The real cost of location intelligence
The range of mapping and location intelligence tools in the UK is staggering. So, when new clients come to us for help, they often have one of two perceptions of how much to budget for a location intelligence project based on past experience:
- They have used a desktop GIS for projects like this in the past, so know this kind of thing costs thousands of pounds, or
- Have personally used free web-based mapping tools all the time, so assume they can do business mapping for free too
Both of these preconceptions can prove expensive in different ways. Let’s look at the hidden costs (and hidden frees) in the current mapping environment to help you find value in your location analysis jobs.
Location data that is actually free
Let’s start with well-known and reputable data providers that do provide free location intelligence resources.
The big name for maps in the UK is Ordnance Survey (OS). They do offer some of their data for free, even to commercial users. However, their core products: large-scale maps and raster data, that are the most useful come at a cost.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) are most well-known for creating the census every decade. Individual data tables from the census are available to anyone who knows how to find them. This is a very powerful free resource, but tables of data are held individually, so to build a fuller demographic portrait of an area or group will require a lot of collating. Without nationwide aggregation, a single table in a single area can be wildly misleading.
Free mapping and demographic data for charities
A lot of our charity and public sector clients are often unaware that they can get free data via the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA). This gives them access to data and maps from both the ONS and OS for zero cost. This is an incredibly powerful asset and often removes the core cost from any research project. Additionally mapping consultants, like Beacon Dodsworth, offer a discounted rate for charities on analysis projects. This allows non-profits to commission bespoke mapping consultancy projects very cost effectively.
The costs behind “free” data and mapping tools
It is also worth mentioning that there are a lot of free tools and datasets available to consumers. However, a business client needs to be very careful when turning free consumer tools to commercial purposes. It is likely that the provider charges for commercial use and if this is not honoured then your “free” data can have a very real legal and financial cost. The most well-known free consumer mapping tool is Google Maps, which is clear that there is a cost for business use, but opaque about how much that will be:
“If you want to use Google Maps, Google Earth or Street View for other commercial purposes – meaning “for sale or revenue-generating purposes” – please contact the Google Cloud Customer Team.”
The big hidden cost of data mapping – time
So, your mapping software is free, your data is free, but you’ve spent a day getting them to work together. Even if you can get around – or risk ignoring – the commercial caveats on consumer tools, most projects will require you to run multiple individual queries and then collate that data in one place. When you have acquired or downloaded your data, you will probably want to:
- Import it into some mapping or GIS software/app
- Join it to some other data for further analysis.
- Overlay it on a background map
Naturally enough, this requires both labour and nous. Labour isn’t free. Nous means that you know the potential pitfalls. Although the format of the data seems OK - it’s CSV, say, or Excel, and it has a postcode column - the postcodes are formatted incorrectly, and some are invalid. Or, you only have local authority names, not codes (and from which year?). Or, you have Lat/Long - or is it Long/Lat? Often, even with the most accommodating software, manual intervention is required, and data mangling with a clever editor using regular expressions is required to shoe-horn your data into the system.
If you have members of staff with this level of expertise, who are able to give up this much time, then you have bigger cost efficiency issues to worry about.
Hidden costs to look out for in mapping tools
If you are fortunate to find a tool advertised as free for business use then you need to evaluate it for your purposes. First, make sure that the provider’s business model suits you, as there are different kinds of free:
- free-at-the-point-of-use (pre-paid)
- free-but-with-advertising (your behavioural data is the cost)
- free-for-now (low- or no-maintenance but no guarantees)
- free for basic use, but with a freemium upgrade cost for more advanced features
Data mapping has a lot of elements to it, leaving a lot of leeway to providers on what they can charge for, so the final “freemium” option is becoming common. Where the cost creeps in varies from provider to provider so keep your eyes peeled for these common additional costs:
- Background maps can be an additional cost, depending on the provider and how they are sourced. Look out for talk of “country packs” or “region packs” on international products to enquire that you get the area you need to work with for no additional cost. After all, data mapping without the background maps is not a great deal of use.
- Boundaries and network data: Accurate and up-to-date boundaries for the type of geography you want to work with are vitally important. You may also need road network data. These are often chargeable extras in some “free” products.
- Data storage: Some providers charge per project or have tiered storage limits. Is this cost one-off or do you need to keep paying to ensure that you keep access to your projects.
Evaluating the value and work required from free data
Firstly, you must find the data you want. The time involved here can be considered a cost in itself. Once you have found a data source, you need to evaluate its suitability for your project. Here are some opening questions to ask of a newly discovered dataset:
- Coverage: does it cover the region you want, or the whole country?
- Topic: is it tagged with the right attributes?
- Currency: when was it collected and published? Will there be an update?
- Resolution: is it sufficiently granular for my needs?
- Accuracy: is it sufficiently detailed?
- Provenance: who created it and do they retain copyright?
Cost vs. benefit or value
This article has focussed a lot on cost and how to avoid it, but the real keyword is “value”. How important is it that your new store is located in prime position? Can you afford to waste hours of staff time travelling around inefficient territories? Wouldn’t you rather the people you market to are likely to actually respond to you? Consider from the outset, what value this project has to you, and consider location intelligence an investment in your organisation’s sustainable and profitable future.