I'm going to start putting some ideas up here.
This one popped up when I was walking by a couple of budding restaurateurs (ok, maybe barmen) readying their establishment on 2nd Avenue at 12th Street...
Why can't we leverage the power of location-based information to help companies understand where I should put a store? Or place an advertisement? Or for communities and governments to help have a dialog about what a neighborhood needs?
By coupling mobile phone location-awareness technology with widely available geographic information, the proprietors of this service would sell an integrated analytical offering to developers, governments, small businesses and advertisers. They'd probably start in the top 15-20 MSAs.
The company would likely start as or end up being a strategic subsidiary of a mobile phone company. Mobile phone subscribers would opt-in to be profiled and tracked in exchange for advanced location-based data services or free mobile phone service. These same subscribers could also receive free local information in exchange for their participation or serve like Neilsen families of old.
Systemically, the service would "crawl streets" periodically (think radar sweeps over a particular block for a given time period). A customer could commission a "crawl" and the company could offer a premium service that showed detailed demographic information as well as historical comparisons.
Developers, small business owners and advertisers would use the system to assess locations and neighborhoods. Both subscription and ad-hoc services would be offered. Customers would be able to discover not only what traffic looked like at given points in time, but also where people came from, where they went next and a lot about who potential users or tenants were as people.
The online reporting interface would utilize Google mashups to get street views, data on other complementary and competitive aspects of the area (e.g., competitive businesses, vehicle traffic or a nice park to eat lunch). Developers and advertisers could run "placement" searches across markets, allowing them to drill down on both geographic and demographic information.
The company would likely do a deal with a partner like Trulia to assess corporate real estate rates. Similarly, it would integrate data from sites like Yelp and Zagat to glean sentiment.
The company would have a public-facing, free component that shared basic traffic information and visualizations. Citizens could provide suggestions or insight into certain locations or ask for certain additions to the neighborhood.
I think some of the location-based services (foursquare, Loopt?), data and analytics companies are likely considering this. Does anybody know? I seem to recall a WSJ or NY Times article about a New York-based company running selective monitoring of subscriber traffic flows to profile and create new types of segments.
[Editors note: Jon pointed me to exactly the company, Sense Networks, and the article I was trying to recall. Amazing Jon. Thanks!]
(No street names=other solutions. Japanese neighborhood map courtesy of Kamoda on Flickr and Creative Commons.)
