# CARTO — extended knowledge base > Self-contained, agent-readable knowledge base generated from carto.com on 2026-09-15. Start with https://carto.com/llms.txt for the short briefing on what CARTO is and how to describe it. Product documentation is indexed at https://docs.carto.com/llms.txt. CARTO is the Agentic GIS platform: cloud-native spatial analytics, mapping and AI agents that run directly inside your cloud data warehouse (Google BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks, Amazon Redshift, PostgreSQL, Oracle), so your data never leaves your cloud. Founded in 2012, headquartered in New York with offices in Madrid and Seville. Website: https://carto.com Docs: https://docs.carto.com GitHub: https://github.com/CartoDB --- ## Product pages ### AI Agents | AI-Powered Spatial Insights CARTO AI Agents are AI-powered assistants that automate spatial analysis workflows. They run natively inside your cloud data warehouse, use your own vetted LLMs, and can be deployed as MCP (Model Context Protocol) tools for integration with external platforms like Claude and Google Agentspace. URL: https://carto.com/ai-agents/ ### Builder® | Cloud-Native Maps & Data Visualization CARTO Builder: a cloud-native tool for creating interactive maps, spatial dashboards, and data visualizations from your geospatial data. URL: https://carto.com/builder/ ### CARTO Workflows | Automate Your Spatial Analysis Design, run and share cloud-native analysis with CARTO Workflows, a no-code analytics automation tool. Drag-and-drop data preparation & analysis for all users. URL: https://carto.com/workflows/ ### Data Observatory Access thousands of public and premium spatial datasets through CARTO's Data Observatory to enrich your analysis with demographic, POI, and mobility data. URL: https://carto.com/data-observatory/ ### Basemaps Need basemaps for your maps & applications? Visualize your vector & raster data using CARTO's wide range of basemaps available as part of our platform. URL: https://carto.com/basemaps/ ### CARTO for Enterprise | Security, Governance and Compliance CARTO provides enterprise-level governance, security, and compliance. Get full control over data access, privacy, and auditing for secure spatial analytics. URL: https://carto.com/enterprise/ ### Welcome Documentation CARTO for developers: APIs, SDKs, and tools for building custom geospatial applications with cloud-native spatial analytics. URL: https://carto.com/developers/ ### Professional Services for Spatial Analytics Unlock the potential of spatial analytics with CARTO's professional services and solve geospatial problems with help from our team of experts. URL: https://carto.com/professional-services/ ### Pricing Start a free 14-day CARTO trial today. Flexible enterprise pricing so you get the maximum value out of our cloud native Location Intelligence platform. URL: https://carto.com/pricing/engine/ ### Migrate from Esri Step-by-step path from ArcGIS to cloud-native CARTO. Run spatial analysis natively inside BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks, Redshift, or Oracle — no data movement, no ETL, no per-user licensing. Reduce TCO up to 58%, keep your existing governance, and run ArcGIS in parallel during the migration. Take the readiness assessment to get a personalized plan with effort, timeline, and the right CARTO entry point. URL: https://carto.com/esri-arcgis-migration/ ### What is Spatial SQL? | Definition from CARTO Spatial SQL is a GIS-specific language with many benefits that unlock spatial analytics at scale. Learn more here. URL: https://carto.com/spatial-sql/ ### What is Location Intelligence? | Definition from CARTO Location Intelligence is the methodology of deriving insights from location data to solve a problem like site selection, geomarketing or territory management. URL: https://carto.com/location-intelligence/ ### What is Spatial Data Science? | Definition from CARTO Spatial data science is a subset of data science that applies statistical and machine learning methods to geographic data. It goes beyond asking 'where do things happen?' to understanding 'why do they happen there?' — using specialized techniques like spatial autocorrelation, geographically weighted regression, and spatial clustering that account for the unique properties of location data. URL: https://carto.com/what-is-spatial-data-science/ --- ## CARTO on each cloud ### Agentic GIS for Google Cloud CARTO brings Agentic GIS to Google Cloud: spatial analysis run by AI Agents on governed data in BigQuery, with no data movement. There are two ways to adopt it with Gemini Enterprise. Inside CARTO, AI Agents built with the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform answer questions in plain language on Builder maps and AI Assistants help analysts build maps and Workflows faster. Outside CARTO, CARTO for Agents connects agent platforms such as Gemini Enterprise through the CARTO MCP Server, CARTO CLI, and CARTO Agent Skills. CARTO is the first and only GIS company to pass Google's governance, security, and accuracy standards for its AI agent, available in the Gemini Enterprise Agent Gallery. Bring your own models through Google AI Studio and the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform (formerly Vertex AI), and use Google geospatial Foundation Models such as Earth Engine satellite embeddings and Population Dynamics (PDFM) embeddings inside CARTO Workflows. URL: https://carto.com/bigquery/agentic-gis/ ### Geospatial Analytics | CARTO for Microsoft Azure Discover how CARTO partners with Azure to bring powerful geospatial analytics. Analyze, visualize, and develop using spatial data at a limitless scale in Azure. URL: https://carto.com/azure/spatial-analytics/ ### Geospatial Data Analysis | CARTO for Databricks CARTO integrates with Databricks to provide spatial analytics on the Databricks Lakehouse platform. The Analytics Toolbox enables spatial SQL operations, H3 indexing, and geospatial analysis directly in Databricks without moving data. URL: https://carto.com/databricks/spatial-analytics/ ### Run Advanced Geospatial Analysis in Snowflake CARTO integrates natively with Snowflake to provide spatial analytics directly inside Snowflake. The Analytics Toolbox is available on the Snowflake Marketplace and provides spatial SQL functions, geocoding, spatial indexing, and advanced analytics that run natively in Snowflake. URL: https://carto.com/snowflake/spatial-analytics/ ### Run Spatial Analysis Seamlessly in Oracle Bring powerful spatial analysis capabilities to the Oracle Autonomous AI Database. Visualize and analyze your geospatial data in Oracle using the CARTO platform. URL: https://carto.com/oracle/spatial-analytics/ ### Spatial Analytics & GIS for Google BigQuery CARTO runs spatial analytics and GIS natively inside Google BigQuery, so geospatial and business data are analyzed together without moving or duplicating data. The CARTO Analytics Toolbox installs as native BigQuery functions for spatial SQL, H3 and Quadbin spatial indexes, geocoding, and spatial statistics, with maps, AI Agents, and app development on top. Spatial analysis inherits the existing governance and security of your BigQuery environment. CARTO is an award-winning Google Cloud Premier partner, available on Google Cloud Marketplace. URL: https://carto.com/bigquery/spatial-analytics/ ### Spatial Analytics | CARTO for Amazon Redshift Spatial analytics to analyze, visualize, and develop with your big data in Amazon Redshift. The CARTO platform is available on the AWS Marketplace. URL: https://carto.com/redshift/spatial-analytics/ --- ## Solutions and use cases ### CARTO for Publishers | Modernize Your Spatial Data Infrastructure for the AI Era CARTO for Publishers helps governments, mapping agencies, research institutions, and data providers modernize their spatial data infrastructure for the AI era. Built on the open Portolan specification, it enables publishing, governance, commercialization, federation, telemetry, and agentic access to authoritative geospatial data — on sovereign infrastructure, without traditional GIS server architectures. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/carto-for-publishers/ ### Catastrophe Modeling with Spatial Data Science Enhance your catastrophe modeling with a cloud-native approach and Spatial Data Science techniques. Estimate economic impact and build resilient communities. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/catastrophe-modeling/ ### Data Monetization for Enterprise Data monetization solutions with CARTO: turn your organization's location data into revenue with compelling spatial analytics products. