J
JTP PR
Location Intelligence, the mashup of GIS and Business Intelligence
(GIS) A Business Intelligence (BI) system enables better decision
making by combining the extraction, analysis and presentation of
business information. It typically consists of a web browser dashboard
that provides a single, personalised window into corporate information
stored in a data warehouse.
In the typical BI system, data is extracted from backend systems such
as financial, customer relationship management, inventory, asset
management, and human resources and moved into the warehouse, where it
is restructured for efficient analysis and reporting.
The BI system handles access, security and administration of the
warehouse, It enables the chief executive to track performance for
example; or the sales manager to compare sales revenue by product line
and store. The customer service manager can see which of his or her
engineers is trained to fix a particular piece of equipment or the
maintenance history of an asset.
Glen Rabie of BI software company Yellowfin explains: 'Dashboards
communicate complex information quickly. They translate corporate data
into graphics using gauges, charts and other visual media to show
multiple results together. What makes this interesting for the GIS
world is that now they are adding maps.
When people see something on a map, they understand it, and it allows
them to see relationships between different pieces of business data
that they didn't previously appreciate,' he said.
Users are embracing location-enabled BI because it is already familiar
and enjoyable to use, thanks to the Sensis Whereis site and real
estate sites such as Homebound. Also, SatNAV and Google Maps have
played a huge role in introducing the power of GIS to the mass market.
There is a 'wow' factor when executives see their everyday data
presented for the first time with a map. For a telecommunications
company it may be seeing a link between the amount of money spent by
the marketing department and the busiest exchange, or being able to
target those customers who are on exchanges with spare capacity and
avoid offering others services their exchange cannot support
For an agribusiness executive it may be seeing the impact of the
amount and timing of fertiliser application on crop yield on a map
derived from satellite imagery. For an insurance company it may be
seeing the location of their policy holders and the value of insured
property located in the path of an approaching hurricane. It could be
the ability to spot potentially fraudulent claims after a hailstorm
because the site of the damage is well away from the sites of other
claims,
Location-enabled BI has other benefits. If can streamline compliance
reporting and reduce the knowledge loss when a staff member leaves or
retires. A new staff member can see, for example, where all the
service centres and distribution points are through an easy-to-use,
intuitive interface.
For those who are familiar with GIS, this is not rocket science. GIS
professionals have been, analysing business data and combining themes
like this for years, What is new is GIS in the boardroom. GIS is
leaving its niche behind. The term 'spatial information' has been
replaced by 'location intelligence'.
The difference is that before, GIS implied expensive customised
systems. They were time-consuming to build and required people with
specialist skills to run them, Department managers might ask the GIS
specialist for a thematic map wait for it, look at it, realise it
didn't give all the answers and come back with a different question.
Now, with location intelligence, managers can get their own answers
and revise their search and presentation criteria repeatedly, They can
start with a map, drill through to other data sources and reports for
more detail, select certain records from a table (for instance, sales
revenue by product line within a state or territory) and create a new
colour-coded map (this is known as bidirectional integration). They
can also choose to receive email or SMS alerts if a value goes outside
a predefined range.
Building a location-enabled BI system is also easier, thanks to
mainstream web-based standards and programming interfaces such as XML.
Flash animations can be embedded to display data over a timeline.
Microsoft's impending SQL server 2008 spatial extension is expected to
further simplify location-enabled BI. It will add location-aware
commands to the standard repertoire of Microsoft programming
languages, which are known to most-programmers and application
builders.
So how is location intelligence added to an existing BI system? It can
be as simple as adding x and y co-ordinates to a record in the data
warehouse. These may be derived from a postcode, from a Census
district or from the asset record in a GIS.
The process of extracting, transforming, and summarising into a form
data that can be used by the BI tools is complex, and will expose GIS
professionals to mainstream IT technologies such as Data Warehouse
Extraction, Transformation and Load (ETL) tools.
Nigel Lester, the sales manager at Pitney Bowes Map Info, explains
other implications for the GIS professional.
'GIS people must not underestimate the benefits of a relatively basic
technical capability when it is embedded in a company's familiar BI
environment and applied to business information. Being able to
visualise data geographically is a big deal for BI users, and there
are so many of them. You are not empowering five people, you are
empowering 5000 to apply their knowledge and experience to what may
have been previously insoluble problems;' he said,
Higher visibility for BI in an organisation can also make it easier to
get funding for projects. The GIS team may be able to spend less time
fielding one-off requests and more time thinking and working
strategically. As they explore the new BI's capabilities, users will
ask for more and more.
GIS people will need to understand the requirements of a wide variety
of departments in order to identify which data will be extracted from
the GIS and how often. Users will assume locations in the BI are 100
per cent accurate and will make decisions accordingly unless they are
told otherwise. Its limitations must be understood and improvement
programs must be put in place when required. When users discover an
error, there must be a process to get it fixed, so that confidence in
the system is maintained.
External datasets add more depth to company information, This might be
maps of flood zones for an insurance company or the location of
doctors' surgeries for a discount chemist. Finding who has the most
accurate and complete version of this data, obtaining it, and keeping
it up-to-date is not a trivial exercise. Custodianship programs that
encourage public and private sector organisations to share their data
will help.
