GeoWizdom

Choosing the "RIGHT" Geographic Location

2010-06-03T14:49:00.000-07:00

Here is a reprint of site location considerations from www.toolkit.com/small_business_guide. Some of these factors need to be assessed during an on-site visit, but a majority of them can only be discovered using geospatial information analysis.

An important factor in selecting a location is that you keep a long-term perspective. Site selection can be a big investment. Choosing the right site now can avoid the costs of relocation in the future.

Here are some factors that you should consider in making your site decision:

Access to public transportation
Availability of inventory and supplies
Availability of utilities
Availability of workforce
Availability of physical plants
Community services and amenities
Cost of physical plant
Location of competitors
Parking facilities
Proximity to markets
Suitability of location for future expansion
Taxes
Traffic flow
Transportation facilities
Transportation rates
Wage scales in the locality

Economic Gardening makes an impact AGAIN!

2010-06-02T15:33:00.000-07:00

Economic Gardening is a concept that works! Again, EG makes an impact in a community that needs jobs and economic growth. Check it out: Pueblo, Colorado

Geospatial Analysis for the Economic recovery

2010-04-14T09:53:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone:

I’m speaking at GITA’s 2010 Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference in Phoenix, AZ, on 4/27/2010, from 3:15-4:00 p.m. at the Phoenix Convention Center in Room N226B. I hope you can make it to my presentation. I’ve pasted the abstract below, and here’s a link to the main conference page: http://www.gita.org/gis. You can navigate to conference registration information from there as well.

GIS and the Economic Recovery
Economic gardening (EG) is an innovative, entrepreneurial approach to local economic development that was founded 20 years ago by Chris Gibbons, the economic development director of Littleton, Colo. EG has multiplied the jobs and sales tax base of Littleton and other communities worldwide that have employed this approach. Learn what economic gardening is, how it works, and how GIS is used and has become an integral part of the program.

Thanks, and I look forward to seeing you there!

Wayne Kocina

Presentation at GITA’s 2010 Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference in Phoenix, AZ

2010-04-05T08:25:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone:

I’m speaking at GITA’s 2010 Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference in Phoenix, AZ, on 4/27/2010, from 3:15-4:00 p.m. at the Phoenix Convention Center in Room N226B. I hope you can make it to my presentation. I’ve pasted the abstract below, and here’s a link to the main conference page: http://www.gita.org/gis. You can navigate to conference registration information from there as well.

GIS and the Economic Recovery
Economic gardening (EG) is an innovative, entrepreneurial approach to local economic development that was founded 20 years ago by Chris Gibbons, the economic development director of Littleton, Colo. EG has multiplied the jobs and sales tax base of Littleton and other communities worldwide that have employed this approach. Learn what economic gardening is, how it works, and how GIS is used and has become an integral part of the program.

Thanks, and I look forward to seeing you there!

Colo. Legislature & Governor take action against small business

2010-03-09T08:58:00.000-08:00

By enacting HB 10-1193, the Colorado Legislature and Governor Bill Ritter have taken a huge step backward and enacted a law that will further depress the economy of Colorado. All this bill is doing is closing down online sales by Colorado companies, and moving them out of state. Rather than complying with this bill, Amazon is closing my online account. Now the on-line revenue earned by Colorado businesses will no longer be flowing into Colorado, where we can provide jobs and spend it on products and services that will generate more legitimate sales taxes for Colorado. Passing this bill was near-sighted and counter productive. Instead of penalizing small businesses in Colorado, you should be supporting them with services to help them grow and flourish.