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/data-monetization/ ### Data Monetization for Enterprise Data Monetization isn’t just an internal initiative - it’s a chance to leverage your location data. See how Vodafone & other leading companies use our platform. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/mastercard/ ### Data Monetization for Enterprise Vodafone Analytics case study: how CARTO powers data monetization by transforming telco mobility data into actionable location intelligence. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/vodafone-analytics/ ### Environmental Management with GIS & Spatial Analysis Environmental management is key to protect our world against climate change, promoting biodiversity & conservation planning with spatial data. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/environmental-management/ ### Explore Spatial Solutions in our App Gallery Explore our gallery of spatial apps developed using CARTO developer APIs, libraries and frameworks. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/app-gallery/ ### Fleet Optimization | CARTO & Databricks Discover how the Databricks & CARTO fleet optimization solution can help you plan better routes and optimize delivery times. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/fleet-optimization-databricks/ ### Fraud Detection Machine Learning with GIS Fraud Detection Machine Learning workflows must use spatial data as a key variable. See how Financial Services players use location in Data Science. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/fraud-detection-machine-learning/ ### GIS Software & Cloud-Native GIS Platform for Enterprise CARTO is a cloud-native GIS software platform for enterprise teams and GIS professionals. It runs spatial analysis, visualization, and AI Agents directly inside cloud data warehouses (BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks, Redshift), scaling to billions of features with Spatial SQL. Technical users can also drive it from external coding agents (Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot) via its MCP Server and Agent Skills. A modern Esri or ArcGIS alternative that needs no desktop software, keeps data in your own cloud, and is backed by a dedicated CSM and professional services. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/gis-software/ ### Harness spatial analysis for geomarketing CARTO's geomarketing solution enables customer segmentation, trade area analysis, and out-of-home (OOH) advertising optimization using spatial analytics. It combines location data with demographics, mobility patterns, and points of interest to help marketing teams target campaigns by geography. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/geomarketing/ ### Healthcare Analytics Healthcare Analytics for hospitals, governments, NGOs, insurance companies & pharma. From epidemiology prediction to site selection, a patient’s location directly influences their health. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/healthcare-analytics/ ### Indoor Mapping & Airport Routing: Aena Customer Story Indoor mapping solutions with CARTO — see how Aena transformed airport navigation with real-time indoor routing and spatial analytics. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/indoor-mapping/ ### Indoor Mapping & Airport Routing: Aena Customer Story Aena, in collaboration with CARTO, Telefónica, & Situm has launched 'AenaMaps', a solution leveraging indoor mapping to provide navigation within its airports. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/indoor-maps-analytics/ ### IoT Analytics for Smart Cities IoT analytics for Smart Cities need to consider spatial data to improve urban & mobility planning, reduce operational costs & optimize resource management. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/iot-analytics/ ### Leverage Geospatial Data for OOH Analytics Leverage geospatial data for Out Of Home Analytics. OOH companies and agencies use location analytics to pinpoint audiences and boost ROI with CARTO. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/ooh/ ### Location Intelligence for Climate Resilience Discover how Climate Insights, an offering built by CARTO on Google Cloud is used to identify infrastructure most at risk from climate-related impacts. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/climate-insights/ ### Location-Based & Geospatial Apps | CARTO for Developers Create powerful location-based and geospatial apps with our developer resources. Accelerate app development using CARTO's API, libraries, and frameworks. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/developer/ ### Market Analysis Market Analysis combines spatial information & data science to identify relevant investment opportunities at speed. Cotality, JLL & others benefit from it. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/market-analysis/ ### Market Analysis Market Analysis combines spatial information & data science to identify relevant investment opportunities at speed. Cotality, JLL & others benefit from it. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/real-estate-market-analysis/ ### No-Code Analysis & Visualization Tools for Data Analysts Streamline data prep, analysis, and visualization with CARTO's no-code tools. Empower data analysts to generate geospatial insights directly from the cloud. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/data-analyst/ ### One Agentic GIS platform for all users | Overview One Agentic GIS platform for all users. Redefine how GIS serves your organization with CARTO, an end-to-end platform built for the enterprise. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/salesquest/ ### One Agentic GIS platform for all users | Overview One Agentic GIS platform for all users. Redefine how GIS serves your organization with CARTO, an end-to-end platform built for the enterprise. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/tableau-crm/ ### Portfolio Risk Analysis with Modern GIS Portfolio Risk Analysis allows GIS experts & Data Scientists to improve risk score precision in underwriting, optimize policy pricing & increase profitability. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/portfolio-risk-analysis/ ### Scale your Skills with Spatial Data Science Unlock spatial data science at scale, natively in the cloud data warehouses. Access 100s of spatial functions and intuitive spatial visualization tools. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/spatial-data-science/ ### Site Selection with Location Intelligence See how CARTO's site selection solution is used in industries such as insurance, apparel, grocery, QSRs, quick commerce, healthcare & much more. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/site-planning/ ### Site Selection with Location Intelligence CARTO's site selection solution uses spatial analytics to help organizations evaluate potential locations for stores, warehouses, and facilities. It combines trade area analysis, demographic data, competitor proximity, and foot traffic patterns — all running inside your cloud data warehouse. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/site-selection/ ### Spatial Indexes | H3 See how spatial indexes (H3, quadbin) can save data science professionals & analysts time when carrying out geospatial analysis at scale. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/spatial-indexes/ ### Supply Chain Optimization CARTO's supply chain optimization solution uses spatial analytics to optimize warehouse placement, delivery routes, and distribution networks. Organizations like DHL, DPD, and La Poste use CARTO to analyze logistics data at scale inside their cloud data warehouse. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/logistics-optimization/ ### Supply Chain Optimization Supply chain optimization is a location-based challenge. Discover how organizations like DHL, DPD & La Poste use our Location Intelligence platform. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/supply-chain-optimization/ ### Telecom Network Deployment & Network Planning Optimize Telecom Network Deployment & Network Planning with GIS. Improve maintenance, customer service, sales, marketing, and plan for 5G and more with CARTO. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/network-deployment/ ### Territory Planning for Field Sales & Service — CARTO Enable your field sales & service teams to increase revenue & boost productivity by balancing & designing territories spatially. See how DHL & Securitas do it. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/territory-management/ ### Territory Planning for Field Sales & Service — CARTO Enable your field sales & service teams to increase revenue & boost productivity by balancing & designing territories spatially. See how DHL & Securitas do it. