Mapping & GIS
We use mapping tools for analysis and visualisation, and for preparing geographic data for modelling within consultancy assignments - they enable various logistics network design and location analysis such as:
- Facility relocation and weighted "centres of gravity"
- Visualise size of flows
- Allocate customers between fulfilment centres or depots
Read our case study on Logistics Network Development.
We also have also helped clients in sales and marketing:
- Identifying customer hot spots
- Prioritising sales leads
- Competitor adjacency analysis
And in areas such as managing territories for field engineers.
What is Maptitude and what else can it do?
Maptitude Geographic Information System (GIS) software is cost-effective comprehensive desktop mapping software from Caliper. With Maptitude you can:
- Know exactly where your customers are and what sites are best for your business
- Identify hot-spots, geographic patterns and trends that cannot be seen in database tables and spreadsheets
- Use demographic data to model what additional business is likely to look like for your company
- Ask questions of your data based on its location, specific attributes and/or what else is in the vicinity
- Enhance your reports and presentations with maps and charts
You can see some of the other imaginative analysis and presentation options in Maptitude here on Caliper's website.
Maptitude Training
Maptitude includes extensive geographic data so you can get started as soon as you install the software. You can learn how to use Maptitude yourself - there is built-in help, the user manual is also comprehensive including many tutorials, and then there are plenty of helpful videos on Maptitude's site and on YouTube. However many people find that a more time-effective method is to undertake training.
Aricia provides in-company training through one-day courses aimed at getting you started with Maptitude and more tailored training for specific needs. Aricia's training is suitable for business users who need to create maps and analyse data in a geographic way, but who are not GIS experts (and don't particularly want / need to be!). The training is a mixture of some subjects that are covered in depth and awareness of other features so that the user can return to them as required.
Or, if you need assistance with something specific, we can help you with on-the-project coaching, so you come away with useful results immediately. Minimum 2 hours (=£210+VAT) or pro rata - we try to keep Friday mornings free for this and are happy to meet up in one of the informal coffee areas in the Premier Inn at Banbury, or at a location of your choice with travel costs.
Maptitude Tips
We usually change one of the tips every week or so:
Tip A: If you’re having to change your depot structure (eg due to Coronavirus) and need to reallocate customers between a number of logistics locations, you could use the Drive-Time Influence Areas tool in Maptitude. You can make it run quicker by considering your settings: minimising the visible area on the map before you start (on the basis that you’re always going to allocate the West Country to your Bristol depot, and Scotland to Motherwell) and using ‘Motorways’ (which also includes many major roads in the UK) instead of Streets (more detailed).
Tip B: Creating your own grid for analysis is really simple: Tools, Editing, New Grid Layer.
Tip C: When you’re using the facility location tool, remember that the same location can’t be in the lists for both existing and potential sites (makes sense when you think about it!), so if they are in the same layer make sure you have two non-overlapping selections.
If you'd like an alert when a fresh tip is posted, follow on Twitter:
Follow @KirstenTisdale on Twitter