Every day, businesses and government make decisions based on the data they have available. They might use demographics, economic statistics, voting behaviour, or buying patterns.

To help them make useful decisions they need to understand what the data is telling them, and in most cases, this is easier if they can visualise patterns across a geographic area. Almost all data of this kind have a strong geographical aspect.

Most ‘traditional’ means of collecting and studying data, such as rankings, correlation or regression analysis, ignore the influence of location. Geographic Information (GI) Science is the discipline which addresses this issue, allowing data to be mapped, visualised and analysed spatially.

The distribution of main retail activity in Bath

This can:

• fundamentally increase our understanding of the data
• reveal new information to us
• make decision-making based on data possible
• greatly increase the value of the data as a commercial or policy asset.

We all think geographically: we map things in our heads; we all understand territory, distance and proximity, boundaries, peaks and troughs. We use these ideas to understand everything, not just the physical landscape. With GI we can use this fundamental ability to help perceive what our data are really telling us.

The territory of the UK and Ireland showing the density of housing across England and Wales	The spatial distribution of hotels in Bath
The Bath town centre boundary	The peaks and troughs of retail across London

GI technology

GI uses a range of technology to achieve this. At their simplest, geographic information systems can create series of digital maps. These let us see the data across the landscape and answer basic queries of the “what is the nearest x to y?” kind.

The 10 nearest pharmacies (blue) to the Geofutures office (green) showing the other pharmacies (red) in Bath

More sophisticated applications allow multiple physical, economic, environmental and social variables to be visualised. Here we are able to see how the different factors influence each other and understand their combined effects.

The overlap of housing (yellow) and employment (blue) showing the areas where there are both housing and employment (green) in Bath

These tools can incorporate very large quantities of data into a single analysis. Databases of individual records are geo-referenced (given an accurate spatial location), making it possible to map each record, assigning its characteristics or values to a point or area.

The distribution of retail activity in Bath, UK, shown by points	The distribution of retail activity shown by points, also be extractable by area, the town centre boundary
Together, these mapped records create a ‘data landscape’, which we can visualise together with the physical one. They present the cumulative picture in a pragmatic, highly visual way which aids understanding and decision-making for both expert and non-expert users.
	The surface created from the retail activity points above

 

Beyond technology

These are powerful tools, but we need to use them intelligently to get value from them. We need to apply appropriate statistical analysis methods within GI processes to obtain useful results.

Geofutures offers skilled use of GI technology, but beyond this, it is a research resource which ensures clients get the benefits of these tools. The use of GI within a company or government department is not merely a technology issue; it is a strategic planning decision.

Data are manipulated, statistical analyses are applied and scenarios are built within GI tools in ways which ensure the results are reliable and usable to help clients make the right decisions. This depends on the data available and the objectives of the study, and so Geofutures works closely with clients to understand these needs and constraints fully.