NY Times article on GrowFL

2010-03-04T07:31:00.000-08:00

The New York Times posted an article discussing what states are doing to help small businesses and the economic recovery. The last paragraph of the article, titled "Helping Businesses Expand", discusses the GrowFL program. GeoWize and the Economic Gardening Jumpstart Team have been supporting the GrowFL program. Over the next several months we will be providing business development services to another 77 Florida companies. Read the NYT article

A Local Perspective: Littleton’s Economic Gardening Strategy

2010-02-10T15:33:00.000-08:00

Read about the Littleton Economic Gardening program from the founder of Economic Gardening. This is a reprint of Chris' article in the National League of Cities, January 11, 2001 issue:

Economic Gardening has become a hot topic in economic development circles. The alternative approach, which focuses on nurturing second stage growth companies and growing an economy from within, has caught the attention of many economic developers. Yahoo! has more than 350,000 references to the term and over 700 communities have contacted Littleton, Colo., to learn more about our project. Read the full article

Demographics for Small Business

2009-08-12T07:19:00.000-07:00

It used to be that the big guys (Target, Walmart, McDonald's, Walgreens, etc.) were the only ones that could afford to use demographics and GIS (Geospatial Information Systems) for finding successful sites for there stores, but NO MORE. Now, even the little guy can easily afford and get access to this same demographic data and analysis, so that they can effectively compete with the big guys.

Many small business owners suffer from the "Field of Dreams Syndrome - Build it and They Will Come Attitude", that is they believe that all they have to do is build their dream business and the world will come flocking to their door. Nothing could be further from the truth, and there are thousands of failed small businesses to prove this point. To be successful a small business owner must perform the same site prospecting, due diligence that the big guys do.

There are numerous elements to site prospecting. First there are all of the on-site questions that need to be answered, such as: Is the site attractive and aesthetically pleasing? Is there good access to the location? Is there enough parking available? Is there enough space? Is there adequate traffic? Is the price right? Are the terms of the lease acceptable? Then, there is one critical question that cannot be answered by a site visit: Are there enough of my target customers within my trade area to support my business and allow me to be successful? The only way to answer this question is through analyzing the demographics of your proposed trade area.

To look at demographics of the area, you first need to define the demographic characteristics of your target customer. How old are they? What is their income level? What gender are they? Do they have children? Do they own vehicles? What is their home value? Many small business owners will say, "everyone is my customer." WRONG! Everyone is not your customer. There are certain characteristics that will define your ideal customer, like "single, female, between the ages of 25 and 60, with an average annual income over $45,000." Once the profile is created, you can start to look at your trade area to determine if there are enough customers in the area to support your business.

So, you may ask, "where do demographics come from?" The base for all demographics data in the US is the census which is performed every ten years. The issue is determining what the current 2009 statistics are if the last census was conducted in 2000. The companies that provide consumable demographics for business analysis collect monthly USPS mail delivery statistics to apply to the census figures and determine current figures. Additionally, they pull data from hundreds of other sources to determine what current income, spending, and property levels are. The process is not easy or cheap. These companies employ hundreds of demographers, statisticians, and economist to create this data in a form that businesses can use.

Now, there are tools, services, and companies on the market that bring the latest, greatest demographic data and GIS analytics to you so you don't have to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on your own GIS department like the big guys do. Now you can get the same competitive advantage that the big guys have at a very affordable price. For more information on site prospecting check out this link: GeoWize Site Prospecting.

NOW is the Time!

2009-07-17T07:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning I was enjoying my breakfast in the hotel restaurant and perusing the current issue of USA Today, when I came across an insightful article on the role of entrepreneurship in today's economy by Amy Wilkinson. The article describes how our country was founded by entrepreneurs in very troubled times, and how many of today's great success stories like eBay, Google, PayPal, Burger King, FedEx, Intel, and Microsoft were started by innovative entrepreneurs in troubled times and down economies.

I think the article's conclusion really brought the point home: Our prosperity depends on innovative thinking. Instead of bailing out behemoths that are "too big to fail," we must remember that mom-and-pop businesses, garage start-ups and small ventures are the reason we succeed. Read the whole article. . .

