Demystifying Location Analytics: A Brave New World of User Engagement and Monetization Opportunities

I still don’t think that we truly realize the power of the smart phone – a device that has become ubiquitous in virtually every society across the globe. I’m talking about everyone – not the people using this technology nor the manufacturers, connectivity providers, app publishers – and the list goes on. 

It is a technology that has changed our world in a tenth of a generation and, in my opinion, its impact and influence dwarfs all technological advances previously seen – yes more than the PC, the internet and sad to say, even indoor plumbing (that is a close one  though).

The volume of information created today is huge – hence you are surrounded by daily news and commentary on the impact of Big Data, which actually has been around for several decades, but did not truly hit its stride until the iPhone made its appearance and then the race was on.

I could write 800 pages about Big Data (if I was smart enough, which I’m not) and that’s not my point here, which is to drill down to the impact and potential of location analytics, one of the drivers of Big Data today. It is the subject of a new white paper from Phunware titled “A New Discipline at the Intersection of the Digital and Physical Worlds.” 

It is an in-depth look at the new world of location analytics, which is being driven by the biggest single piece of new information that is available from the advent of consumers’ smart mobile devices - the accurate location of the device powered by the onboard GPS.

This pairing of digital activity with physical world context is likely to be the most important field in digital analytics for years to come, as it provides a more unified visibility into how consumers engage with content across the digital and physical worlds.

But how do you start with location analytics? What data is available and how do you manage that data for your specific purposes? As the Phunware publication points out, it can be relatively simple to start gathering location insights that app users are willing to share in a privacy sensitive, accurate and battery-friendly way. This data generates insight almost instantly, and offers the ability to act on the data through the very application where you gathered it, meaning the data produces an entire closed loop of value at the outset.

And every app publisher has the opportunity to leverage this data. It may provide relatively minor insights or it may open up a new world of user engagement and monetization opportunities. Reading the white paper will provide you with specific insight into examining what these opportunities are and how to approach them. 

You can download the white paper on the Phunware website.