October 2022 Summaries

The Spatial Data Science Conference NYC, held on October 19-20, 2022, was a two-day event that brought together over 400 attendees for learning and networking. The conference featured interactive workshops hosted by four cloud partners, as well as presentations and panels covering topics such as sustainability, no-code and low-code movement, and the future of GIS analysts. The event also included an evening celebration of women in Spatial Data Science and a keynote address from CARTO's CSO, Javier de la Torre, who introduced Workflows, a new public beta feature. The conference concluded with the announcement of the winner of the 2022 Spatial Data Scientist of the Year award, Kyle Walker. The event was made possible by sponsors and will return in 2023 with events in London and New York.

CARTO Workflows is a new tool that enables users of all types and skill levels to harness the power of cloud data warehouses, spatial SQL, and advanced spatial analytics. It aims to make geospatial analysis more accessible and scalable for teams with varying expertise levels. The tool provides an analytical modeling interface in a familiar visual format, allowing users to design repeatable analysis using core spatial SQL analysis alongside tools from the CARTO Analytics Toolbox. Workflows can be scheduled to run at specific times or based on changes to data inputs, creating customizable analytics pipelines that can be shared and duplicated. By leveraging cloud data warehouses and spatial SQL, CARTO Workflows enables users to unlock accessible data and insights across their organization, reducing the risk of siloing geospatial data and insights for critical decisions. The tool is currently in a private beta, with plans to release the public beta in the coming weeks, and invites users to participate in the beta evaluation process to provide feedback on its development.

This quarter, CARTO has made significant advancements in its cloud-native spatial analytics platform, focusing on user feedback and delivering unparalleled functionality for customers. The company has added exciting collaboration options, new customization capabilities, widgets, and filters in Builder maps; geocoding and isolines procedures that can be executed natively in BigQuery; advanced geostatistics and data enrichment functions for Redshift users; and a brand-new "What's New" section of its documentation to keep customers fully up-to-date on new features, improvements, and fixes. The platform now enables multiple editor users to collaborate on the same map asynchronously, with an upcoming release in Q4 2022. CARTO has also enhanced its Analytics Toolbox for BigQuery, providing domain-specific modules for CPG and Retail industries, as well as advanced geostatistics functions for Redshift users.

IoT analytics and geospatial data are increasingly being used in various industries to gain insights and make informed decisions. The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the connection of devices to the internet, enabling them to share information and interact with each other. Geospatial data, on the other hand, is location-based data that provides valuable insights into human behavior, urban planning, and natural phenomena. By combining IoT and geospatial data, companies can optimize their operations, reduce costs, and mitigate risks. The article highlights several examples of IoT use cases with a geospatial component, including supply chain optimization, catastrophe modeling, delivery optimization, and geomarketing. It also showcases how Location Intelligence can be used to better inform IoT business decisions, such as optimizing bus-based advertising campaigns. By leveraging the power of IoT and geospatial data, companies can unlock new revenue streams, improve customer satisfaction, and gain a competitive edge in their respective markets.

The development of effective trade area analysis for CPG merchant segmentation is crucial in understanding customers and prioritizing the best points of sale to place products. Traditional distribution channels still represent the largest share of sales in the consumer market, and CPG companies are expanding their physical customer networks, making insights related to expansion planning crucial for success. However, many CPG companies face challenges due to the lack of up-to-date and granular customer sales data for their product portfolios. To address this challenge, CARTO's Analytics Toolbox for BigQuery has been developed to provide a complete framework of analysis capabilities for performing spatial analytics in SQL computed natively in the leading cloud data warehouse platforms. The toolbox includes procedures for generating trade areas, preparing data for customer segmentation, and running clustering algorithms to segment customers based on their trade area characteristics. By leveraging these tools, CPG companies can unlock customer segmentation analysis and make informed decisions about where to spend trade promotion budget and how to optimize their distribution channels.