What Are the Best GIS Data Sources?
While many mapping systems provide little to no integrated data, Maptitude includes a wealth of information for free, and allows you to map your own data at no charge and without additional fees for credits or API access. We will break down the key geospatial datasets into four types: Fundamental map data, your own data, free premium datasets, and priced/niche datasets. For Maptitude, these datasets are those that allow the majority of our users to accomplish the majority of the tasks they need to complete. Every Maptitude map has streets, postal boundaries, landmarks, government and census boundaries, natural features, aerial imagery, and choice of map background. You can then use your own data to: map unlimited addresses, define sales/franchise territories and markets, explore the types of people that live in any given area, perform single vehicle or multi-vehicle fleet route optimization, determine the best locations for sites or identify facilities that are underperforming, determine service areas and driving distances between any list of points, visualize your results graphically, geographically, and in tabular form. In addition to standard mapping requirements, each industry has unique and differentiated needs when taking a deeper dive into data. Healthcare analysis requires identification of providers by taxonomy code, franchises need to be able to define territory boundaries based on geodemographics at the local level, businesses target other organizations based on NAICS codes or consumers based on expenditure, direct mailers require address level pinpoints, while real estate site evaluation necessitates exploring traffic counts and access to major arterials and amenities as well as to competitors. Maptitude provides an a la carte menu for all these addon databases. For the less commonly used and more niche datasets it is common for them to be priced according to their value and complexity. Such datasets often include congressional and legislative districts, school boundaries, Census blocks and block groups, and map packages for other countries. We take a deeper dive into each of these 4 categories below. Fundamental Map Data  The unparalleled benefit of providing all the typical datasets most busines users would need, is that the application can be directly integrated with this information. This allows the complexity of large and varied datasets to be hidden from the user, providing a truly user-friendly experience. Tasks ranging from placing locations on a map, navigating a map, finding data, and visualizing information can be accessed through step-by-step Wizard interfaces. These Wizards can then be extended to make otherwise complex processes a breeze for even novice users. For example, automated territory creation, operations and logistics tasks such as multiple vehicle fleet routing or facility location, and clustering of customers, can each be a prompted, help supported, series of Next buttons and windows. Even something as simple as a Find tool, a feature most users expect in productivity and analytics applications, requires a wealth of data to be able to provide accurate and comprehensive results when implemented in a mapping application. And once you have zoomed to a location, visual contextual information is key, enabling you to orient yourself to the market area, while allowing your audience to be able to relate to what they are seeing in your presentation. This requires access to both imagery and map backgrounds that can be switched with the click of a button. Your Own Data  A mapping system should allow you to access your maps for free and to have options that do not require credits or additional charges to perform an analysis. Even with subscriptions, you will often have to pay more for storage of data, data access, and even map operations such as finding, zooming, and downloading reports. Maptitude allows you to work with your business critical data offline or online, with unlimited geocoding (pin-mapping) and map operations, and has options for one-time purchases as well as subscriptions, allowing you to choose the model that best meets your needs. You also shouldnt expect to have to pay for plugins that enable access to geographic datasets. The number of mapping formats is dizzying and you will need a product that bakes in support for pretty much any mapping data you will encounter, from raster and vector to Shapefile and GeoJSON. Free Premium Datasets by Industry and Segment  Accessing business and residential listings would seem like the first thing anyone would want to look at in a mapping system. However, they are not as common as you would think, and often carry a hefty price tag. Say you want to look at all the fast-food chains in your market, and the businesses and residences within 5 miles of a proposed site. Maptitude provides these locational data products and many more for free. These additional datasets include easy to interpret traffic count data and the locations of highway on- and off- ramps, as well as ramp and highway names for models that require calculating distance to interstates and major roads. While an application such as Maptitude absolutely allows you to do this, it would be much more valuable if the data itself had specific categories of people that you could analyze. Enter geodemographic segments, a powerful information source for determining who your best customers are, where they are, and who is located where.