ESRI UC Day 3 - A day of Collaboration

2009-07-16T06:55:00.000-07:00

Collaboration is a powerful tool! It is an example of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. In the Commercial Special Interest Group, we were discussing the need to create vertically oriented tools in Business Analyst to solve specific business problems for different industries. One solution was to rely and expect ESRI to accomplish this task. However, a group of us envisioned a more powerful way to build this capability into BA.

We saw a way the business educators, ESRI business partners, end users, and ESRI developers could all work together to provide these solutions. A specific example would be:

Business problem to be solved

How many sites can a specific market (e.g. Denver) hold, and where should they be located?

The business process that addresses this problem is fairly universal and can be identified and documented by GIS/Business educators. The specific tasks can be created and modeled using Model Builder and Python by users, business partners, and ESRI developers. The model would use parameters and variables to provide the flexibility needed to address different industries and companies. The solution could be posted on the resource site so that educators can make the process and model into an educational tool. Users, business partners, and developers could continuously improve the model. This collaborative approach would provide a timely solution that is flexible, universal, and FREE.

Day 2 of the ESRI User's Conference: A day of Learning

2009-07-15T06:18:00.000-07:00

Day two of the 2009 ESRI International User's Conference was a day of learning. Three professors from The University of Redlands discussed their work with using GIS to support small business. They confirmed one of my findings. That is, most small business owners do not understand GIS and are not aware of how it can be used to support their businesses. The issue becomes how to educate small business owners on the benefits, power, and use of GIS.

I met with the ESRI product managers to learn about the exciting and powerful new features that are available in the newest releases of ArcGIS, Business Analyst and Business Analyst Online. We also discussed usefull improvements and features that could be included in future releases.

Retailers from around the country and world gathered to discuss experiences and issues associated with using GIS to support their businesses. There were representatives from Starbucks, JC Penneys, Johnson & Johnson, Target, Walgreens, Culvers, commercial real estate brokers, and bankers. We shared common challenges and thecniques that we use to help retailers select sites that will be successful, performance prediction, customize merchandising to match the spending patterns of the trade area's customers, determine market penetration, competitive intelligence, etc.

The most valuable take-backs were techniques that I can employ to help my retail customers survive and thrive in the down economy, and prepare for more prosperous times.

2009-07-13T21:38:00.000-07:00

Today I attended the opening plenary session of the ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute) International User’s Conference hosted by Jack Dangermond, President of ESRI. The conference has been described as the “Superbowl” of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) events. I whole heartedly agree with this assessment. Jack Dangermond is one of the pioneers of GIS technology and a true visionary.

Today we got an overview of the myriad of ways that GIS is building our world. Tim Trainer, the Chief Geographer of the US Census Bureau gave an inside view of how GIS is revolutionizing the 2010 census. He explained how the USCB is counting everyone in the US once, and only once, and in the right location. The results will be available to the public faster than ever before, and the data will be more usable than ever.

Andrew Douglas-Bate received the humanitarian award for his work in founding Map Action. Map Action is an organization that takes GIS and maps to international disaster sites within 24 hours to support relief activities in the affected areas. Best of all, these services are provided for free to the countries that are impacted by the disaster.

Hernando De Soto, author of The Mystery of Capitol: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else, and an economist from Peru was one of the keynote speakers. He explained how GIS can be used to help capture the relationship between people and land ownership, and how the legalization and tracking of this relationship can eliminate poverty.

For me the most inspirational moments come when I see young people, school kids, get up in front of an audience of tens of thousands of GIS professionals and present examples of how they are using GIS to make the world a better place. Today two students from the high school class in Maryland, Joey Hightower and Matt Kelly, presented how they used GIS to determine the best location for a new school in their community. What made this possible is an exciting program named GeoMentors. Read More. . .

Identify retail locations with the best potential for profitability!

2009-06-22T07:35:00.000-07:00

SUMMER SPECIAL - FREE Demographics & Income Profile report!!!

In retail, restaurant, and many other businesses, "location, location, location" is the key to success. The problem is often times a business owner cannot tell if a location is "right" for their business. Commercial Realtors and landlords all hope that you will be successful, but their primary goal is to move the property and get you into their location. The responsibility for making the business a success still resides with you, the business owner.

