combination of behaviour and location are quickly pulling marketers, particularly in the retail space, to focus on location-based offers.  The launch of the Apple iBeacon and Google Glass last year are heralding a new era of communications as customer visit retail locations.  Large brands, including the Bay, Lord & Taylor and others are leveraging the new iBeacon technology, along with location intelligence to message to potential customers.  And it appears that the public is interested too – 77% of us are OK with sharing our location information while we shop, and 81% of those receiving mobile messaging read those messages.

Does your organization have precise location data for your customers?  How will your organization take on the brave new world of location-based marketing? Click here to learn more about how DMTI helps marketers leverage location data to increase the ROI of marketing campaigns.