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/territory-planning/ ### The leading spatial analytics platform for CPG Brands CARTO's cloud native GIS platform unlocks the power of spatial analysis for consumer brands. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/carto-for-cpg/ ### The leading spatial analytics platform for retailers CARTO for Retail is an integrated Location Intelligence platform combining data, analytics and spatial apps to tackle the most important decisions in Retail. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/carto-for-retail/ ### Urban Planning for Smart Cities & Government Government solutions with CARTO: data-driven urban planning tools for smart cities, using spatial analysis of open data and IoT sources. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/government/ ### Use Advanced Analytics for Mobility Planning Plan your city’s public transport and make key infrastructure decisions for mobility planning using advanced analytics to understand OD matrices. URL: https://carto.com/solutions/mobility-planning/ --- ## Industries ### Agentic GIS for Financial Services Watch CARTO AI Agents answer branch network, fraud, portfolio, and customer questions in minutes, inside your cloud data warehouse. URL: https://carto.com/industries/financial-services/ai-agents/ ### Agentic GIS for Retail CARTO's Agentic GIS lets retail teams run site selection, geomarketing, trade area, and supply chain analysis in plain language, directly inside their cloud data warehouse (Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, Databricks, or Oracle), with no GIS specialist required. AI Agents return ranked plans with revenue, footfall, and cannibalization estimates so merchandisers, marketers, and real estate teams can act. URL: https://carto.com/industries/retail/ai-agents/ ### CARTO for Insurance & Reinsurance | Outsmart tomorrow's risks Reduce complexity and costs with a streamlined, cloud-native approach for portfolio risk analysis, catastrophe modeling, and fraud detection. URL: https://carto.com/industries/insurance-and-reinsurance/ ### CARTO for Mapping Agencies | Cloud-Native. Sovereign. AI-Ready. Modernize your national geospatial infrastructure with a cloud-native, sovereign, and AI-ready platform, ensuring true architectural independence. URL: https://carto.com/industries/mapping-agencies/ ### CARTO for Telecoms | Transform Your Network’s Potential Network planning for telecoms using CARTO. Anticipate & adapt to network demands at scale to optimize coverage, connectivity, speed, and availability. URL: https://carto.com/industries/telecommunications/ ### Credit Card Data Analysis & Geocoding for Banks Analyze credit card data through a spatial lens, enabling internal analysis & external data monetization initiatives. URL: https://carto.com/industries/credit-card-providers/ ### GIS for Architecture, Engineering & Construction Go beyond traditional GIS for Architecture, Engineering & Construction. Use CARTO for Urban Planning & Site Selection, reducing costs & boosting profitability. URL: https://carto.com/industries/architecture-engineering-construction/ ### GIS for Environmental Analysis & Natural Resources Discover our GIS platform for Environmental Analysis. Learn why WWF & the Marine Conservation Institute rely on CARTO for conservation planning & climate change analysis. URL: https://carto.com/industries/environmental-and-natural-resources/ ### GIS in Banking for Site Planning & Geomarketing Watch how leaders such as Scotiabank, ING Direct & BNP Paribas use GIS in Banking to drive site decisions for ATMs & branches - as well as geomarketing. URL: https://carto.com/industries/banking/ ### GIS in Sports Analytics Sports organizations are staying ahead of the game by using Spatial Analysis in their Sports Analytics. See why MLB, Real Madrid, La Liga & AFL use CARTO. URL: https://carto.com/industries/sports-entertainment/ ### Healthcare Analytics & Spatial Data in Pharma Healthcare Analytics for disease prevention and site planning. Start using Location Intelligence in pharma to improve geomarketing and sales territory management. URL: https://carto.com/industries/healthcare-and-pharma/ ### Investment Analysis in Private Equity Funds Use Investment Analysis and Spatial Data for opportunity screening, portfolio management, capital allocation in pension and hedge funds, or ESG analysis. URL: https://carto.com/industries/investment-funds/ ### Location Intelligence for Banking & Finance Location Intelligence for financial services — see how banks and insurers use CARTO for risk assessment, branch optimization, and market analysis. URL: https://carto.com/industries/financial-services/ ### Location-driven Distribution Management for CPG CPG & FMCG companies like Unilever & PepsiCo leverage our Location Intelligence platform to boost their Distribution Management, Route Planning & Geomarketing. URL: https://carto.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/ ### Real Estate Market Analysis using Spatial Data Boost your Real Estate Market Analysis for your portfolio by using more location data for your investment analysis and pricing optimization decisions. URL: https://carto.com/industries/real-estate/ ### Retail Analytics & Location Intelligence Solutions Use Spatial Retail Analytics for Site Planning, Geomarketing and Supply Chain Optimization for a superior omnichannel experience for your customers - instore and online. URL: https://carto.com/industries/retail/ ### Spatial Analysis for Out of Home Advertising Use spatial analysis for Out of Home (OOH) advertising, campaign measurement & geo-marketing. Discover why Posterscope, Clear Channel & A4 Media use CARTO. URL: https://carto.com/industries/marketing-and-advertising/ ### Supply Chain Solutions with Spatial Analysis Spatial analysis for logistics: optimize supply chain routes, warehouse locations, and delivery networks with CARTO's geospatial platform. URL: https://carto.com/industries/logistics/ ### Supply Chain Solutions with Spatial Analysis Transport and logistics solutions with CARTO — reduce costs and improve supply chain visibility through spatially optimized operations. URL: https://carto.com/industries/transport-logistics/ ### Transport Infrastructure & Location Intelligence Optimize Transport Infrastructure decisions by using Location Intelligence to drive your models, analyzing & visualizing key mobility & commuting patterns. URL: https://carto.com/industries/transport/ ### Urban Planning for Smart Cities & Government CARTO gives cities and government agencies spatial analysis that runs inside their existing cloud data warehouse (BigQuery, Snowflake, Redshift, Databricks, or Oracle), so data never moves and existing governance controls still apply. Public sector teams use it for mobility and transportation planning, climate resilience, public safety and emergency response, urban planning and infrastructure management, and cross-department data sharing — without needing a GIS specialist for every request. URL: https://carto.com/industries/cities-government/ ### Utility Management through Spatial Analysis Learn how Iberdrola, EDP & Enel Group use Location Intelligence for Utility Management, Solar Propensity Analysis, Site Optimization and Network Planning. URL: https://carto.com/industries/utilities/ --- ## Customer stories ### 5G Deployment at Scale for Telecoms: T-Mobile Customer Story Discover how T-Mobile uses CARTO to analyze large amounts of spatial data for 5G Deployment at scale during the launch of its 5G home internet service. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/tmobile-5g-deployment/ ### A Digital-Native Urban Plan and The City Strategic Simulator: Ayuntamiento de Madrid Customer Story Ayuntamiento de Madrid (Madrid City Council) built the Strategic City Simulator, a data-driven urban planning tool combining demographic, land use, mobility, environmental and socio-economic data on Google Cloud, BigQuery, and CARTO. It replaces a rigid, litigation-prone 1997 general plan with a continuously updated, multiscale, AI-assisted system built on 950 open datasets and 192 urban indicators, already used to guide housing redensification and green infrastructure decisions. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/madrid-city-strategic-simulator/ ### Actionable insights for improving broadband access HR&A Advisors used CARTO and AWS to analyze broadband gaps, achieving real-time insights and helping underserved communities gain digital equity. