Location intelligence maps course with AI

Indian companies are taking on global giants by investing in smart new digital maps that serve a variety of users: From automakers and policymakers to citizens

The map industry is going places as new companies enter the digital location intelligence market. The industry is growing rapidly because maps have become integral to the daily lives of consumers, citizens, governments and businesses.

New players with smart technologies are launching clever features to take on established giants like Google and Apple. Mobility company Ola has launched its own map in India for its electric vehicles (EV). Ola has exited Google Maps and will depend on its own location intelligence, company founder Bhavish Aggarwal announced last week. Companies like Genesys and MapmyIndia are growing rapidly in the digital map and location business. Genesys’ location intelligence service has become a key input for business decisions, personal activity and planning policy. The location intelligence market will grow from $21 billion to more than $82 billion by 2033, according to a report by Future Market Insights.

“The advanced location analytics tools go beyond the basic mapping and add different filters to segregate the data well. These features help businesses in observing the consumer density in any region along with the age, gender, and dimension filters. The location analytics system also helps enterprises in forming predictions, forecasts, and optimising sales channels,” said the report. IBM describes location intelligence as a method of gaining insights from geospatial data. These insights help identify patterns, make predictions and provide real-time understanding of location-specific questions, it said.

The mobility sector is a prominent user of location intelligence and digital maps. However, other sectors, including logistics, e-commerce and retail, are increasingly depending on location intelligence. EV manufacturers can plan their charging stations using smart mapping solutions. Retailers can track footfall and population around neighbourhoods to plan their stores.

City management and planning is improved by location intelligence where policymakers use artificial intelligence (AI) to predict citizens’ behaviour. The spread of 5G connectivity is helping generate activity data in real time. Location intelligence and digital maps use AI to track, understand and interpret data almost instantly for a variety of uses. Layering location-specific data — such as demographics, traffic, environment, economics, and weather — on a smart map or dashboard reveals unique insights, according to geospatial service company ESRI. It says that business leaders are using location intelligence to better understand where and why things are happening and plan what to do next. According to IBM, location intelligence data comes from several technologies, like satellites, drones, remote sensing, and sensors powered by the Internet of Things. The growing rise in the use of connected devices has led to the creation of a steady flow of massive geographic information for location intelligence platforms.

Many new uses are emerging for location intelligence. ESRI has created digital twins of the United Kingdom for Vodafone to help the telecom company in planning its mobile towers and signal availability for its network.

The digital twin — representing 245,000 square kilometre of territory — was created using geographic information system (GIS) technology, according to ESRI. It enables Vodafone to track developments such as new housing, shopping centres, and sports venues. This helped Vodafone in offering strong signals wherever demand was rising. Creation of such digital twins for countries and cities will spread to other regions of the world as the location intelligence industry matures. Genesys has tied up with Survey of India, the national mapping agency, to create digital twins of cities. 

As location activity and digital maps generate data, issues of security and protection will rise as well. Mapping and locational intelligence companies will need to embed several new layers of security while protecting the information about users. People and products moving through connected devices, including vehicles and wearables, will drive a revolution in the digital mapping industry.