Urban Mapping Blog

Tableau Software the “Challenger” in Business Intelligence

Ian — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:32:06 +0000

A new Garter report on Business Intelligence platforms (a la Magic Quadrant) puts Tableau Software in the “challenger” quadrant, no more than a stone throw to many incumbent BI vendors. Why is this exciting for Urban Mapping? Because we are great fans of Tableau and support them in all elements of geo–we host their custom-rendered basemap, overlay demographic data and more…

Why is geographic analysis important in business intelligence tools? Gartner says it all:

When you need to know where to place a new retail outlet, or how to market to a population based on location (anyone in a specific postal code, for example) and demographics, you need to combine lots of market data from external data providers (such as Experian) and use forecasting and predictive analytic models to effectively target the right buyers. It’s more than just plotting results on a map; it’s getting a fuller view of prospects/customers and using that knowledge to drive business process.

In its analysis of Tableau, Gartner analysts say “Interactive analysis can be shared with a report consumer equipped with a Web browser. The combination of exceptional ease of use (“fun” is often used to describe Tableau by its users), with the ability to conduct sophisticated analysis, is a key reason users are exuberant with the platform.” We’re thrilled, too, and look forward to more great news from Tableau customers and analysts! Have a read of the Tableau Software case study if you would like to know more.

Forgottonia has a 67% voter turnout rate

Ian — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:09:33 +0000

Huh?

With election season upon us, and political divisiveness at an all time high, we thought it a good time to look at a history of secessionist movements in the US. The initial idea was to see how the various movements (South Florida, West Kansas, Vandalia, etc…) would compare to other states by looking at economic, social and other indicators. We then thought on this more…the ideal of any political movement is to gain independence, so we thought further: what if each secessionist movement was its own country, and how would it stack up with other countries across general measures of health, economy, education, environment and more.

So that’s what we did. We researched and loaded would-be entities and used Mapfluence estimate statistics. The results are both curious and concerning. Our Secessionist Movements and National Indicators map allows you to look at the 30 or so US movements and 15 indicators (with more coming). Take it for a spin and let us know your thoughts–comments are welcome and even encouraged!

You can also use 48 well spent seconds and watch a video preview!

Holiday Mapaction: It’s On

Ian — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:55:06 +0000

Friends, past and future employees, customers, neogeographers and cartographers far and wide…We hereby proclaim this Thursday, December 1 to be the day of holiday mapaction. From 9pm ’till late we’ll be celebrating at 54 Mint in San Francisco with dancing, DJ, drinks and the requisite late nite taco truck.

Come one, come all and help us celebrate a very good year (brought to you by prudent financial planning).

Urban Mapping Map Gallery – Geo-stories to tell

Ian — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 22:13:05 +0000

Today we unveil the first in a series of maps created to tell stories–we make the map, you tell the story! We’re thrilled to have our first map, exploring obesity factors in the US, created by Gretchen Peterson. Looking at educational level attained, consumer expenditures on fresh vegetables, foreign-born US residents and median household income, there appear to be some interesting correlations.

Like what you see? Don’t like what you see? Either way, let us know by joining the conversation and commenting. We’re always on the lookout for more cartographers to join our Cartographer in Residence program, and of course any curious and talented technical staff.

Travelshed: How far can I go?

Ian — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:40:43 +0000

Today we’re thrilled to take the covers off a new application. It’s tied to Mapfluence, Urban Mapping’s hosted mapping platform, but goes beyond our top-notch thematic mapping and data query capability. Travelshed is designed to go where no web-based mapping platform has gone before. This beta version computes isochrones for walk+public transportation in NYC and the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s being unveiled for the MTA’s APPQUEST competition to make use of MTA transit data. Given our rich history in the world of data collection an normalization and partnership with MapQuest to license our mass transit data product, this made great sense for us.

The resulting map generates colored contours of how far one can travel. Notice the islands of accessibility in Queens and Brooklyn–this indicates an express train that clearly extends the distance one can travel by train in a fixed period of time.

Public voting and official judging happens between November 30 and December 21, so we’d love you to “like” our application (a la Facebook) by visiting the submission gallery until then. After November 30 we’ll drop a few more hints about why you should vote for this application.

A few things to note about this application:

It’s in beta, so feedback from you = good
Coverage limited to NYCTA subway, San Francisco Bay Area’s BART and Caltrain
Walkshed will work anywhere worldwide
Many improvements already underway; you can guess what the obvious ones are and we’ll keep you in suspense about others