The Growing Importance of GIS to Organizations, Industries and Municipalities in 2014

By Caleb Benedict, Research and GIS Analyst

During the past decade GIS (Geospatial Information Systems) has grown from a term representing simple navigational devices and GPS handsets to something much more complex and useful. In the past ten years the GIS market has steadily grown in numbers of applications, use cases, industry adoption and users. Newly published forecasts for the GIS market predict that the GIS industry will grow at an estimated 8% CAGR through 2016.

It is my analysis that GIS applications in both public and private sectors are growing faster than 8%. By researching job announcements on city employment pages, it is obvious there is an increasing demand for GIS analysts, specialists, and technicians.

This growth is due to advancements in GIS technology and the realization that GIS applications are important tools for just about every municipal government, engineering firms, industry and organizations with remote and mobile job sites, projects, assets and workforces today. Digital mapping and remote sensing (the use of satellite imagery outfitted with sensors) is delivering increased safety and savings in the form of time, money and resources.

GIS in the news…

The U.S. government increases the U.S. Geological Survey budget by $41 million to $1.1 billion total. (http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/32343/2/)

Peoria, Illinois is using GIS and LIDAR imagery to collect information on city streets in order to understand street conditions and plan for infrastructure improvements. (http://peoriapublicradio.org/post/peoria-survey-streets)

GIS planning has resulted in a 30% decrease in traffic related deaths in Abu Duabi after GIS planning improved traffic lights and street management. (http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/abu-dhabi-road-accident-deaths-drop-30-in-five-years-1.1310328)

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Marketing News Weekly – Week of April 15, 2012

The Mobile Marketing News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile marketing that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

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A new report from mobile marketing company Velti says that at the end of 2011, iOS and Android both had a 50 percent market share, but iOS pulled ahead in March, with a 53 percent market share for the month. The report is based on data collected from 33,405 apps via the Mobclix Exchange, which Velti acquired in 2010. Read Original Content

A new report from Juniper Research reveals the mobile ticketing market will more than quadruple to 23 billion tickets sent by 2016. The report estimates that four billion tickets were delivered during 2011 for airline, transport and entertainment events. Read Original Content

Pinterest is taking over the mobile and online space with brands and retailers such as eBay, Amazon and Sephora adding “Pin It” buttons to their product pages, thus encouraging m-commerce and e-commerce sales. Read Original Content

Verivo is a leading provider of enterprise mobility software. Verivo helps companies accelerate their business results. Its unique technology empowers teams to build, deploy, manage and update their mobile apps -- rapidly and securely. Verivo’s mobility platform is used by hundreds of companies in numerous industries, worldwide. This newsletter is sponsored in part by Verivo.  To learn more, visit www.verivo.com

According to a new study by eMarketer, by 2013 the majority of mobile phone subscribers will have a smartphone, making it important to consider the role mobile may play for the future of your business. To help you stay up-to-speed on the latest trends in mobile and how they affect your business, check out this roundup of stats. Read Original Content

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Mobile Marketing News Weekly - Week of January 2, 2012

The Mobile Marketing News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile marketing that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

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New projections from research firm Berg Insight suggest the total value of the global mobile marketing and advertising market is on pace for record growth over the next 48 months. According to the latest estimates, the industry will see 37 percent growth by 2016, bringing the industry’s total value to $22.6 billion at that time. Read Original Content

To boost sales of its McCafe beverage line and drive in-store traffic, McDonald's has launched a geotargeted promotion that uses mobile ads to reach potential customers. Read Original Content

Mobile advertising impressions originating from Amazon.com's new Android-powered Kindle Fire tablet continued to increase over the holiday season, surging 261 percent on Christmas Day according to new data published by mobile ad network Millennial Media. Read Original Content

Pyxis Mobile provides an agile, powerful, and secure mobile enterprise application platform.  It enables rapid cross-platform application development, unlimited data integration, enterprise-grade security, and the unique ability to change and update applications in real time.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by Pyxis Mobile, http://pyxismobile.com/

According to the Bangkok Post, Thailand will experience a surge in smartphone and tablet shipments during 2012, much greater than original forecasts had predicted. This is expected to increase the opportunities for mobile marketers in that region. Read Original Content

Mobility News Weekly - Week of January 2, 2012

The Mobility News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise mobility that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting information that reflects market data and trends.

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The smartphone and tablet buying rush over the holidays spilled over into a corresponding deluge of app downloads, with the total weekly number exceeding one billion for the first time.  Read Original Content

RIM’s share of U.S. mobile phone subscribers in the three months through November dropped to 6.5 percent from 7.1 percent in the previous quarter, according to research firm ComScore Inc.  Read Original Content

According to market research firm NPD Group, the demand for tablets is expected to grow in the small and medium business market, companies with less than 1,000 employees, over the next year with Apple’s iPad taking the lead.  Read Original Content

ClickSoftware is an SAP mobility partner and the leading provider of automated workforce management and optimization solutions for every size of service business.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by ClickSoftware - http://www.clicksoftware.com/.

Gartner is forecasting that some 50 percent of traveling workers this year will ditch their laptops in favor of handier devices.  Read Original Content

Mobile Commerce News Weekly - Week of January 2, 2011

The Mobile Commerce News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile payments, mobile money, e-wallets, mobile banking and mobile security that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
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Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
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New York Waterway, which carries passengers across the Hudson and East rivers, will launch the first smartphone-based ticketing system for mass transit riders this week. The free app, developed by New York-based Bytemark, allows riders to purchase tickets in advance with an Apple or Android compatible smart device. Read Original Content

Recent predictions suggest that during 2012 there will be 30 to 40 million purchased smartphones enabled with NFC chips. Read Original Content

Juniper Research reports that nearly $55 billion in international remittances will be enabled via mobile devices by 2016. For 2011, it is estimated to be under $12 billion. Read Original Content

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KPMG's fifth annual Consumers and Convergence survey has found that 23 percent of U.S. consumers are now "very willing" to use their mobile phones as a wallet and the number rises to 30 percent for younger adults aged between 16 and 34. Read Original Content

Enterprise Mobility and Competitive Advantages

In Netcentric Strategies' recent Enterprise Mobility Survey 2011 the following question was asked, "What are your company's motivations for wanting to deploy mobile applications?"  Three numbers in the survey results particularly stood out to me:

• Improve customer interaction and service 48.6%
• Achieve competitive advantages 41.7%
• Improve brand and sales 25.2%

These numbers are highlighting "strategic" and important business motivations for deploying mobile applications.  The numbers do not point to specific mobile technologies, but rather specific motivations for deploying mobile solutions. 

I am climbing back onto my soap box to say mobile technologies are simply means to accomplish business goals and strategies.  One of the key focuses of companies today should be on how they can utilize enterprise mobility to accomplish their business ambitions, not simply to have mobile technologies extend the same solutions to the same people.  New mobile technologies without new strategies, is wasted.

It is time to ask ourselves, "What is possible, in my business, in a world of connected and mobile solutions?" 

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer

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Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.