Maps are so prevalent online these days that we are pretty much starting to take them for granted. Every time something of interest happens in the world, it's a matter of hours until someone has built a map that speaks to what's going on.
Case in point: the recent earthquakes in ChristChurch, New Zealand. You can see the chronology of the earthquakes there on a map.
Maps convey things that words, charts, and simple numbers cannot. Maps have the distinct advantage, as a presentation medium, in that most of us know inherently what things on a map mean (unless you're traveling with a spouse, who is desperately trying to read a map as you cruise past your exit... but that's another whole topic).
We know what state or province we live in. We know where regional and national centers are. We understand streets, counties, ZIP and postal codes. We can look at an address or point on the map and associate any number of things with that address. We automatically and naturally associate things with places on a map.
So it should come as no surprise that maps are in fact becoming increasingly important in business, as mediums to perform analysis. A recent article on the GovPro web site cites healthy growth numbers (from Daratech, Inc.) for GIS in 2010 at 10.5%, with a projected 8.3% growth rate for 2011. That's no small number in a $5B or so market.
But what really caught my eye in the article was this quote from Charles Foundyller, CEO of Daratch:
GIS data has grown at a compound annual rate of 15.5 percent for the last eight years — about twice the rate of growth for GIS/geospatial software and services. "GIS data is to GIS/geospatial apps what software is to computers," said Foundyller. "Without it, GIS/geospatial apps have nothing to tell us."
The data is the thing. Data is what brings maps to life for us, and lets us make those instant associations.
Now think about where and how the bulk of most organizations' key data is stored. It's primarily in the data warehouses and business intelligence applications that are used to improve the performance of the business. And we have yet to see a significant BI application that does not have a rich Location or Region dimension. In fact, regional groups, sales teams, departments, and divisions by and large play a big role in how most organizations manage themselves.
That's what's fueling the huge trend we're seeing in the integration of maps with all of that rich data in BI applications. It's what drove the huge level of attendance to our recent webinar. It's what we live and breathe every day.
The word is out: it's about the data. Got data that you'd like to see on a business map? Tell us about it.
- dk