Mapping for marketing takes a major leap forward on the MapMechanics stand (C75) at the 2006 Technology for Marketing show, which runs at Olympia , London from 7 to 8 February.
Identifying new customers, improving site location and optimising product placement decisions are key factors in successful marketing. Recognising these needs, MapMechanics launches a range of new data and tools for map-based analysis.
With a series of live demonstrations, MapMechanics will provide the first major UK showing of GeoConcept 6.0, the powerful map analysis package. The whole GeoConcept interface has been updated and modernised, and gains new features such as easier quicker access to data, new formats for easier dissemination of results, more intuitive user defined grouping of data fields, and a completely new look to pop-up information panels and thematic overlays. As MapMechanics’ managing director Mary Short puts it: “The bright new look of the software sums up the practical improvements behind it.”
Users in marketing, who often require an instant visual impression of complex data, will welcome advances such as the way GeoConcept now handles thematic analysis. For instance, it is now possible to automatically set up symbols that vary in size according to the zoom level of the map and the translucent overlays make it easier to see underlying map detail and the statistical data superimposed on it – all at the same time. New widgets offer the user instant drill down through their data. For instance, they might look at an individual customer, click the widget and instantly zoom to the catchment it lies within, and with another click zoom to the regional management area etc. The widget is completely user definable to drill through which ever layers are most applicable to a particular project.
There are also enhancements in outputting. It is easier to select the printer and output the map at an appropriate size, and a PDF generator has been built in for creating map files in Portable Document Format automatically.
Under the skin, there are extensive improvements in the way GeoConcept handles external data. For marketing analysts, the sheer volume of data and locating exactly the information they need can be problematic, but the new data handling techniques successfully address these issues. External data can now be displayed and queried without replicating the data locally, information is taken directly from the data source each time it is required. Fields can be grouped together in intuitive user named folders such as “car ownership” and ”daytime population profiles”. This makes it easier and faster to locate the data needed.
GeoConcept is particularly capable at handling very large datasets quickly and efficiently, manipulating files containing many thousands of records with practically no perceptible waiting time.
Much more powerful analytical capabilities are now offered to people using GeoConcept Internet Server, the version of GeoConcept used to deliver mapping over intranets or the Internet. A new system called GeoConcept On-Line Analytical Processing, or G-OLAP, allows users working with Web browsers to drill down into the data behind online mapping on a live basis for the first time. This means they can view and analyse the information in whatever way suits them – both textually and in the form of annotated maps.
The resultant maps are configured in real time to reflect queries submitted by the user, so that each map view delivered to the browser is uniquely tailored to that user’s requirements. Instead of being served pre-formatted map extracts, they are given newly-generated views incorporating the latest data in any underlying database.
Alongside analytical tools, digital data is also given prominence on the MapMechanics stand at Technology for Marketing, and visitors can see a range of new developments on display.
Mapping that includes traffic speeds and volumes from ITIS is becoming increasingly popular for precise catchment analysis and evaluation of passing trade, and using real live road speeds can give greater accuracy to drivetime calculations. MapMechanics now provides versions of these maps that draw on twice as much source data as in the past, which means the information is even more reliable and statistically robust.
Market analysis often requires knowledge of where target customers are likely to be during the day, and MapMechanics has done extensive work in refining new ways to tackle this requirement. New products include street level demographics, street level traffic volumes, postcode sector level daytime population destinations and daytime profiles.
These data products make it possible to analyse the number of employees present in each section of street during the day, the number and type of people who work in an area and where they originate from and the relative volume of passing traffic. With GIS software such as GeoConcept, users can apply differential colour coding to sections of streets highlighting under- or over-provision of resources, or revealing new opportunities. MapMechanics offers a range of business datasets to add further value to the analysis.
The range of business and demographic data offered by MapMechanics continues to expand and evolve, as does its range of UK and worldwide digital map data, much of which will be on display. All these products are listed in the company’s popular Data Catalogue, which is also available in its entirety on the company’s Web site, www.mapmechanics.com.
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