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/hraadvisors-improving-broadband-access/ ### AFL - Grow Sports Communities Spatially Learn how the Australian Football League worked with Liveli & CARTO to ensure sports facilities are in the right locations to maximize participation. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/afl-marketing-advertising/ ### American Securities: Whitespace Analysis for Private Equity American Securities use Spatial Analysis in both the Screening and Portfolio Management phases to improve their investment decisions. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/american-securities-private-equity/ ### Anagraph - Full Stack Geomarketing App Development Read how Anagraph used the complete set of CARTO developer tools to build a geomarketing platform for online retailers that includes a Shopify connector. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/anagraph-marketing-advertising/ ### App Development to Transform Out-of-Home Advertising Learn how VIOOH uses CARTO’s tools for visualizations, faster app development, and Snowflake integration to optimize campaigns and boost ROI. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/viooh/ ### ARUP Uses Spatial Analysis to Understand Road Accidents ARUP used CARTO's geospatial technology to reveal hidden trends in London road accidents. Learn more about spatial analysis techniques for transportation. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/arup-spatial-analysis/ ### BBVA Commerce360: Financial data insights Learn how BBVA Commerce360 provides SMEs with insights on customer spending patterns, trade area activity and market performance based on transaction data. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/bbva-commerce360-banks/ ### billups transforms out-of-home media strategy with Location Intelligence See how billups powers its OOH media strategy with CARTO's Location Intelligence, driving global growth, empowering teams, and boosting ROI. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/billups-transforms-out-of-home-media-strategy-with-location-intelligence/ ### CARTO for Site Selection: ASDA Customer Story See how location intelligence is used by ASDA for site selection for lockers and dark stores, as well as market cannibalization analysis. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/site-selection-asda/ ### CARTO for Site Selection: Goiko Customer Story Find out how Location Intelligence is used by Goiko for site selection to unlock a successful international expansion of their branches across Europe. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/goiko-site-selection-international-expansion/ ### Charging Electric Vehicles EV on the Public Network: ZapMap Customer Story Discover how helping EV drivers to find chargers, can give the industry better insights URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/zapmap-chargin-electric-vehicles-on-the-public-network/ ### Choreograph Employs Geospatial Data for Advertising Success Discover how Choreograph is using geospatial data to revolutionize advertising, thriving in the era of data deprecation while safeguarding user privacy. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/choreograph-geospatial-data-for-advertising/ ### Cloud-native spatial data analysis: g-Xperts Customer Story See how g-Xperts uses CARTO to run more advanced and performant spatial analysis and visualization for their insurance customer. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/gxperts-cloud-native-location-intelligence/ ### Coffee Supply Chain: Enveritas Customer Story Read how Enveritas use CARTO to analyze the traceability & sustainability of coffee supply chains around the world. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/enveritas-coffee-supply-chain/ ### Combat Litter: PMI Customer Story PMI customer story: using CARTO's spatial analysis and location data to identify litter hotspots and drive environmental cleanup initiatives. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/pmi-combat-litter/ ### Commercial Real Estate & Location Intelligence Hodges Ward Elliott discusses how Spatial Data Science is being used by Real Estate funds to gain a competitive edge in investment analysis. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/hodges-ward-elliott-investment-analysis/ ### Consumer Insights at Scale: Faraday Customer Story See how FarUnlocking Consumer Insights at Scale with Cloud Native Spatial Analyticsaday uses spatial analysis to help their customers tailor their marketing campaigns and expansion plans based on unique data-driven insights. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/faraday-consumer-insights-analytics/ ### COVID Response: i-sense Customer Story i-sense customer story: building a COVID-19 response dashboard with CARTO to analyze testing and tracing effectiveness across England. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/isense-covid-response/ ### COVID-19 Impact on Rural Communities: CORI Customer Story CORI customer story: using CARTO's spatial analysis to map COVID-19 vulnerability and healthcare access gaps across rural U.S. communities. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/cori-covid-impact-rural-communities/ ### Customer Segmentation & POS Data: Coca-Cola Customer Story Discover how Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan uses CARTO & Google BigQuery to visualize 700k POS & vending machines for customer segmentation, sales insights, & more. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/cocacola-site-selection/ ### Descifra: Site Planning & Sales Prediction The Descifra team used CARTO to power their site planning platform for spatial revenue prediction in Latin America. Read the full story to learn more! URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/descifra-retail/ ### Driving Company-wide Spatial Analytics at Scale for Mercado Libre Carto enables Mercado Libre to identify optimal locations for expansion and make data-driven decisions about where to expand their services. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/mercado-libre-spatial-analytics/ ### Endesa: Site Planning for Utilities Endesa fulfilled a growing need for a location-based solution to improve site planning & demand modeling decisions. Discover how CARTO made it possible. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/endesa-utilities/ ### Enhancing fleet safety in real-time Discover how CARTO transformed how Werner Enterprises acts on their spatial data URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/werner-enterprises-enhancing-fleet-safety-in-real-time/ ### Enigma: FinTech with Location Data Check out how Enigma is collaborating with CARTO to bring Location Intelligence to Fintech, adding context and value to data. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/enigma-software-tech/ ### EQT is Optimizing Investments with Geospatial Analysis Explore how EQT leveraged geospatial analysis with CARTO to enhance investment strategies, drive ROI, and streamline decision-making. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/eqt-geospatial-analysis-for-investments/ ### Generating Inter-city Travel Insights From Mobile Location Data: ATR Customer Story ATR (Avions de Transport Régional), the regional aircraft manufacturer, built MobilityMonitor — a tool using anonymized mobile GPS location data from over 130 million people to analyze intercity ground travel patterns. By fusing this mobility data with existing aviation databases and visualizing it with CARTO, ATR identifies underserved travel corridors and new regional air route opportunities, and has used the approach to support airport development planning in markets like India and Indonesia. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/atr-intercity-travel-insights/ ### Gentrification Spatial Analysis: UCL Customer Story UCL customer story: using CARTO's spatial analysis and machine learning to study gentrification and socioeconomic change in London. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/ucl-gentrification-analysis/ ### Geospatial analysis for Jeffries Jefferies share applications of geospatial analysis within investment research using CARTO & Safegraph. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/jefferies-investment-banking/ ### Google BigQuery shaping Spatial Data Science Learn how the Google BigQuery team are collaborating with CARTO to shape the future of GIS & Spatial Data Science. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/google-bigquery-software-tech/ ### Google BigQuery: the future of GIS Find out more about Google BigQuery and CARTO's recent collaboration around public datasets as part of the Data Observatory. