The Covid-19 pandemic taught businesses the significance of choosing the correct location for their stores or branches. Katadata reports that many retail companies shut down because of location-related challenges, in addition to economic factors. To select the optimal location, businesses ought to use spatial analysis. However, spatial analysis is applicable to finding suitable business areas; it can generate various insights that businesses can use to make decisions based on data and facts. So, what is spatial analysis? What are its uses for businesses? Find a complete explanation in this article.
Contents
What is Spatial Analytics?
Spatial analysis involves studying spatial data, including location, attributes, and relationships, through the identification, assessment, examination, evaluation, and modeling of entities. To put it simply, spatial analysis uses spatial data to obtain results or insights based on the geography of the targeted or desired area. Spatial analysis allows businesses to combine geographic data and descriptive data from various sources, using that data to create geographic models and visualize them.
Through visualization, businesses can understand the exact areas to open a business and why a particular event or phenomenon occurs.
Why is Spatial Analytics Important?
Spatial analysis is not just about mapping physical objects; decision-makers can use it to formulate strategies or actions as needed.
For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities could use spatial analysis to monitor the disease’s progression in specific regions and determine actions to control its spread. Spatial analysis can be applied to various industries, from booking taxis, motorcycles, or cars through apps to tracking packages or food orders, assessing the congestion around our stores, and more.
How Spatial Analytics Works
Spatial analysis is a crucial component of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This analysis enables businesses to find comprehensive solutions to problems, especially those related to geographic attributes.
So, how does spatial analytics work?
Data Collection
When conducting spatial analysis, data collection is a crucial step. This involves gathering data from various sources, including remote sensing tools such as airborne systems and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging).
The data collected is used to create maps that display the geographic distribution of entities, such as temperature in different regions.
Data Analysis
After collecting all the necessary data, the next step is to analyze it using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning to gain insights.
Data Presentation
The analysis results are visualized with charts, tables, and graphs for easy understanding. This helps businesses quickly identify patterns or insights to make decisions.
Types of Spatial Analysis
In order to understand spatial analysis, you need to be aware of the following six types:
- Spatial Autocorrelation: Spatial autocorrelation measures and analyzes the level of dependence between two coordinates in a geographic location.
- Spatial Interpolation: Spatial interpolation is a method used to estimate variables at locations where data is not observed by comparing them to locations where data is observed or recorded.
- Spatial Regression: Spatial regression captures spatial dependence, helping prevent issues such as unstable parameters and incompetent testing in statistical analysis.
- Spatial Interaction: The field of spatial interaction examines the relationships between individuals, goods, or data as they move within a particular geographical area.
- Geostatistics Many Points: This type of spatial analytics is used when there is either too little or too much information available for other types of geostatistics.
- Geocoding: This type uses coordinates to describe a location and transforms it into a specific location on the Earth’s surface.
Benefits of Spatial Analytics for Business
Spatial analysis software enables businesses to make informed decisions quickly by accurately processing large-scale data.
Here are some other benefits:
- Analyzing the current situation
- Identifying trends and providing appropriate responses
- Analyzing spatial and temporal data to develop business strategies
- Visualization simplifies spatial data by categorizing, modeling, sorting, and enhancing details.
Businesses benefit from spatial analysis to understand current situations and inform future decisions.
Identify Your Business Conditions with LOKASI Intelligence
One benefit of spatial analysis is to help businesses understand situations, leading to better strategies and identifying opportunities.
LOKASI Intelligence is a spatial analysis platform that businesses can use to understand customer behavior, market competition, geographic trends, and risks and opportunities related to specific locations.
Learn more about how LOCATION Intelligence can help businesses by emailing: [email protected] or WhatsApp: 087779077750.
FAQ
What is the purpose of spatial analysis?
The goal of spatial analysis is to gain insights based on the geography of a targeted area and use them to inform business strategies.
What does spatial analysis mean?
The process of examining and modeling spatial data to study entities and their relationships is called spatial analysis..
What spatial data formats are there?
There are two commonly used spatial data formats: vector and raster.