Often, when many datasets are combined, they don't fit together
properly or easily. This can raise doubts about the cleanliness of the
data in the combined dataset, misaligned data will lower user
confidence - and it is being highlighted by the increased use of
highly accurate orthophotography. Superfluous nodes in parcel boundary
data will also affect display speeds and performance. Tools such as
Tope Manager from Spatial Tapestry will enable the GIS group to
automatically test, clean and align their datasets before rolling them
out in mainstream BI
While some companies will be happy to have quite basic mapping
capabilities, others will want more. Maps answer many questions says
David Merchant of Cognos, a BI company recently purchased by IBM. But
they often also raise more, at which point you will want closer ties
to the GIS. A good example is SF AusNet's Outage Information Centre
(OIC). SF AusNet owns electricity transmission and distribution
networks, as well as a gas network in Victoria. Its Network Operations
Centre has used GIS to assist in the restoration of power outages
during periods of high activity (storms, bushfires and other weather
extremes).
At such times, many stakeholders in the organisation need to access
information. Executives need to know the cost of the outage, The
customer services and corporate communications teams need to see the
extent of the problem and the progress of repairs to keep customers
informed and respond to questions from the media. The QIC enables the
Network Operations Centre to concentrate on restoring power rather
than managing internal communications.
At SP AusNet, raw data is extracted from the GIS and Outage Management
Systems every 10 seconds and within 10 minutes, efficient summarised
data structures are constructed for analysis and reporting by Cognos
and Eview software.
Stakeholders view the information geographically, and then drill down
to detail such as the comments from customers who reported the power
outage, outage status information and the actual repair tasks
undertaken. Executives can see the financial impact of the outage at
15-minute intervals. The OIC implementation took less than three
months and has successfully supported SP Aust.Net through 11 high-
activity events since February 2007.
SP AusNet Enterprise Solution Architect Jeff Warke said the project
had provided a solution to the immediate problem of outage data, as
well as a reporting foundation that could now be applied to other
parts of the business.
For GIS professionals, BI is both a threat and an opportunity. GIS
technology will become more familiar, and so GIS specialists must
expect more competition from other IT professionals. The demands of
mixing datasets of uncertain accuracy and presenting meaningful
results to executives will expose GIS professionals to a whole new set
of demands.
On the other hand, geography has never been so important to business
people, and it's getting more important every day. That's got to be
good news.
Jose Diacono <jose,[email protected]> is a freelance writer and
marketing consultant specialising in spatial systems.
(GIS) A Business Intelligence (BI) system enables better decision
making by combining the extraction, analysis and presentation of
business information. It typically consists of a web browser dashboard
that provides a single, personalised window into corporate information
stored in a data warehouse.
In the typical BI system, data is extracted from backend systems such
as financial, customer relationship management, inventory, asset
management, and human resources and moved into the warehouse, where it
is restructured for efficient analysis and reporting.
The BI system handles access, security and administration of the
warehouse, It enables the chief executive to track performance for
example; or the sales manager to compare sales revenue by product line
and store. The customer service manager can see which of his or her
engineers is trained to fix a particular piece of equipment or the
maintenance history of an asset.
Glen Rabie of BI software company Yellowfin explains: 'Dashboards
communicate complex information quickly. They translate corporate data
into graphics using gauges, charts and other visual media to show
multiple results together. What makes this interesting for the GIS
world is that now they are adding maps.
When people see something on a map, they understand it, and it allows
them to see relationships between different pieces of business data
that they didn't previously appreciate,' he said.
Users are embracing location-enabled BI because it is already familiar
and enjoyable to use, thanks to the Sensis Whereis site and real
estate sites such as Homebound. Also, SatNAV and Google Maps have
played a huge role in introducing the power of GIS to the mass market.
There is a 'wow' factor when executives see their everyday data
presented for the first time with a map. For a telecommunications
company it may be seeing a link between the amount of money spent by
the marketing department and the busiest exchange, or being able to
target those customers who are on exchanges with spare capacity and
avoid offering others services their exchange cannot support
For an agribusiness executive it may be seeing the impact of the
amount and timing of fertiliser application on crop yield on a map
derived from satellite imagery. For an insurance company it may be
seeing the location of their policy holders and the value of insured
property located in the path of an approaching hurricane. It could be
the ability to spot potentially fraudulent claims after a hailstorm
because the site of the damage is well away from the sites of other
claims,
Location-enabled BI has other benefits. If can streamline compliance
reporting and reduce the knowledge loss when a staff member leaves or
retires. A new staff member can see, for example, where all the
service centres and distribution points are through an easy-to-use,
intuitive interface.
For those who are familiar with GIS, this is not rocket science. GIS
professionals have been, analysing business data and combining themes
like this for years, What is new is GIS in the boardroom. GIS is
leaving its niche behind. The term 'spatial information' has been
replaced by 'location intelligence'.
