In a previous post we introduced CARTO VL (beta), a new Javascript library for making vector-based, client-side visualizations. This new offering marks a significant advancement of in-browser functionality for Location Intelligence applications powered by CARTO.

Rising eCommerce changed the retail game and continues to grow, with global online sales hitting $2.3 Trillion in 2017. With estimates that that figure will reach over $4 Trillion by 2021, many experts have previously asserted that offline retail is entering its twilight years.

Advances made possible thanks to location data continue transforming business practices and processes when it comes to site planning. And now with insights from new data streams it is even possible to determine what sites are most likely to increase sales for seasonal, temporary, and mobile businesses.

Whether due to natural disaster, climate change, violent conflict, persecution, or human rights violations, the displacement of people from their homes is reaching record highs. According to the UNHCR, 65.6 Million people were displaced from their homes in the last year. If the displaced population were a country, it would be the 22nd most populous in the world, falling between Great Britain and France. Of the displaced population, 22.5 Million are refugees, displaced not only from their homes, but from their countries as well.

U.S. Census data and boundaries are used in a lot of different projects, but sometimes we’ve encountered some unexpected, and, frankly, odd results from forays into census data. So we wanted to share some tips learned while making sense of these census oddities so you can avoid these common pitfalls!

The unprecedented growth in Americans aged 65 and over is driving demand in the senior housing subsector. The Census Bureau expects the U.S. senior population to increase by 60 percent between 2016 and 2040, and preparing for this unprecedented population growth presents challenges for deciding when, where, and what type of medical facilities to open.

When you use CARTO to visualize a data set, or to run an analysis, it looks fairly lovely and seamless: just one piece of software doing your bidding. But, in fact, CARTO is built from a multitude of open source pieces.

The mission of the City Health Dashboard, a program created in a partnership between NYU Langone Health, and NYU’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, is to “Equip cities with a one-stop resource for comprehensive, reliable data to help them build healthier and more equitable communities.”

The future of location intelligence relies on systems capable of analyzing and visualizing vast amounts of data that respond quickly to user interactions and queries. Vector-based, client-side technology provides this foundation.

With McKinsey estimating that the Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to make an economic impact of $3.9 trillion to $11.1 trillion a year by 2025, IoT has evolved from a buzzword to a reality that businesses can’t afford to ignore.

IoT—or the linking of the physical world with the digital one—is fundamentally concerned with issues related to Location Intelligence (from sensors monitoring traffic, to indoor mapping) so it’s no surprise that IoT will lead to major improvements and developments in the smart city, retail, and real estate industries.

Here are 3 location intelligence IoT trends to keep an eye on in 2018.