1. Handbook
1EDITOR’S NOTE
2WHAT LOCATION INTELLIGENCE
CAN DO FOR YOU
3LOCATION ROLLOUTS NEED
CLEAR-EYED NAVIGATION
4MOBILE BI APPS MAKE
ROOM FOR LOCATION DATA
VIRTUALIZATION
CLOUD
APPLICATIONDEVELOPMENT
HEALTHIT
NETWORKING
STORAGEARCHITECTURE
DATACENTERMANAGEMENT
BI/APPLICATIONS
DISASTERRECOVERY/COMPLIANCE
SECURITY
Mapping Out an Effective
Location Intelligence Strategy
Location intelligence technologies aren’t just for consumers looking for a good
restaurant or vacation spot. Businesses can benefit, too: Analyzing location data
can help them boost revenues and decrease costs.

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1EDITOR’S NOTE
Location Intelligence Takes BI to a New Place
Real estate, famously, is all about loca-
tion, location, location. Business intelligence
and analytics haven’t reached that point yet,
not by any stretch of the imagination. But loca-
tion data is taking on a higher profile in BI and
analytics circles, enabling the development of
location intelligence applications that let busi-
ness users map, track and analyze spatial data,
demographic records, logistics data and other
types of information. In a report published by
The Data Warehousing Institute in September
2012, consultant David Loshin cited a variety of
potential uses for location data, from assess-
ing eligibility for government assistance after
natural disasters to optimizing transportation
routing for product distribution.
And more advanced technologies are enter-
ing the location intelligence picture. For ex-
ample, mobile applications are fertile ground
for location-based analysis. And in a June 2013
report, consulting company Forrester Research
detailed what it termed “the next stage” for
marketers looking to tap into location technol-
ogy: location-enabled predictive marketing
aimed at better assessing the future interests
and needs of customers.
But you can’t just arrive at your location in-
telligence destination without putting in some
effort to get there. This guide is designed to
help you get started on that road. First we delve
more deeply into location intelligence use cases
and applications to provide a solid idea of what
the technology can be used for. Next we catalog
tips from experienced users on implementing
and managing location intelligence systems.
We close with a close look at the benefits and
challenges of deploying mobile location intel-
ligence apps. n
Craig Stedman
Executive Editor, SearchBusinessAnalytics.com

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2BEST PRACTICES
What Location Intelligence Can Do for You
The term location intelligence is a growing
part of today’s business intelligence and ana-
lytics lexicon, but what kinds of BI applica-
tions does location technology make possible?
Thanks to Google and other online information
sources, nearly everyone is familiar with a mul-
titude of consumer uses for location data—for
example, getting directions and finding restau-
rants, hotels, hospitals, government buildings
and just about anything else you might need to
find in a particular geographic area.
But can a business use location intelligence
software to boost its bottom line? Absolutely.
There’s a wide variety of location-based BI ap-
plications in play in nearly every industry. Here
is a sample of some of the most commonly
found ones:
■■ Customer analysis. Understanding the cus-
tomer is critical for any organization, and
location intelligence can play a big role by
enriching customer data with demographic
or lifestyle data based on where people live or
by adding spatial data metrics—drive times
to stores, for example—for use in sales fore-
casting models. Location data can also aid in
customer profiling, segmentation and pros-
pecting efforts, and in trade area and com-
petitive analysis applications.
■■ Retail site selection and expansion plan-
ning. Location intelligence tools can help
retailers find the best location for a new store
or suitable sites for an entire chain of stores.
Potential store sites can be quickly evaluated
and prioritized without the need for visits,
based on local demographic and economic
data and geographic factors such as trans-
portation access, the location of competitors
and site sustainability. Companies looking
to add stores to fill geographic gaps can also
use location-based analysis to measure the

