Mapple: Better Design and Business Decisions with Location Data
I had the pleasure of interviewing Karolina Mosiadz, COO of Mapple, an urban intelligence startup.
Can you say a few words about yourself and your role in the Mapple team?
As a marketer, I help early-stage companies find product-market fit, get first customers and start scaling. I focus on projects that aim to bring a positive impact to their respective industries and society as a whole. At Mapple I handle most of our front facing operations which range from business development and sales to pitching on stage.
How did Mapple come about and what’s the problem that you’re trying to solve?
Mapple is a spin-off from the Digital Geography Lab at the University of Helsinki. Our technology is based on research and models developed by one of our co-founders, Henrikki Tenkanen. Mapple’s first prototype was built to help Helsinki better understand city dynamics. Mapple’s tools helped
For years real estate companies and cities relied on their knowledge and peer network to understand the areas and the needs of the residents. It was enough to run an analysis every five or ten years. Now, when the rate of change is much faster, this kind of analysis quickly becomes outdated. There is more data available that should be taken into account. Companies and cities lack the time and resources to properly evaluate their planned developments and investments.
What’s your solution in a nutshell and who uses it already?
Mapple’s location intelligence software helps cities and real estate companies better understand the area they are planning to develop in terms of people, infrastructure and ease of access. Mapple helps forecast the impact of planned developments and provides insights on sustainability (for example CO2 emissions). Our software is used by municipalities, real estate brokers, private investors and big corporations.
How can cities benefit from using location data the way you suggest?
Understanding how people move and interact with the city is a key to better planning and reaching sustainability goals. These analysis run by GIS teams supported by external consultants take time, require manual work and are often inefficient. Due to time limitations and problems acquiring and processing data only certain perspectives are analysed. Ideas get buried because there is often more work than the analysts can handle.
Mapple not only makes it easier to collaborate and share the insights, but cuts down the time of running complex analysis from a few weeks to just a few minutes. Equipped with up to date and easy to consume analysis, city officials can make fast, well informed and data driven decisions.
What kind of companies would benefit from your solution and how?
Using Mapple companies can quickly evaluate their existing and planned sites and assets – who lives, passes through and spends time there, what kind of infrastructure is in place and what is missing, what kind of businesses are in the area, how accessible and serviceable the area is and how will it change over the next few years. Companies can also see how multiple locations compare to each other based on different parameters.
Our software is aimed at real estate developers and investors but any company that wants to better understand the existing or future location of their business or office can benefit from Mapple.
What’s required from a customer who would like to use your solution?
Mapple doesn’t need any training and anyone can start using it from day one. There is no need to acquire data streams separately, everything needed is already included in the package. Customer can choose to use our interactive dashboard, implement our API with their existing systems or choose to get a static report on one or multiple locations. If they so choose, they can also upload their own data sets to Mapple.
How is your solution unique or different from what’s available already?
Our software can be used by anyone and doesn’t require extensive training like legacy professional GIS programs available on the market. What usually takes an analyst a couple of days or weeks, can be done with Mapple in minutes. Instead of aggregating data, we use models and algorithms to find connections between data sets and provide our customers with actionable insights and recommendations. Thanks to that we are able to for example provide up to 70% more accurate analysis of people flows.
How do you see the future of your business?
There is a number of emerging markets for geospatial analysis including real estate, smart cities and outdoor advertising. Especially now, with urbanisation on the rise and pressing sustainability issues, we see a global potential for efficient, data driven urban planning and development.
How can our readers connect with you?
Check out our demo at analyst.mapple.io and follow us on Twitter (@MappleAnalytics) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/mapple). If you would like to know more, please reach out to me at .