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/google-carto-software-tech/ ### Hodges Ward Elliot: Real Estate Optimization Find out how Hodges Ward Elliott are using CARTO to create data-driven maps in as little as 10 minutes and the added benefits to clients. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/hodges-ward-elliot-real-estate/ ### Improving Road Infrastructure Management with Location Intelligence: ConnectEast Customer Story | CARTO See how ConnectEast uses CARTO's Location Intelligence platform for better day-to-day maintenance of their road infrastructure. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/connecteast-road-infrastructure-management/ ### Indigo Ag: Improving Agricultural Sustainability Learn how Indigo Ag uses Location Intelligence to reimagine the entire agriculture system. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/indigo-ag-agricultural-sustainability/ ### Indoor Mapping & Airport Routing: Aena Customer Story Aena customer story: how Spain's largest airport operator built an indoor mapping and passenger routing solution with CARTO and Telefónica. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/aena-indoor-mapping-airport-routing/ ### ING: Spatial Analysis in Real Estate Learn how ING use CARTO to drive residential Real Estate decisions through a neighborhood selection tool using third party data streams. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/ing-banks/ ### Instacart: Site Planning for Retail Discover how spatial analysis has allowed Instacart to scale faster by planning territories more effectively. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/instacart-retail/ ### JLL: Real Estate Market Analysis Find out how JLL turned to CARTO to develop their Gea solution, used by their consultants for real estate market analysis and valuations. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/jll-real-estate-market-analysis/ ### Leroy Merlin: Location Analysis for Retail Learn how Leroy Merlin determine resource allocation geospatially and how to use more socio-demographic data for their geomarketing campaigns. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/leroy-merlin-retail/ ### Location Intelligence & Field Operations Optimization: Sistema.bio Customer Story See how Sistema.bio uses Location Intelligence to optimize operations and make the most informed decisions. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/sistemabio-optimizing-field-operations/ ### Location Intelligence for Banking & Finance Mastercard customer story: how leading financial institutions use CARTO's location intelligence for credit risk analysis and market expansion. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/mastercard-credit-card-providers/ ### Madrid & Waze: Urban Mobility Planning CARTO, Waze and The City of Madrid partner to improve urban mobility planning through crowdsourced traffic insights. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/madrid-waze-cities-governments/ ### Mapping Big Spatial Data: GDELT Customer Story GDELT customer story: visualizing the world's largest news dataset using Google BigQuery and CARTO for global spatial data analysis. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/gdelt-bigquery-visualization/ ### Mapping Risk with Impact at Swiss RE Swiss RE delivers a practical handbook of what it takes to build a map with impact in the insurance domain. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/swissre-insurance/ ### MIT: The Atlas of Inequality Discover how MIT & CARTO collaborated to measure the why behind the where of inequality & create 'The Atlas of Inequality'. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/mit-cities-government/ ### Mobile Data Insights from Vodafone Vodafone Analytics provides spatial mobile data insights to its enterprise clients. Learn how it was built using CARTO’s geospatial technology. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/vodafone-analytics-telecommunications/ ### Modernized Geospatial for Renewable Energy Solutions NREL's geospatial data science team employs spatial analysis for emergency response & renewable energy. Learn how machine learning accelerates climate modeling. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/nrel/ ### Moving to Omnichannel E-commerce Using Scalable Spatial Analytics: Allegro Customer Story See how Allegro uses CARTO's Location Intelligence platform for strategic decision-making, powerful execution, and measuring progress. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/allegro-omnichannel-ecommerce/ ### NREL: Spatial Analysis for Renewables Learn how National Renewable Energy uses location data to model demand and make predictions in the energy sector. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/nrel-utilities/ ### NYC: Healthcare Analysis & Response Watch the video and learn how CARTO helped NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene develop an analytic and geospatial skillset. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/nyc-cities-governments/ ### OneMap: Customer-centric Real Estate Learn how OneMap were able to streamline their process of creating custom map views and property reports for their clients thanks to CARTO URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/onemap-real-estate/ ### Optimizing Last Mile Delivery with Advanced Spatial Analytics: Aramex Customer Story Discover how Aramex, a leading logistics and transportation solutions provider, uses CARTO to optimize last mile delivery URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/aramex-optimizing-last-mile-delivery/ ### Perkins and Will: Workplace Social Distancing Read how Perkins and Will used CARTO & Indoor Mapping to ensure the safety of their employees in the return to their workspaces post COVID-19. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/perkinswill-indoor-mapping/ ### Plataforma CDMX: Emergency Planning in Mexico Learn how, after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, Plataforma CDMX was launched as a sophisticated resilience & emergency planning solution using CARTO. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/plataforma-cdmx-cities-governments/ ### Postmates: Optimizing On-demand Delivery Discover how Postmates revolutionized the On-demand space by focusing on local demand. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/postmates-logistics/ ### Predicting real estate growth with Agentic GIS CoreLogic customer story: using CARTO's Agentic GIS to predict real estate growth, track construction activity, and assess climate risks. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/corelogic/ ### Predicting real estate growth with Agentic GIS Cotality customer story: leveraging CARTO's AI Agents to make predictive real estate growth insights accessible across the organization. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/cotality/ ### Premier Utility Services: Optimizing Utility Management Learn how Premier Utility Services uses Location Intelligence to streamline large-scale gas infrastructure inspections, damage prevention, and leak detection. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/premier-fulcrum-utility-management/ ### Real Estate Analytics: How Gloval Use Location Intelligence See how Gloval Analytics uses CARTO to build Valea, a web application that allows its clients to quickly make spatially informed decisions. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/gloval-real-estate-analytics/ ### Reimagination of OOH with Spatial Data: Clear Channel Outdoor Customer Story Find out how Clear Channel has been able to bridge physical & digital worlds, giving global advertisers deeper insights & better campaign performance using geospatial data & analytics. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/clear-channel-reimagination-ooh/ ### Renault: Outlet Network Optimization Read how Renault optimized global sales & georeporting operations with the help of granular insights derived from their new Location Intelligence application. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/renault-network-optimization/ ### Sanitas: Site Planning for the Healthcare Industry Sanitas customer story: using CARTO's location intelligence for smart site planning and expansion strategy in Spain's healthcare sector. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/sanitas-healthcare/ ### Sanitas: Spatial Analysis for Healthcare Watch how Sanitas used CARTO's spatial analysis to create clinic profiles and optimize their healthcare site planning process. