Welcome to the Location Data Blog!

Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising or outdoor media is integral to the multi-pronged marketing strategies adopted by consumer-facing businesses. Research has found that OOH drives more online activity per ad dollar spent than any other media. It is 382 percent more effective than TV, 200 percent more effective than print, and 63 percent more effective than radio ads in driving customers to an online platform. Outdoor media is instrumental for businesses to increase awareness of products and services - both online and offline. The market size is expected to reach US$ 33 Billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 13.41% during 2022-2027. 

In the aftermath of a disaster, access to relevant, high quality and timely information can greatly enhance the speed of emergency response by agencies and the effectiveness of government policies. The rise of signals and sensing capabilities, such as through privacy-compliant cell phone and GPS data can provide rich and rapid information about human location, activity and mobility. In a disaster recovery context, analytics based on mobility data can underpin socio-economic impact analysis.

The activity heat map displays normalized activity profile of Ambon Island for an average 24-hr day in Sept. 2019. Data are aggregated into hexagons, which are colored based on the count of unique devices by hour in each cell. This method highlights the most and least used locations at any moment in time. In the map above, yellow cells represent areas of high activity, or locations with the greatest number of people over the averaged 24-hr period. Source: Derived from Quadrant’s mobile location data.

Cities worldwide are dealing with rapid urbanization, changing travel patterns, and most recently the aftermath of a global pandemic. As cities sprawl outwards to form low-density localities, it is difficult and expensive to serve these suburbs. Transit systems were also one of the worst-hit sectors by Covid-19, and post-pandemic recovery has been complicated due to remote and hybrid working. 

Point-of-Interest (POI) data is the digital representation of physical spaces that are of interest to individuals, businesses, and governments – such as malls, restaurants, train stations, residential complexes, hospitals, and schools. In other words, a POI can be anything that someone wants to find on a map. POI data acts as the lynchpin of operations in several industries, including ridesharing, last-mile delivery, logistics, real-estate, retail, marketing and the public sector. Even companies whose business model is not primarily built on POI data can still harness it to glean insights that offer a tangible, competitive advantage. Data scientists generate meaningful insights on the distinct characteristics of neighbourhoods, people’s movement patterns, and an area’s vulnerability to natural disasters by analysing POI data alongside mobile location data, demographics, purchase data, and environmental records.

Businesses catering to a community need to keep up with changes in the region's population, demographics, and cultural traits to remain relevant. In addition, urban spaces need to be constantly redeveloped to accommodate changing movement patterns. For example, real estate companies need movement data to discern the residential needs in growing neighborhoods. Public transport authorities need to monitor travel patterns to assess demand and expand transit services to underserved areas. The analysis of mobile location data can provide a clear image of human mobility, and changes in public interaction with businesses and government facilities.