Geographic Information Systems or “GIS” allows businesses to visualize, understand, question, and interpret otherwise incompatible data to reveal relationships and trends in the form of weather, maps, geography, demographics and population. Marketing Research tells you WHO your customer is while GIS tells you WHERE to find them!

The basis for the use of GIS is in its ability to carry out several functions for the user:

• To compute the spatial relationships between certain objects
• Using those spatial relationships to assign new attributes to certain objects including finding geographical coordinates for customers using their street addresses (“geocoding”) or finding the actual number of customers within a certain distance to a certain business location.
• Computing new objects from existing ones such as a trade area (area object) from a customer location (point object)
• Analyzing the attributes of a class of geographically referenced objects, e.g. selecting all customers with incomes over $50,000.00 and displaying their locations.
• Analyzing multiple classes of objects, e.g. forecasting trips to a business based on characteristics of the neighborhood (area objects), businesses (point objects) and trips (point-area relationships)

The Decision Sciences Research Associates (DSRA) GIS Team utilizes the latest GIS technology to build custom databases from over 20,000 variables, including weather, local and state assessment records, traffic counts, consumer expenditure, as well as demographic and psychographic data. The DSRA team then integrates the data to develop easy to understand maps, models and reports that uncover business development insights and cost-saving opportunities, providing businesses a “spatially-based” analysis to support informed, confident investment decisions and forecasts.

DSRA’s new technologies also now include access to Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) and advanced radar and predictive software which can scan horizontally and vertically to help develop predictive models for weather including amounts of rain, wind, lightning and ice that weather conditions could produce over periods of time. These systems analyze weather trajectories for our transportation, agricultural, auto wash, and utility clients giving them predictive models and actionable reports to use for future adjustments, time saving traffic routes and usage parameters.

Whether you are in need of basic mapping or a comprehensive weather study, DSRA’s GIS Team can customize a solution that meets your needs. DSRA’s consulting services can be purchased independently or integrated into their latest market research projects.

DSRA’s List of GIS Capabilities:

• Aerial Mapping
• Birdseye Perspectives
• Threat Access® Radar Analysis
• Business-to-Business Mapping
• Competition Sales Analysis
• Consumer Spending Profiles
• Demographic Mapping and Reporting
• Detailed Local and Regional Mapping
• Employee Drive Time Analysis
• Feasibility Studies
• Market Characterization (Rents, Salary, Utilities, Taxes)
• Market Trend Analysis (Historic and Current)
• Market Potential Mapping
• Market Segmentation Studies
• Market Vacancy & Absorption
• Pin Map Studies
• Psychographic (Lifestyle) Profiling
• Street view Perspectives
• Targeting Potential Sites
• Tax Incentive Mapping
• Threshold Trade Area Analysis
• Trade Area Analysis (Ring to Drive time)
• Traffic Characterization (Volume, Signals, Commuting Patterns)
• Zoning Mapping