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/sanitas-healthcare-video/ ### Securitas: Sales Territory Analytics Find out how Securitas scaled up their sales force from 1k employees to 2k employees in 18 months using CARTO’s platform to optimize territory management. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/securitas-retail/ ### SIL International: Visualizing Linguistic Big Data Read how SIL International, the leader in field linguistics, leveraged CARTO to digitally map their data and provide new, critical insights to their clients. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/sil-international-visualizing-linguisitic-big-data/ ### Skyhook: boosting mobile location services Using Spatial Data Science enabled Skyhood to boost the performance of their mobile location services business. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/skyhook-telecommunications/ ### Social Distancing: Generalitat Valenciana Customer Story Generalitat Valenciana customer story: using CARTO to monitor beach capacity and enforce social distancing during COVID-19 in Valencia. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/generalitat-valenciana-social-distancing/ ### Solving Global Market Challenges with Geospatial Data: CACI Customer Story CACI, a market and consumer intelligence company, uses CARTO's cloud-based mapping alongside its own data products (Retail Footprint, Acorn, Local Footprint) to solve location-based challenges for clients across industries. Three case studies show the approach in action: narrowing 64,000 European retail destinations down to a handful of luxury-fit sites for a fashion retailer entering Paris; using H3-level bespoke demand modeling to cut 200,000+ potential outlets in the Philippines down to 661 high-value targets for a soda distributor's field sales team; and using Acorn micro-level demographic segmentation to tailor mall advertising to specific audience segments in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/caci-solving-global-market-challenges/ ### Spanish Coastal Property: Idealista Customer Story See how idealista used geospatial analysis & real estate location data to uncover fascinating insights on coastal property demand in Spain. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/idealista-property-spanish-coast/ ### Spatial Analysis Customer Stories See how Deliveroo uses CARTO's spatial analysis platform to optimize quick commerce delivery operations and location-based decision-making. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/deliveroo-location-analytics-quick-commerce/ ### Spatial Analysis Customer Stories Discover how Delivery.com leverages CARTO's geospatial platform to enhance retail delivery logistics and improve customer experience. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/deliverycom-retail/ ### Spatial Analysis Customer Stories Watch how Descifra uses CARTO to transform retail location intelligence through spatial analysis and data-driven insights. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/descifra-retail-video/ ### Spatial Analysis Customer Stories Learn how the City of San Diego uses CARTO's spatial analysis to improve urban planning, public services, and government operations. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/san-diego-cities-governments/ ### Spatial Analysis Customer Stories Discover how TELUS uses CARTO's geospatial platform to optimize wireless network planning and GIS-driven telecommunications operations. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/telus-wireless-gis/ ### Sports Facility Management: InsideEDGE Customer Story See how InsideEDGE uses spatial analysis to create maps that support their planning projects and strategic decision-making in several key areas. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/insideedge-ngis-infrastructure-planning-location-intelligence/ ### Supply Chain Network Optimization: SEUR Customer Story SEUR customer story: using CARTO for supply chain network optimization and cold chain transportation management across Spain. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/seur-supply-chain-management/ ### Telefónica: Driving Value for Smart Cities Telefónica customer story: building Smart Cities solutions with CARTO to process IoT sensor data and deliver urban location intelligence. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/telefonica-telecommunications/ ### The future of Retail Marketing by Posterscope Posterscope uses Location Intelligence for retail marketing to improve their OOH campaigns & target audiences in the right moment. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/posterscope-marketing-advertising/ ### The Intersection of Technology and People: Evolving Route Optimization | DPD Ireland Customer Story DPD Ireland, the parcel delivery network, worked with CARTO over several years to build route optimization despite Ireland's inconsistent addressing system, reaching full address resolution through a mix of Eircodes, probability engines, and consumer-dropped map pins. After an initial dynamic optimization model met resistance from experienced drivers, DPD shifted to a 'driver preferential optimization' approach that balanced efficiency with driver adoption, ultimately taking 3-4 vans off the road per depot, saving drivers 40 minutes a day, and rolling out to over 80% of its 40 depots and roughly 2,000 vehicles. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/dpd-ireland-route-optimization/ ### Tinsa Digital: Real Estate Market Analysis Find out how using CARTO has empowered Tinsa Digital to prototype Real Estate solutions to manage and visualize large volumes of assets and information. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/tinsa-digital-real-estate/ ### Tokio Marine Highland (TMH) Elevates Flood Insurance Operations Tokio Marine Highland (TMH) boosted underwriter productivity by 30% and cut storm analysis time by 90% using CARTO platform URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/tokio-marine-highland-tmh/ ### Towards a Carbon Neutral Future with NetCarbon: NetCarbon Customer Story See how NetCarbon uses CARTO to leverage and visualize large satellite data to fight against climate change. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/netcarbon-carbon-neutral-future/ ### Transforming Grocery Delivery with Geospatial Insights Discover how Instacart uses CARTO's spatial platform to optimize grocery delivery, expand its retailer network, and reach underserved communities. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/instacart-transforming-grocery-delivery/ ### Transport Analysis: SAGULPA Customer Story SAGULPA customer story: using CARTO's spatial analysis with mobility data to optimize transport planning in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/sagulpa-mobility-analysis/ ### Turning massive mobility data into insights, for everyone Discover how BT Active Intelligence leveraged CARTO's Agentic GIS platform to transform mobility data into accessible insights, for everyone URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/bt-group/ ### UK Covid Recovery & Mobility: Avison Young Customer Story Avison Young, a global commercial real estate firm, created the UK Cities Recovery Index, to analyze & map the speed & trajectory of the recovery from COVID-19 URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/avison-young-cities-recovery-index/ ### United Nations: Geospatial Rapid Response The United Nations (UNHCR) employed CARTO to coordinate collaborative response efforts during the Syrian Refugee Crisis. Read the full story to find out more! URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/unhcr-cities-governments/ ### Using Spatial to Grow Market Share: Bumble Customer Story Discover how geospatial analytics, fueled by internal & external location data, is key for growing market share at Bumble. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/bumble-geospatial-analytics/ ### Vodafone: Mobile Data Insights Vodafone Analytics provides spatial mobile data insights to their enterprise clients. Learn how it was built using CARTO’s geospatial technology. