How to Get Started: Finding Data, Mapping Software, Resources October 20, 2008 James Pick Supported by U.S. SBA Grant No. SBAHQ

GIS = Information System What is a Geographical Information System (GIS)? –Geographic Location, GIS Structures and an Example –Some GIS Software Packages GIS Data –Data is stored in a database - processed and output as maps and other reports. –Think of GIS as a Spatially-Enabled Database –Some Sources of Data for the Database Costs and benefits of GIS –GIS has Costs, but can be Beneficial when used with other business systems such as accounting or marketing

Geographic Location How is geographic location determined? – Often by latitude and longitude. –It can be by more advanced coordinate systems, such as 3-D, but lat-long will do for now. A map stored inside a GIS is described by coordinates. A sophisticated map contains a huge number of coordinates.

GIS Structures Source: Clarke, Features and Feature Properties Points, Lines, and Polygons

Example – Workforce for Industrial Siting - Using the Location Quotient (LQ) Location Quotient (LQ) = Calculation Based on Ratios Employment in a Particular Industry Sector Total Employment in a Particular Sub-Area Divided by Employment in a Particular Industry Sector Total Employment for the Area More formally LQ = (E ij /E j )/(E i /E t ) * 100 Location Quotient > 100 means specialization in the industry, Location Quotient < 100 means sub-area not specialized in that industry. (Source: Greene and Stager, 2005)

Location Quotients for Manufacturing and Professional Employment, Los Angeles, 2000 (Source: Greene and Stager, 2005)

Comparison of Professional Employment to the corridor of Wilshire Blvd. ( Source: Greene and Pick, 2005). Location Quotient of Professional Employment for same area

LQs for Nine Employment Sectors, LA (Source: Greene and Stager, 2005)

Trulia Real Estate Search, Miami, FL (Fig 5.6, Source: Trulia, 2007)

Mobile GIS -- Pedestrian Navigation Systems Pedestrian navigation systems are informing city dwellers about locational information. –This approach is based on a cell phone having GPS navigation, precise to thirty feet or less; an electronic compass that orients the pedestrian; and mapping web services. Example. a pedestrian in Tokyo can select a type of destination, for instance banks, and point the phone in a direction. The list of banks located in that direction appear on the screen along with the distances and other information. Maps can be displayed to indicate routes to get there. Source: New York Times, 2007

GIS need Data. What are the data sources? GIS is a type of information system –What are some GIS Packages? Data for a GIS are stored in a data-base. –Processed and output as maps and other related reports. –Think of GIS as a spatially-enabled data-base  What are some sources of Data? –For GIS, there are two types of data: (1) geographic boundaries, and (2) characteristics (numbers, categories)

Free Public Sources: Commercial Sources Your OWN Data on Customers, Schedules, Employees, Competitors… Some Data Sources 12

Sources of GIS Data –Company characteristics and transactions. It can have locations added to it. Locations are often added by geocoding, which takes addresses and finds the location. –Free or commercial data on the web. Can be boundaries and/or characteristics. U.S. Census ( ) ESRI ( GeoGov ( One stop portal for government datawww.geodata.gov Claritas ( ) Business Analyst Online ( )

Costs and Benefits of GIS Any GIS project for a small business will involve investments of money. Because GIS is new for small business, special attention should be given ahead of time to thinking what the payoffs could be. Think of the GIS decision as you would investing in accounting software. –You would be wise to check with others who have used it and find out if the benefits exceeded the costs. –You need to think of your own situation. Start with the benefits. How do you see it helping your company? Can you put a dollar value on the payoff? How long do expect it will take before you reach break-even with your investment in GIS?

Major Costs Hardware and software Data Specialized staffing Web services Maintenance (hardware, software, data) Training Consulting Licensing Security Outsourcing Internet, telecomm Physical environment What’s Different with GIS? Coordination of spatial technologies Visualization (multi-media design, 3-D) Spatial, geographic training Major Benefits Workforce reduction Better productivity Better performance Greater accuracy Time saving versus manual maps Revenue expansion Better decision-making What’s Different with GIS? Visualizing complex geographic information Improved spatial environmental scanning Spatial analysis Spatial business intelligence

Some GIS Packages

Examples of Free Sources with Information on Customers Little sample of a Customer Profile by Zip on ESRI Site – –Spatial characteristics of a community can be looked up by ZIP code Other Sources of Data Full Community Tapestry tapestry.htmlhttp:// tapestry.html –More detailed, extensive customer data available for purchase from various GIS industry sources, such as ESRI, MapInfo. – Others provide data on customers that can be geocoded, such as Dun & Bradstreet

Census Demographic Updates available at and some at ESRI’s Business Analyst Online software provides thiswww.census.govwww.esri.com Population Total Household and family Group quarters Race and Hispanic origin by Race Age Gender Household type Income Household Family Aggregate and per capita By Age of Householder Disposable Income by Age of Householder Net Worth by Age of Householder Labor Force Civilian Employment by Industry and Occupation Unemployment Housing Housing inventory Occupancy Tenure Home value ….And much, much more

Some Census Entities Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) 1 or 1+ counties w/ large population nucleus + nearby communities that have a high degree of interaction Census Tracts (50K) Small geographies - generally stable boundaries Designed to be relatively homogeneous w/ respect to population characteristics, economic status, and living conditions. Block group (225K) = subdivisions of census tracts = combination of census blocks Block = well-defined rectangular piece of land bounded by 4 streets –May be irregular or bounded by rail road tracks, streams, or other features –Doesn’t cross boundaries of counties, census tracts, or block groups –May cross place boundaries

More factfinder maps Prepared w/ American Factfiner

Worksheet and Discussion Please spend 5 minutes to think of and write down the 2 best ideas you can think of for using GIS in your organization. We will have an open discussion about these ideas, and how they might be developed.

Issues for Small Business Owners and Managers How are GIS and IT related. Together? Separate? Linked? Access to GIS expertise. In-house? Consulting? Outsourcing? Vendor? Note: There is a shortage in skilled GIS workforce (Marble, 2006) Decision on technology. Desktop? Web-based? Mobile? Combination?

Issues for Small Business Owners and Managers How to judge the costs benefits of GIS? It might be helpful in justifying with ROI to disaggregate GIS into projects. The GIS application needs to be able to show solid arguments of tangible payoff within several years. How to prioritize what in GIS for your business has the most mid to long-term benefit? GIS and spatial technologies are dramatic, visual, and appealing, even “entertaining” or diverting. But how can they be focused in development, building, and operations to the practical payoff.

Summary GIS is a Type of Information System There are a Variety of –GIS Software Packages Available –Useful Data Sources Some Free + Some You Already Have – at your firm! GIS has costs, but the benefits in better analyzing small business problems and opportunities for strategic advantage can outweigh the costs Bottom Line: GIS is a technology to make more data more usable and put it to greater use for efficiencies, better performance, and profits.

Resources for Your Next Step: Doing it Yourself & Learning More Major GIS Software Vendors Provide Case Studies, Information on Software: –MapInfo (owned by Pitney Bowes) –ESRI For some innovative research on GIS See Abstracts from a recent GIS in Business Conference Other Sources of Data and Information: –Stats-USA, Govt Resources, SBA –Geography Nnetwork –Census and Open Source Software (Wikipedia) –GRASS – Originally developed by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, open source: a complete GIS –MapServer – Web-based mapping server, developed by the University of Minnesotahttp://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/MapServer

AR Slide Hidden She will send her evaluation form Handouts One on one sessions –General are you ready –Others that might help if want to others to do it –Tutorial –SEND UPDATED Files to her Wed.