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Google Maps, MyLoki, TomTom,Magellan, and other location-basedservices are demonstrating thatindividuals are also finding that treasuremaps are now part of contemporarylifestyle: Where’s the party? Where’s the poisonous shrub? Where are the kids?Solar Rewards program, uses imageryfrom Microsoft Live Search and GoogleEarth to speed up the qualifying processwhen customers call inquiring aboutsolar options. “What I’m looking for inthe imagery is an idea of roof slopes,which is key to determining solar access.The image resolution isn’t perfect and itdoesn’t give me the ability to measure theslope, but it’s enough to give me a roughidea of the opportunity, which maximizesthe efficiency of sales calls and eliminatesthe need for unnecessary trips—whichis particularly important with gas pricessoaring,” said Quist. (See .)To better maximize the inbound salesqualification process, what Quist wouldlike to have is the ability to measure theslope and better resolution. However,what Quist would find to be particularlyvaluable is an image-based, aerial mapthat points him to a qualified customerlead by showing rooftop slopes thatwould work for solar power. “That wouldbe worth shifting marketing dollars fromdirect mail to a subscription and datamining service,” said Quist. Locationbasedbusiness intelligence is thenext-gen treasure map!Location data is the bridgebetween top-line revenue developmentand bottom-line cost management.Small companies are most adept at thebalance of costs and revenue. Largecompanies, in contrast, have a number ofbusiness units, and product and servicelines with their own P&L, which makes itincreasingly difficult to balance. (Internalturf wars don’t help, either.)Information technology has been usedover the last twenty years to managecosts—ERP systems and cost accountinglook for the cost of inventory, supply chainmanagement, and human resources, forexample—whereas topline revenue growthis generally a function of marketing andsales, with marketing relying on marketresearch and demographics to targetcustomers, and sales being incentivedriven. Location-based business intelligencecombines top-line revenue issueswith bottom-line cost issues to deliver acontext-aware business map—a next-generationtreasure map for creating customers,growing businesses, and developing value.There are exciting new ways to put locationdata into operation, but first it has to beseen as a search question, not a bottom-upmapping exercise. One needs to demand,with the pirates of old, “ARGGG…I need amap where X marks the spot!”PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREW STERNARDIMAGING NOTES // S UMMER 2008 // WWW.IMAGINGNOTES.COM11