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/vodafone-telecommunications/ ### Watch Telefónica Driving Value for Smart Cities Watch how Telefónica built a Smart Cities IoT solution with CARTO, processing thousands of sensor data points for urban intelligence. URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/telefonica-telecommunications-video/ ### wecity: Sustainable mobility in Smart Cities | CARTO Using CARTO enabled wecity to map street safety for cyclists across 18 cities in Italy using Location Intelligence technologies. Download the case study now! URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/wecity-cities-governments/ ### WPP Elevates Campaign Targeting, Client Insight & Productivity WPP Media Canada achieved 80%+ faster map creation, significant annual savings, and hyper-targeted campaigns to boost client trust and ROI with CARTO URL: https://carto.com/customer-stories/wpp-boost-campaign-targeting-and-client-insight/ --- ## Glossary of spatial analytics, GIS and AI terms ### Agglomerative Clustering Agglomerative clustering is a type of hierarchical clustering where clusters are built from the bottom up. Type of hierarchical clustering where clusters are built from the bottom up. This algorithm starts building clusters where each object is in its own cluster, then clusters are recursively merged (agglomerated) using a ’linkage strategy’ such as minimizing the sum of squared distances within a cluster. URL: https://carto.com/glossary/agglomerative-clustering/ ### AI Agent An AI Agent is an intelligent system, typically powered by a Large Language Model (LLM), that can autonomously perform tasks, make decisions, and interact with users. An AI Agent is an intelligent system, typically powered by a Large Language Model (LLM), that can autonomously perform tasks, make decisions, and interact with users. It moves beyond simple automation by using reasoning to understand a user’s goal, select the right tools (like APIs or analysis workflows), and use context from the conversation to achieve a specific outcome. In the context of spatial analytics, AI Agents act as “virtual geospatial experts” that democratize access to complex location-based insights. They allow any user, regardless of technical expertise, to ask complex questions in natural language, such as “Where are the best locations for a new EV charging station based on … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/ai-agent/ ### Alteryx Alteryx provides a user-friendly interface to perform tasks such as data cleansing, transformation, and predictive analytics. ‍Alteryx was founded by Dean Stoecker, Olivia Duane Adams, and Ned Harding in 1997. Initially, the company focused on providing geospatial analytics software. Over time, it expanded its offerings to include a broader range of data analytics and visualization capabilities, eventually evolving into the data analytics platform known as Alteryx. Alteryx enables users to prepare, blend, and analyze data from various sources. It provides a user-friendly interface to perform tasks such as data cleansing, transformation, and predictive analytics without requiring extensive coding skills. Alteryx supports connectivity with BigQuery, Redshift and Snowflake, using legacy technologies, such as ODBC. … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/alteryx/ ### Analytics Toolbox CARTO's Analytics Toolbox is a set of user-defined functions and stored procedures to unlock spatial analytics on top of your cloud data warehouse platform. CARTO’s Analytics Toolbox is a set of user-defined functions (UDFs) and Stored Procedures to unlock Spatial Analytics directly on top of your cloud data warehouse platform. It includes two module types: core modules, which are native to each cloud data warehouse, and advanced modules exclusively available with a CARTO account. The CARTO Analytics Toolbox has different modules available depending on which cloud data warehouse you are using. It includes over 100 sophisticated spatial functions categorized into distinct modules like tiler, geocoding, data, clustering, and statistics, among others. Some of the most relevant advanced functions within the Analytics Toolbox Tiling using the … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/analytics-toolbox/ ### Apache Iceberg Apache Iceberg is an open-source table format that brings the reliability and scalability of data warehouses to data lakes. It's a key standard for a lakehouse architecture. Apache Iceberg is an open-source table format that brings the reliability and scalability of data warehouses to data lakes. It’s a key standard for a lakehouse architecture. By supporting native geometry and geography types, Apache Iceberg helps make geospatial data a first-class citizen in cloud architectures, simplifying data management and enhancing auditability. URL: https://carto.com/glossary/apache-iceberg/ ### Artificial Intelligence (AI) In spatial analytics, AI can be used to uncover trends in location data, automate decision-making, and optimize everything from delivery routes to urban planning. A broad field of computer science focused on building systems that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence - like understanding language, recognizing patterns, or making decisions. In spatial analytics, AI can be used to uncover trends in location data, automate decision-making, and optimize everything from delivery routes to urban planning. URL: https://carto.com/glossary/artificial-intelligence-ai/ ### Bayes Theorem Bayes theorem is a mathematical formula used to determine the conditional probability of events. A theorem developed by English mathematician Thomas Bayes. Provides a way to calculate the probability of a hypothesis based on its prior probability, the probabilities of observing various data given the hypothesis, and the observed data itself. ‍ URL: https://carto.com/glossary/bayes-theorem/ ### Bring Your Own LLM (BYOLLM) Bring Your Own LLM (BYOLLM) allows organizations to connect and use their own Large Language Model (LLM), instead of being limited to default or proprietary models. Bring Your Own LLM (BYOLLM) allows organizations to connect and use their own Large Language Model (LLM), instead of being limited to default or proprietary models. This provides flexibility and control over AI security and performance. URL: https://carto.com/glossary/bring-your-own-llm-byollm/ ### Cloud Data Warehouse A cloud data warehouse is a specialized database system hosted and managed as a service in a cloud computing environment. A cloud data warehouse is a specialized database system hosted and managed as a service in a cloud computing environment. It serves as a centralized repository for storing and managing structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data from various sources within an organization. Unlike traditional on-premises data warehouses, a cloud data warehouse operates on cloud infrastructure, offering scalability, flexibility, and agility. It allows businesses to analyze vast amounts of data efficiently, providing insights crucial for making informed decisions. One of the key aspects of a cloud data warehouse is its ability to handle diverse data types, support high-performance queries, and enable … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/cloud-data-warehouse/ ### Cloud Native Cloud-native is a modern approach to building and deploying applications that fully leverage cloud computing capabilities for scalability, resilience, and agility. Cloud native refers to a modern approach in data storage and architecture, as well as software development and deployment that harnesses the capabilities of cloud computing environments to build, deploy, and manage applications. It emphasizes scalability, resilience, and agility by leveraging cloud-based tools and resources. Cloud-native applications are designed to fully utilize the advantages the cloud offers, enabling efficient operations in various cloud environments. Cloud Native in Location Intelligence Within Location Intelligence, being cloud-native means creating and running applications optimized for cloud environments. For instance, CARTO facilitates a direct connection with the … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/cloud-native/ ### Cross-Validation Cross-validation is a model validation technique for assessing how the results of a statistical model will generalize to new data. Model validation technique for assessing how the results of a statistical model will generalize to new data. It involves partitioning a sample of data into complementary subsets, performing the analysis on one subset, and validating the analysis on the other subset. URL: https://carto.com/glossary/cross-validation/ ### Data Lake A data lake is a collection of data or files generally stored in a cloud file storage or blob infrastructure. This data may or may not be unprocessed or clean. A data lake is a collection of data or files generally stored in a cloud file storage or blob infrastructure. This data may or may not be unprocessed or clean. It generally is the landing zone for raw data coming out of other systems before it makes it way into the data warehouse. ‍ URL: https://carto.com/glossary/data-lake/ ### Data Warehouse