04 Mar The rise of artificial intelligence meets the golden age of geography

Millions of maps are made each day, specifically data-rich maps that guide predictions and decisions for the world’s largest organisations. This spatial analysis – a time-tested technology – mixes the science of geography with innovations like artificial intelligence (AI).

Case in point: leaders at a well-known global logistics company can predict when a plane will need parts or maintenance, achieving leaps in operational efficiency. The company’s VP of airline technology termed it “almost the holy grail for a maintenance operation.” That’s the transformative power of pairing spatial analysis with AI, or what is known as GeoAI.

Spatial analysis relies on geographic information systems (GIS) – the mapping and data analysis technology behind many business decisions and government operations. GeoAI takes cutting-edge GIS and enriches it exponentially, adding the ability for greater prediction, automation and precision.

The pairing of spatial analysis and AI means organisations can ask and answer questions at a speed and scale humans alone could never achieve. Already GeoAI is a powerful means of synthesising data in the context of location so decision-makers can prioritise what needs to happen where. For example, “Where are our best customers and locations and where are they likely to be in the future?”; “Where are critical resources and how can we operate in those places with the least impact on the environment and threatened species?”; and “Where are assets or operational locations in danger from rising seas, extreme heat, or other climate risks?”.

It’s not magic, it’s data – and it’s automation. It lets people make more effective decisions both in real-time and for the longer-term. This transformational tool also excels at image recognition. With the explosion of imagery coming from satellites, drones and aircraft – coupled with the urgency to make sense of rapid changes – AI and spatial analysis can swiftly sift through every pixel to find answers.

The fusion of AI and spatial analysis results in three powerful capabilities.

1. Automate tasks and repeat them quickly at scale: streamline and optimise a range of business processes including operations, asset management and supply chain monitoring.

2. Look at past patterns to make predictions: identify patterns – such as escalating risks – and generate recommendations or decisions based on predefined criteria or objectives.

3. Search for patterns hidden in large amounts of data: examine and cross-reference troves of data for insights related to customer demographics, economics and geography.

Additionally, it’s being tested to assist with complex problems. For example, companies and cities use it to analyse energy usage patterns in buildings to identify opportunities to reduce energy consumption. This helps cut costs and realise sustainability goals.

For leadership, GeoAI takes agility to a whole new level and adds in the ability to do almost instantaneous analysis. It then changes the questions and assumptions and runs the analysis again – just as quickly.

And the results are transformational. Marrying spatial analysis and AI becomes an enterprise tool with wide-ranging value in everything from planning how to optimise a supply chain and deciding how best to manage resources to assessing implications of policy changes and market trends.

The moment a problem seem to be increasing in complexity, GeoAI is the tool to meet that moment. It doesn’t cut through or minimise the complexity – it allows those looking for a solution to take the complexity into account.

This type of modern GIS technology gives leaders in business and government the ability to see the present in incredible detail. It gives them the ability to look beyond the horizon, to predict the future and, ultimately, make smarter decisions.