To further "muddy the waters" many small business owners have a "build it and they will come" attitude about their business. After all, it is their dream. They have saved, planned, and dreamed about being their own boss and owning their own business. Why wouldn't the whole world flock to their doorstep?

A business owner can easily look at a location and evaluate the aesthetics, parking, access, and floorspace; however, it is not as easy to understand anything about the people that live in the homes in their trade area. It is difficult to know how many people drive into their trade area to work. Do they match your target customer profile? Can you connect with them and lure them in to your store? To be successful, the owner must understand the demographics and income makeup of their market.

To celebrate the summer, GeoWize is offering you each a FREE Demographics and Income Profile report for one location of your choice. To receive your FREE report, go to the Contact page for GeoWize. and fill in the form with your contact information. In the "Services interested in" field type "FREE DEMO & INC PROFILE", and in the "Any additional info" field type in the Address, City, and Zip Code for the location you would like analyzed. You will receive your FREE PDF copy of the report within 5 business days for a 5-mile radius around your site.

GeoWize uses the same data, software, and processes the the "big guys" like Target, Walmart, Walgreens and others use to select successful sites, but we package and price our services so the "little guys" can afford them. Our services include site prospecting, customer prospecting, customer profiling, market intelligence, and market analysis. Check us out at www.GeoWize.com!

Early Registration for GIS In The Rockies Ends 6/30

2009-06-11T07:22:00.000-07:00

GIS in the Rockies 2009 is being held at The Ranch - Larimer County Fairgrounds in Loveland, CO September 16 - 18, 2009, with pre-conference workshops being planned for September 15. In these tougher economic times, focus your training and conference dollars in your own backyard. Early registration for GIS in the Rockies ends June 30, 2009. Take advantage of the savings by registering early for $ 225 versus the regular registration cost of $ 325: http://www.gisintherockies.org/ (reprint from Rogues announcement)

Marketing Strategy to Beat the Economic Downturn

2009-06-09T11:08:00.000-07:00

GeoWize is a small geographic information services company that markets to small businesses. Our mission is to give the little guy the big guy competitive advantage. We do this by using the same data, systems & processes that the "big" guys use to put the "little" guys out of business, but we package and price our services so small business owners can afford them. We work extensively with restaurants, franchisers & franchisees, economic development organizations, and economic gardening programs.

We help businesses understand their trade area's demographics, income, spending patterns, and psycho-economic profiles so they can bring more customers in the door through targeted advertising and marketing. We also help them understand their competition, and find feeder businesses (businesses that generate traffic and customers for their business).

Like other businesses, my cash flow has suffered with the economic downturn. the other day, I got a quote from my marketing company for a new campaign that I wanted to run, and I realized that I just did not have enough money to fund the campaign, so I am turning to social networking to reach my target audience.

This blog will discuss topics on how to support small businesses with geographic information services, such as "How to identify you target customer's demographic profile", Defining and understanding your trade area", "Profiling your customers", "Where to find more customers & how to get them into your store", and many more. We will share tips and tricks, how to's, and successful case studies.

Vist the GeoWize website at: http://www.GeoWize.com

The Jobs for the Economic Recovery Will Come From Small Business!

2009-06-09T10:34:00.000-07:00

As President Obama stated in his address to Congress and the nation on February 24, 2009: “The state of our economy is a concern that rises above all others, and rightly so….. The impact of this recession is real, and it is everywhere.” He went on to outline his agenda for economic recovery: “It is an agenda that begins with jobs.”

As President Obama stated in his address to Congress and the nation on February 24, 2009: “The state of our economy is a concern that rises above all others, and rightly so….. The impact of this recession is real, and it is everywhere.” He went on to outline his agenda for economic recovery: “It is an agenda that begins with jobs.”

Read the hull article at: http://www.geowize.com/Articles/Jobs and EG.pdf.