Location intelligence edges into BI

Location intelligence edges into BI

After failing for so long to capture the eye of corporate computing, location intelligence (LI) is poised to make its play in the enterprise. LI is finally making make inroads in corporate decision-making circles. The convergence of LI with business intelligence (BI) was discussed at some depth at the recent Location Intelligence 2008 conference in Santa Clara, California. Web 2.0 mashups that connect BI to online LI services like Google Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth and bring in Web 2.0 types of content are also hastening the convergence by overcoming the complexity and cost of development. However, LI still has to overcome some serious technical hurdles to move into the corporate mainstream. The market might not be there as yet in terms of mass adoption. But the pieces are slowly starting to come together to give location the front and centre respect that it deserves.

Table of contents

LI meets the enterprise

Parallel development
Slow convergence
Understanding the value of maps
Other drivers

Ready for prime time

Web 2.0 and mashups
Laying a data foundation
SOA

Hurdles to overcome

LI must address business problems
Affordable data access – work in progress
Cleaning up dirty data
Slowly evolving standards
Change of mindset