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potential for “cannibalism” of customers who
already shop at existing outlets.
■■ Advertising and marketing promotions.
Efforts to reach potential customers with
targeted communications at the right place
and time have long benefited from insight
provided by location intelligence applica-
tions. And the possible uses are expanding
in today’s mobile-oriented world. Customers
are no longer associated with only a mailing
address or ZIP code and a home telephone
number but also with their location-enabled
smartphones and tablets. Effective marketing
messages must be tailored based on where
customers are at a particular time. Location
intelligence applications can trigger ads and
promotional offers based on proximity to a
store or other spatial information.
■■ Sales territory design and optimization.
Location intelligence can greatly improve
sales force productivity by helping companies
design balanced sales territories to optimize
coverage and customer service levels. Data
on customer density, travel times between
different sites, the locations of customers
with high buying potential and other factors
can be brought together and analyzed to en-
sure that territories are set up to reach cus-
tomers both effectively and efficiently.
■■ Supply chain management. In the global
economy, far-flung suppliers could be at risk
of events such as natural disasters, politi-
cal upheavals and even terrorist attacks that
might disrupt their production and deliver-
ies. Companies dependent on those deliveries
can use location intelligence systems to help
design supply chain networks and then to
identify risks, develop mitigation plans and
recover from disruptions when they do oc-
cur. Location-based applications can also help
improve distribution planning and execution
by supporting processes such as optimized
multi-modal transportation routing and geo-
fencing, which creates virtual boundaries and
provides alerts when vehicles or goods cross
them.
■■ Field service planning and tracking. Large
organizations such as utilities, telecom
2BEST PRACTICES

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carriers and oil and gas companies have ex-
tensive holdings and employ thousands of
technicians to install and repair equipment
in the field. Location intelligence tools have
long provided the means to map assets and
customer locations and help plan mainte-
nance and service activities. Now tablets and
smartphones add the ability to track vehicles
and workers in real time. The geofencing ca-
pabilities in location intelligence software
deployed on mobile devices can alert dis-
patchers when technicians approach, arrive at
or leave a work site; how long they stay there;
and whether they deviate from a specified
route. That can result in lower operating costs
and increased customer satisfaction.
It’s said that 80% of the data in an organiza-
tion has a location component. And with more
and more workers carrying location-aware mo-
bile devices, the number and variety of location
intelligence use cases is exploding.
In addition, vendors of databases, business
applications and BI tools have begun to build
support for storing, analyzing and visualizing
spatial data into their products. As business
users become familiar with those capabilities,
even more uses for location data surely will
follow.
If you aren’t already, you should think about
adding location intelligence to your business
landscape. Your competition likely is.
—Steve Benner
2BEST PRACTICES

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Location Rollouts Need Clear-Eyed Navigation
The Truckee Donner Public Utility Dis-
trict in California faces stiff regulatory re-
quirements that force it to inspect facilities,
overhead electrical wires and telephone poles
on an ongoing basis. But coordinating work
crews to get someone out to far-flung areas,
and then documenting inspections and report-
ing on the results, proved to be a challenge.
Two years ago, utility executives found that
they were falling behind on inspections.
They responded by turning to a suite of busi-
ness intelligence (BI) and location intelligence
software tools that enabled them to combine
administrative data with information on the
locations of crews in order to more efficiently
assign inspections.
Using the software, administrators can see
a visual map with information on what sites
have been inspected, what kind of work was
done at each location, who did the work and
what results were found. From there, they can
generate reports on the inspection work. Ad-
ditionally, the administrators can track how
inspections affect the quality of electrical
service by looking for correlations between
inspection findings and incidents of power
outages.
Ian Fitzgerald, IT operations manager for
the utility, said the BI and location intelligence
system has helped eliminate about 90% of the
inspection-related paperwork that previously
had to be done by hand. But getting the pieces
in place presented some challenges, he said,
adding that there are things other organizations
can do to help location intelligence implemen-
tations go smoothly.
KEEPING IT SIMPLE
Truckee Donner deployed a combination of
BI tools and dashboards from Logi Analyt-
ics and Esri geographic information system
3STRATEGIES

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3STRATEGIES
(GIS) software. Fitzgerald said there are lots of
ways that users can integrate the two kinds of
systems, including writing their own GIS and
XML code to customize the products.
But the utility has a limited number of tech-
nical staffers, so a heavy amount of custom
coding wasn’t an option. Instead, Fitzgerald
used sample code that he obtained through a
Logi user forum to streamline the Logi-Esri in-
tegration process. Users can also look for inte-
gration support from their vendors.
Also, the system’s user interfaces were de-
signed with business users in mind, which
means they needed to be simple and easy to
navigate. The goal was to enable workers in
all departments to use the software to col-
lect, manage and analyze data and put together
reports.
“Our philosophy is to put as much technol-
ogy in the hands of nontechnical people as
possible and let them collect the data without
having to spend too much time [handling that]
on the IT side,” Fitzgerald said.
A CHANGING LANDSCAPE
Seattle-based Venuelabs uses analytics and
location intelligence software to track com-
ments, likes, check-ins and other online ac-
tions by social media users in order to monitor
brand sentiment for its clients, mostly big-box
retailers or restaurant chains. The information
is correlated with location data to see how spe-
cific retail or restaurant locations are perform-
ing. Venuelabs CEO Neil Crist said most of the
software used by the company is homegrown,
and the primary users are a group of data sci-
entists—so a lack of technical resources and a
need to simplify the applications weren’t major
concerns when the system was being set up.
But keeping abreast of the changing dynam-
ics of social networking and ensuring that the
“Our philosophy is to put as much technol­ogy in the hands
of nontechnical people as possible.”
—ian fitzgerald, IT operations manager at Truckee Donner Public Utility Dis­trict

