What is Location Analytics?

As Analytics information has become more available and commonly used on websites, owners of physical spaces have started to demand better information about visitors in the physical world.  Location Analytics is a group of technologies that gives owners of physical spaces more information about what’s happening in a physical space.

There are several different technologies that can be used to accomplish the goal of Location Analytics.  Some of them are meant to work together to give a better understanding of the space.  Some of them are competing technologies.

Optional Technologies

• Beacons and Beacon Analytics
• WiFi Analytics
• Smart Cameras and Facial Recognition
• Cellular Device Counters
• Beam Device Counters
• Turnstyles

Naming Convention / Confusion

Location Analytics is also sometimes referred to as Retail Analytics, or In-Store Analytics.  However, this can be confusing because a government entity measuring visitor usage at a museum is also using Location Analytics, even though they are not a Retail location.

There is also some confusion in that Location Analytics is often used to describe business information that becomes more relevant when visualized on a map.  Although this is very similar.  The confusion between a macro view appearing on a map of a city, and a micro view drilling down to inside a specific floor in a building, they appear to be similar in nature.

Location Analytics is the broader topic of different technologies used to help organizations make decisions about where people are going in a physical space.  This could be both at the micro view such as a store or a room in a store.  This could also be at the macro view, such as which parts of a city have the most traffic.  Both of those examples would be considered Location Analytics.