News Center

The GIS Generation

8/22/2007

Geographic information systems (GIS) have put the speed and accuracy of site selection light years ahead of where it used to be. One of the early adopters of GIS among retail real estate companies was Columbia, S.C-based Edens & Avant. David Beitz, the firm’s manager of geographic information systems, weighs in on trends in GIS.

SCT: How do you make the most of GIS data?

Beitz: Part of it is to talk to whoever’s building that subdivision to get numbers on how many houses are selling each month and what the plans are for other tracts nearby. We highlight all that on a map and update it periodically so we can communicate what the market’s doing. We also use population and income projections by third-party providers, but when you get down to a detailed area, looking at what kind of product is being built tells a more accurate story, especially in the high-growth areas. You can tell who’s going to end up living there, based on the products, say, houses over $500,000 compared with those between $250,000 and $500,000.

How do you use GIS differently than your competitors?

Not many do it at the level of detail that we do. Mapping the information isn’t that new, but the level of detail is. We also have some novel ways of using the data. We used some GIS data for a helicopter tour that we did recently. We used our GIS to plot the route of the tour and create GPS [global positioning system] points for the pilot to load into the helicopter’s navigation system. That made it a lot easier for the pilot to navigate the planned route, which gave representatives of a retailer a complete overview of the trade area around our project, Lexington Pavilion, in Lexington, S.C. It made quite an impression on those representatives.

What’s the next step for GIS?

The aerials produced using this technology will continue to become clearer and more accurate, and the geographic coverage is going to increase. You’ll be able to learn about areas faster; your maps and analysis will be faster. Also, more mapping functions will be available online. Right now GoogleEarth has street views in some places, especially Florida, and in the near future those sites will become more data-rich and more current, which will help everyone, including those doing site selection for shopping centers. But there’s always going to be room for someone skilled in pulling together all the data and interpreting it.