Exploring the Business of Location Intelligence

The program for the event was an eclectic mix of current topics that concern the business models of technology providers as well as the companies that they serve. Among the leading tracks at the event were:

• Cloud computing from a geospatial context addressed both the infrastructure and case study examples of companies that are harnessing this capacity
• Green technology and sustainability took a look at both corporate responsibility and cost savings from adding greater efficiency
• Spatial analytics focused on fusing location intelligence with business intelligence
• Mobile location services addressed field force workers as well as the local advertising possibilities
• Application development tools largely highlighted the rise of solution developers, and included Open Source options

The opening keynote speaker was Steve Coast, founder of Cloudmade and OpenStreetMap (OSM). Coast's discussion of the OSM free data model with distributed collaborators around the world set an interesting tone in an audience that was comprised largely of trditional geospatial data providers. Coast used a time-lapse video to illustrate the impressive expansion of OSM data throughout the world. The number of contributors far outweighs the professional crews of other data providers, and the crowd-sourced model is adding increasing quality with more frequent updates. Coast made an appeal for the geospatial community to embrace this movement rather than fearing or shunning it, asserting that peer-produced data is faster, better and cheaper.

The Green Technology and Sustainability track was sponsored by V1 Magazine, and included a plenary session that took a look at three different applications of geospatial technology at three different scales. Ken Snyder, CEO of PlaceMatters discussed community planning with a collaborative approach for more livable communities. Dave Skiles, advisor to the Governor's Energy Office spoke about regional energy planning and the prospects for renewable energy in the state. Mark Feldman, CEO of Space-Time Insight spoke of the benefits to large organizations of incorporating real-time analytics to streamline their supply chain and increase their efficiency.

Another interesting program highlight was the "What's in Your Lab," session that was moderated by Adena Schutzberg. In this session four presenters spoke about their current research and development efforts, with many showcasing web-based technologies that combine deep analytics with mapping capabilities. The presenters included Pitney Bowes Business Insights, Korem, IBM and Tableau Software. Each shared a vision of richer Internet-based applications with more timely information.

On the show floor was a mix of geospatial data providers, desktop software companies, web mapping companies, database providers, content management tools, business intelligence tools, and services and solutions aimed at the location intelligence community. The vendors were generous with their sponsor dollars with hosted breaks, lunches and evening socials in a high-end hotel setting that made the attendees feel pampered and appreciated.

This event draws a nice cross-section of business-oriented attendees from consultants to application developers. The strong focus on business brought a number of "C-level" executives as both attendees and presenters. The event happened to coincide with a day of many Google announcements that had the halls stirring with conversations.

Overall, the event was an upbeat display of the great value that location intelligence can bring to enterprises. The solutions on display illustrated the many benefits of embracing this technology, particularly in these challenging economic times where greater efficiency leads to dollars saved.