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3STRATEGIES
system continues to provide the required data
are critical to the company’s success.
Venuelabs has to constantly tune in to new
social media channels to see what users are
saying about corporate brands. For example, the
photo-sharing site Instagram generates a lot
of relevant data about the company’s clients,
but just 24 months ago that site had virtually
no users. The evolving social media landscape
means the data science team at Venuelabs reg-
ularly has to adjust its algorithms for analyz-
ing location-tagged information collected from
sites, partly because of the differences in how
users interact with them. For example, a “like”
on Facebook could have a different meaning
than a photo of a restaurant meal uploaded to
Instagram without any comment, and the sys-
tem has to take such variations into account.
Other businesses looking to implement
location intelligence software might not be
adding new content streams with the same
kind of frequency as Venuelabs, but the type
of information they’re interested in tracking
can change. For example, Fitzgerald said the
Truckee Donner utility district might become
satisfied that it’s doing enough site inspec-
tions in the future and want to place more of an
emphasis on understanding how the results of
inspections vary by location. A flexible mind-
set is called for in such cases to help ensure
that the location technology continues to meet
changing business needs.
PINPOINTING ITS USES
Howard Dresner, chief research officer at
Dresner Advisory Services in Nashua, N.H.,
knows there’s a great deal of knowledge stored
in location data. But businesses starting out on
projects need to determine whether location
intelligence software is applicable throughout
their operations or only in certain departments.
According to Dresner, retail and sales opera-
tions are likely to be able to gain significant
A flexible mind-set is called for to help ensure that location
technology continues to meet changing business needs.

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3STRATEGIES
knowledge from location intelligence applica-
tions. For example, meteorological data can
influence a retail store manager’s staffing de-
cisions. Finance departments, on the other
hand, typically would benefit less from the
technology.
With a growing number of organizations
looking to reap the benefits of big data analyt-
ics applications, there’s a tendency nowadays
to over-accumulate data. That can increase the
“noise-to-signal ratio” business users have to
contend with, Dresner warned.“We can collect
untold volumes of data these days, but then
you need to analyze it. There’s signal within
the noise, but it can be hard to find.”
Instead of collecting every piece of data that
has a location element attached to it, busi-
nesses may be better off starting with more
targeted projects that capture specific infor-
mation, Dresner said. As location intelligence
software continues to mature, it may become
feasible to crunch more data. But in the mean-
time, he advised, a pragmatic approach is to fo-
cus on analyzing data that can provide answers
to a limited set of location-related questions.
—Ed Burns

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Mobile BI Apps Make Room for Location Data
Companies increasingly are looking to
take analytics out of the office. And in many
cases, they’re combining mobile business in-
telligence software with tools that can analyze
location data to add a geographic component to
BI applications.
For example, Chris Hickman, a principal
consultant at Decision First Technologies Inc.,
said he recently helped a natural gas company
implement a location intelligence system that
agents inspecting possible gas production sites
can use to help decide whether to make rights-
purchase offers to the property owners while
they’re in the field.
When a landowner calls the company offer-
ing to sell the rights to gas deposits found on
a property, dispatchers can see in the system
which agents are in the area. The nearest rep-
resentative can then be sent to the property
and can check from a mobile device to see if
it’s close enough to existing pipelines and
refineries to be worth making a deal for the
drilling rights. That research previously had to
be done by employees back at the office, wast-
ing valuable time in evaluating properties and
opening negotiations with landowners, said
Hickman, who declined to identify the gas
company.
“Because they can talk with the ranch owners
and immediately look at the maps on the mo-
bile devices, they’re able to respond a lot more
quickly than the competition,” he said, adding
Companies are looking to take ana-
lytics out of the office, often com-
bining mobile business in­telligence
software with tools that can analyze
location data to add a geographic
component to BI applications.
4TECHNOLOGY

