Improving the use of location intelligence, or the process of gleaning insights from geospatial data relationships, has long been the holy grail for marketers looking to satisfy today’s busy, demanding customers. A business-friendly hotel, for instance, wants the ability to instantly show their customers traveling on business where the best nearby restaurants are for meetings. A retailer would love to send offers while a consumer is at a competitor, in order to draw them to their store. A restaurant chain seeking a new location wants to make sure to choose one that attracts the most traffic at the right times.

“Understanding how consumers interact with competitive brands and their movements around key locations/timeframes can reveal key learnings and opportunities for expanding services and improving customer experiences, both online and off,” said Jeff White, founder and CEO of location intelligence platform Gravy Analytics. “Marketers need to look at location as a core behavioral indicator to fully understand their customers and the customer experience. What is key is understanding not just where people are going, but also what they are doing when they are there.”

Marketers are already using location intelligence to tackle many of the challenges related to discovering, engaging and activating customers at the right time and place. But the data can be overwhelming and understanding when to use what data is difficult.