The difference is that before, GIS implied expensive customised
systems. They were time-consuming to build and required people with
specialist skills to run them, Department managers might ask the GIS
specialist for a thematic map wait for it, look at it, realise it
didn't give all the answers and come back with a different question.
Now, with location intelligence, managers can get their own answers
and revise their search and presentation criteria repeatedly, They can
start with a map, drill through to other data sources and reports for
more detail, select certain records from a table (for instance, sales
revenue by product line within a state or territory) and create a new
colour-coded map (this is known as bidirectional integration). They
can also choose to receive email or SMS alerts if a value goes outside
a predefined range.
Building a location-enabled BI system is also easier, thanks to
mainstream web-based standards and programming interfaces such as XML.
Flash animations can be embedded to display data over a timeline.
Microsoft's impending SQL server 2008 spatial extension is expected to
further simplify location-enabled BI. It will add location-aware
commands to the standard repertoire of Microsoft programming
languages, which are known to most-programmers and application
builders.
So how is location intelligence added to an existing BI system? It can
be as simple as adding x and y co-ordinates to a record in the data
warehouse. These may be derived from a postcode, from a Census
district or from the asset record in a GIS.
The process of extracting, transforming, and summarising into a form
data that can be used by the BI tools is complex, and will expose GIS
professionals to mainstream IT technologies such as Data Warehouse
Extraction, Transformation and Load (ETL) tools.
Nigel Lester, the sales manager at Pitney Bowes Map Info, explains
other implications for the GIS professional.
'GIS people must not underestimate the benefits of a relatively basic
technical capability when it is embedded in a company's familiar BI
environment and applied to business information. Being able to
visualise data geographically is a big deal for BI users, and there
are so many of them. You are not empowering five people, you are
empowering 5000 to apply their knowledge and experience to what may
have been previously insoluble problems;' he said,
Higher visibility for BI in an organisation can also make it easier to
get funding for projects. The GIS team may be able to spend less time
fielding one-off requests and more time thinking and working
strategically. As they explore the new BI's capabilities, users will
ask for more and more.
GIS people will need to understand the requirements of a wide variety
of departments in order to identify which data will be extracted from
the GIS and how often. Users will assume locations in the BI are 100
per cent accurate and will make decisions accordingly unless they are
told otherwise. Its limitations must be understood and improvement
programs must be put in place when required. When users discover an
error, there must be a process to get it fixed, so that confidence in
the system is maintained.
External datasets add more depth to company information, This might be
maps of flood zones for an insurance company or the location of
doctors' surgeries for a discount chemist. Finding who has the most
accurate and complete version of this data, obtaining it, and keeping
it up-to-date is not a trivial exercise. Custodianship programs that
encourage public and private sector organisations to share their data
will help.
Often, when many datasets are combined, they don't fit together
properly or easily. This can raise doubts about the cleanliness of the
data in the combined dataset, misaligned data will lower user
confidence - and it is being highlighted by the increased use of
highly accurate orthophotography. Superfluous nodes in parcel boundary
data will also affect display speeds and performance. Tools such as
Tope Manager from Spatial Tapestry will enable the GIS group to
automatically test, clean and align their datasets before rolling them
out in mainstream BI
While some companies will be happy to have quite basic mapping
capabilities, others will want more. Maps answer many questions says
David Merchant of Cognos, a BI company recently purchased by IBM. But
they often also raise more, at which point you will want closer ties
to the GIS. A good example is SF AusNet's Outage Information Centre
(OIC). SF AusNet owns electricity transmission and distribution
networks, as well as a gas network in Victoria. Its Network Operations
Centre has used GIS to assist in the restoration of power outages
during periods of high activity (storms, bushfires and other weather
extremes).
At such times, many stakeholders in the organisation need to access
information. Executives need to know the cost of the outage, The
customer services and corporate communications teams need to see the
extent of the problem and the progress of repairs to keep customers
informed and respond to questions from the media. The QIC enables the
Network Operations Centre to concentrate on restoring power rather
than managing internal communications.
At SP AusNet, raw data is extracted from the GIS and Outage Management
Systems every 10 seconds and within 10 minutes, efficient summarised
data structures are constructed for analysis and reporting by Cognos
and Eview software.
Stakeholders view the information geographically, and then drill down
to detail such as the comments from customers who reported the power
outage, outage status information and the actual repair tasks
undertaken. Executives can see the financial impact of the outage at
15-minute intervals. The OIC implementation took less than three
months and has successfully supported SP Aust.Net through 11 high-
activity events since February 2007.
SP AusNet Enterprise Solution Architect Jeff Warke said the project
had provided a solution to the immediate problem of outage data, as
well as a reporting foundation that could now be applied to other
parts of the business.
For GIS professionals, BI is both a threat and an opportunity. GIS
technology will become more familiar, and so GIS specialists must
expect more competition from other IT professionals. The demands of
mixing datasets of uncertain accuracy and presenting meaningful
results to executives will expose GIS professionals to a whole new set
of demands.
On the other hand, geography has never been so important to business
people, and it's getting more important every day. That's got to be
good news.
Jose Diacono <jose,[email protected]> is a freelance writer and
marketing consultant specialising in spatial systems.