JOIN USMaps have been the most powerful medium of information and navigation and are used to understand various parameters of any location on the globe. Paper maps are being replaced with digital maps and smart map. The smart mapping of locations has now taken to another level with the advent of technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, internet of things and many other advanced location intelligence systems.
The advanced technologies are generating voluminous and complex data on an everyday basis through mobile to satellite, and a majority of it has a spatial component. This can be immensely useful in taking logical and accurate decisions pertaining to location-based infrastructure, condition of the environment, human health, agriculture and behaviour of the city in real-time and many mores. Hence, spatial analytics is becoming increasingly important to provide solutions.
What is Spatial Analytics?
The combination of data science and data analysis in spatial science can be termed as spatial analytics. Digital data in spatial domain and automation of object extraction and pattern recognition has increased the momentum of technology like location analytics and spatial analytics.
It is a technological process which uses spatial modelling, engineering, statistical concepts and computer processing to do locational or geographical analysis at a large scale.
For example, spatial analytics in agriculture can help understand soil moisture, climate, yield forecast, crop acreage, and many other variables of land in a particular region. Depending on the information, various stakeholders in agriculture such as policymakers, farmers, meteorological agencies, insurance companies, etc., can develop effective solutions with respect to precision agriculture.
The technology has its economic applications for every industry because location-related business intelligence is the core foundation to get better foresight, create targeted solutions and make better business decisions. We are approaching towards industrial revolution 4.0 in which location information will play a major role for the sustainable business on across the globe. Today major e-commerce companies are working on location intelligence technologies. Digital infrastructure, transportation, logistics, agriculture, education, retail, engineering, real estate, urban landscape, healthcare, energy, space technology, environment monitoring, telecommunications, automotive, insurance, military intelligence, weather forecast and disaster management – the scope of spatial analytics is as diverse as it can get. Spatial analytics is making it possible to collect, visualise and analyse location data in a way that would have been impossible earlier.
Spatial analytics helps understand real-time economic determinants and cost-benefit analysis pertaining to a geographical location. In fact, spatial economics is a fast-emerging domain in modern economics.
Market opportunities
All countries across the world, India is still at a nascent stage in the adoption of spatial analytics. However, given the huge benefits it brings in terms of real-time information-sharing, progress monitoring, asset management, cost savings, productivity improvement and transparency in operations, governments and business enterprises are making dedicated efforts to tap its potential.
Spatial analytics draws its concepts and principles from big data. Hence, its techniques are based on similar lines. Some of the most common tools and techniques used for spatial analytics are:
ARCGIS, Q-GIS, Geo server, R, Python, ERDAS Imagine, ENVI, Python, Java, C++, MATLAB, SQL SPSS, Google Earth Engine, Additional Scripting Utilities, Hawth’ Tools, NOAA’s Weather and Climate Toolkit
Spatial analytics requires a thorough understanding in GIS, Remote Sensing, Modelling, Spatial Econometrics, Spatial Science, statistics and Geostatistics among many other sub-focus areas.
Career in Spatial Analytics
The growth of spatial analytics industry means that it will also generate employment opportunities. Currently, India employs only 2,51,300 people in the spatial economy. But, it is projected to create more jobs in the coming years.
You can build a fast-track and rewarding career in spatial analytics. If you are someone who loves analytics, visualisation, data and technology, then this career is definitely worth pursuing. Since it has applications in most industries and government policies, there will be no dearth of job opportunities to advance your career. You can even hunt for offshore jobs because the applications remain the same, only the geographical context and parameters change. Spatial Analytics coupled with data science and artificial intelligence makes a very strong combination to deal with all the data analytics issues with spatial dimension and provide tremendous opportunities in all the companies working in the area of e-governance, location intelligence, insurance and reinsurance, infrastructure, transportation and agriculture.
Moreover, spatial analytics is still evolving. It is expected to experiment with new trends, technologies and use cases on an ongoing basis. This means that there is a lot of scope to upgrade your skills and learn something new in this domain.
Spatial analytics is a highly-specialised field. It requires an in-depth understanding of geographic science and information systems. You need to know various statistical tools, analytical techniques and spatial software systems. In order to become a trained professional, you must enter into a formal degree or certificate course in spatial technologies offered by a reputed institute.
Spatial analytics with big data is transforming the world and touted as the next frontier in technology advancement. This would be a good time to consider a career in this field.
(The writer is Director, Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics, Pune)