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4TECHNOLOGY
that the rapid-response capabilities increase
the odds that the property owner will agree to
a sale.
But the confluence of mobile BI and loca-
tion-based analysis presents some challenges
for IT and BI teams that should be taken into
account before embarking on a mobile location
intelligence initiative.
STICK TO THE PLAN
Hugh Strawn, vice president of catastrophe
services at the Property Loss Research Bureau
(PLRB), an insurance industry resource group in
Downers Grove, Ill., said an organization might
start a project with a clear set of objectives in
mind but then make changes to the plan mid-
stream—a move that could send the deploy-
ment astray.
With the help of geographic information sys-
tem software vendor Esri, the PLRB recently
released a mobile version of an application it
offers to member organizations that enables
claims adjusters to analyze weather data and
predict down to specific street addresses where
severe weather incidents are likely to have
occurred. Strawn said the information helps
adjusters decide whether claims should be paid
or investigated further.
Location intelligence systems can do many
things, Strawn said. But, he added, companies
should always stick to the capabilities that are
most important to meeting business needs—
particularly on mobile applications that have
to run on devices with small keyboards and
reduced screen real estate.
“Sit down and clearly define what it is you
want the product to look like when you’re
done,” he said.“What is it supposed to do? The
clarity and direction is crucial.”
User interface design is a crucial element of
any BI or location intelligence application, but
that’s especially true for mobile apps because
of the screen size limitations. Simply pushing
desktop versions of applications onto mobile
devices is big mistake, warned Howard Dresner,
an analyst at Dresner Advisory Services.“You
can’t take an existing desktop dashboard that
you use in the office and dump it on some-
one’s device,” he said.“You’ve got to design for
the device, design for the role, design for the
activity.”

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4TECHNOLOGY
WATCH OUT FOR DESIGN TRAPS
In mobile location intelligence implementa-
tions, it’s an easy trap for programmers to load
up maps with numerous data points in an ef-
fort to deliver as much information as possible
to the user. But that typically leads to informa-
tion overload and an application so cluttered it
can be impossible to use, Dresner said.
Another factor that can complicate the
design of mobile location intelligence appli-
cations is the use of Adobe Flash plug-ins.
Hickman pointed out that many mobile de-
vices, in particular the iPad and iPhone, don’t
support Flash; in fact, Adobe has stopped de-
veloping new versions of Flash Player for mo-
bile platforms. But many multimedia elements,
including interactive maps showing location
data, typically are designed using the Adobe
technology.
Application developers may be able to get
around that issue by using other methods. For
example, various BI vendors now allow devel-
opers to build mobile applications in HTML5,
a markup language that can be used to create
interactive elements. Still, Hickman said some
HTML5 features currently aren’t supported by
mobile operating systems. Programmers need
to understand what the devices being used in
their organizations will and won’t support be-
fore designing location-based applications for
mobile users, he said.
Hickman also cited connections to corporate
servers. The typical way for mobile users to
remotely connect to secure servers is through
a virtual private network. But he said some of
the business users he has worked with thought
VPN connections were overly complicated to
establish and didn’t want to bother with them.
Instead of a VPN client, Hickman recom-
mends using a reverse proxy connection that
allows users to access a secure URL through an
SSL certificate, a process that he said should
feel familiar to most people regardless of their
comfort level with technology.“It’s easier to
push the technical implementations back into
the IT department rather than having, say, your
CFO having to implement a VPN,” Hickman
said. —Ed Burns

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STEVE BENNER is founder of The Location Intelligence
Institute, which provides information resources on the
use of geospatial technology to improve business pro-
cesses and decision making. Benner also manages BI
alliances at Esri, a vendor of geographic information
system software. Email him at inquiries@tlii.org.
ED BURNS is the site editor of SearchBusinessAnalyt-
ics.com; in that position, he covers business intelligence,
analytics and data visualization technologies and top-
ics. He previously was a news writer for TechTarget’s
SearchHealthIT.com website, and he has also written
for a variety of daily and weekly newspapers in eastern
Massachusetts. Email him at eburns@techtarget.com.
ABOUT
THE
AUTHORS
Mapping Out an Effective Location Intelligence Strategy
is a SearchBusinessAnalytics.com e-publication.
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Jason Sparapani | Managing Editor, E-Publications
Joe Hebert | Associate Managing Editor
Craig Stedman | Executive Editor
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