ReadWriteWeb provided details on near field communication (NFC) might be used by foursquare to make it easier to check-in to certain retail venues without the need to open the app and manually perform a search. Using NFC, the user merely swipes the mobile device near an NFC tag. Since people merely forget to "check-in" this new option certainly facilitates the process and lowers the barrier to utilizing location-based apps. It might even further the benefits of location-based adverting. See also our coverage of Blue Bite (1, 2).
-- ReadWriteWeb
by Joe Francica on 11/28 at 12:02 PM |
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Someone wrote to us asking about the recent acquisition of SpotOn Systems by Esri. So, let me give you my take.
I think that Esri is simply covering all bases with this acquisition. SpotOn was a small BI company that leveraged Esri's platform. So many BI players are getting into geospatial analytics that this is a move to let customers know they have not forgotten about BI. If you look at all the major BI players, they are doing some kind of business intelligence that is integrated with geospatial information. Esri has for a long time had relationships with companies like InformationBuilders and others. The major player is still Oracle because they not only acquired several BI companies long ago, but their Fusion initiative that integrated Oracle Spatial with their BI solutions has now been completed. Also, the ability to get into big data is something that is also on Esri's mind. Teradata showed up at the Esri UC this year and now that Netezza has been acquired by IBM, another close partner of Esri's, this is certainly an area of interest that Esri is watching. There's just too much unstructed data that needs to be integrated with structured geospatial data that Esri will have to address this with a big data partner like Teradata. However, big data is Oracle's sweet spot. But, companies like Teradata and Netezza may make a dent in Oracle's market share. So once again, Esri is trying to cover all bases.
by Joe Francica on 11/07 at 05:06 AM |
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The 2011 GEOINT Symposium in San Antonio, Texas began with opening remarks by Stu Shea, CEO and Chairman of the Board of the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF).
Continue reading...
by Joe Francica on 10/17 at 08:34 PM |
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Announced at TechCrunch Disrupt, SizeUp from GIS Planning (the folks behind ZoomProspector) brings large company location intelligence to small companies for free. What does it to?
SizeUp provides three core features that enable business owners to make more intelligent decisions:
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Map of the competition: Executives can map where competitors, customers, and suppliers are located, and can use the map to isolate areas with many potential customers but little competition.
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Benchmark a specific business: Entrepreneurs can see how their business "sizes up" by comparing its performance to all competitors in the industry. This tool enables businesses to isolate areas for improvement and find ways to save money.
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Find the best places to advertise: Business owners can identify areas with the highest total or average revenue for an industry, the most underserved markets, and they can create custom demographic and business reports.
The product sounds like an entree into its other products and a freebie junior version of Business Analyst Online. I'm not clear on the business model.
- press release
by Adena Schutzberg on 09/14 at 03:13 AM |
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MapInfo Manager version 1.2 is now complete and will be available shortly. New features and enhancements include harvesting of PostGIS, harvesting of non spatial formats, greater flexibility, security and localised into Danish and Finnish.
Still wondering what MapInfo Manager is?
MapInfo Manager enables organizations to build, maintain and manage centralized catalogs of spatial data enabling easy search, access and utilization of data –enterprise wide. Open standards based MapInfo Manager is suitable for a wide variety of potential users. Tightly integrated with MapInfo Professional, MapInfo Manager is part of the PBBI Enterprise Location Intelligence suite.
- PBBI Stratus Blog
by Adena Schutzberg on 08/17 at 06:40 AM |
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