A data warehouse is an OLAP that can distribute query workloads across compute infrastructure and where data is organized in a structured manner. A data warehouse is an OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) that can distribute query workloads across compute infrastructure and where data is organized in a structured manner to make it ready to analyze. Storage is managed separately from the compute services so the query can access only the data it needs. Connect CARTO to Your Data Warehouse While using demo data during your onboarding process is great for learning and exploring the platform, nothing feels more real than using your own data in CARTO to create maps, analyses, and interactive applications. The main way to use your own data in CARTO is to connect CARTO to your data warehouse**, **but if you still don’t have a data warehouse … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/data-warehouse/ ### Databricks Databricks Data Intelligence Platform simplifies the process of building and deploying big data applications. Databricks Data Intelligence Platform is built on a lakehouse to provide an open, unified foundation for all data and governance, and is powered by a Data Intelligence Engine. The platform integrates with various data sources and supports multiple programming languages, including SQL, Python, Scala, and R. It was founded in 2013 by the original creators of Apache Spark™, Delta Lake and MLflow. It aims to simplify the process of building and deploying big data applications by providing a unified analytics platform. When it comes to location intelligence, you can use CARTO to seamlessly work with unified location-based datasets hosted in Databricks. Eliminate the complexity of ETL processes … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/databricks/ ### DBSCAN DBSCAN is a clustering method that groups data that are close to each other based on a distance metric and a minimum number of data points. Density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN). It is a clustering method that groups together data that are close to each other based on a distance metric and a minimum number of data points. Using the appropriate metric, can be applied to the coordinates of point reference data to perform a spatial clustering. URL: https://carto.com/glossary/dbscan/ ### Deck.gl deck.gl is a popular frontend visualization library originally developed as a project within Uber. It has been open-sourced and maintained by a large community. ‍deck.gl is one of the most popular open-source visualization libraries, designed and optimized for visual analysis of large geospatial datasets. It was originally developed within Uber, but it later transitioned into an open-source project. Since then it has been maintained by a large group of contributors under the vis.gl and the OpenJS Foundation communities, including CARTO as part of the Technical Steering Committee. Since deck.gl is built on top of pure Javascript/Typescript, it can be integrated into any Javascript application, regardless of the framework used (React, Angular, Vue…). deck.gl is GPU-powered, meaning it uses WebGL2/WebGPU, modern and powerful technologies to leverage … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/deckgl/ ### Esri Esri develops GIS software, provides geospatial solutions, and offers consulting services for various industries such as government, utilities, and others. Esri, formerly known as Environmental Systems Research Institute, is a Geographic Information System (GIS) technology. It was founded in 1969 by Jack and Laura Dangermond, and headquartered in Redlands, California, USA. The company develops GIS software, providing geospatial solutions, and offering consulting services for various industries such as government, natural resources, utilities, and many others. Esri’s main product is ArcGIS, which offers a suite of software tools to enable users to collect, manage, analyze, and visualize geographic data. ArcGIS includes desktop, mobile, and web-based applications for mapping, spatial analysis, and data management. Esri’s technology is used by … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/esri/ ### EU AI Act The EU AI Act classifies AI systems based on their risk level. For example, "high-risk" systems require data governance, transparency, and auditability. The EU AI Act is a legal framework for artificial intelligence. It classifies AI systems based on their risk level, with “high-risk” systems facing strict requirements related to data governance, transparency, and auditability. The act is particularly relevant for spatial analytics, as AI systems using location data for tasks like mobility or public safety may fall under high-risk classification. URL: https://carto.com/glossary/eu-ai-act/ ### Generative AI Generative AI uses deep learning models to create new content — text, images, code, and data — by learning patterns from training data. In spatial analytics, it enables synthetic data generation, scenario simulation, and natural language interfaces. Generative AI systems are trained on large datasets and use various techniques, such as deep learning and neural networks, to learn patterns and relationships within the data. Once trained, these models can generate new content by extrapolating from the patterns they have learned. The content is often translated into images, text, audio, or other data types. Some examples of generative AI include text generators or image synthesis models. Generative AI for Spatial Data Science For spatial data science, Generative AI involves the use of artificial intelligence methodologies, such as Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) or other deep learning approaches to generate new spatial data or … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/generative-ai/ ### GeoAI GeoAI applies artificial intelligence and machine learning to geospatial data and problems, including spatial prediction, foundation models, and embeddings. GeoAI is the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to geographic data and spatial problems. It bridges two fields that have evolved largely in parallel: AI, which has produced powerful models for general data, and geospatial analysis, which has long-developed methods for reasoning about space. What is GeoAI? GeoAI uses AI techniques to do things that traditional spatial analysis struggles with, including: Predicting outcomes at unobserved locations: for example, estimating the value of a parameter at every cell of a grid based on a sparse set of observations Extracting features from imagery: segmenting buildings, roads, vegetation, or land use from satellite or aerial … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/geoai/ ### Geocoding Geocoding is the process of converting addresses or place names into geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) for use in mapping and spatial analysis. Geocoding is the process of converting street addresses, place names, or other location descriptions into geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude). Reverse geocoding is the opposite process: converting coordinates into human-readable addresses. Together, these processes are fundamental to connecting business data with spatial analysis. What is Geocoding? When you enter an address into a mapping application and see a pin on the map, geocoding is happening behind the scenes. The geocoder matches your input against a reference database of known addresses and returns the corresponding coordinates. Modern geocoding services can handle various input formats — from full structured addresses … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/geocoding/ ### Geographic Coordinates Geographic coordinates use latitude and longitude to specify a location on the Earth’s curved surface. Geographic coordinates provide a global reference system. Geographic coordinates, also known as geographic or unprojected coordinates, use latitude and longitude to specify a location on the Earth’s curved surface. Geographic coordinates are based on a spherical or ellipsoidal model of the Earth and provide a global reference system. URL: https://carto.com/glossary/geographic-coordinates/ ### Geographically Weighted Regression GWR Geographically Weighted Regression GWR quantifies the strength of relationships across space between a target and correlation variables. Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) quantifies the strength of relationships across space between a target and correlation variables. Unlike non-spatial regression, these relationships are also tested - and weighted - spatially. URL: https://carto.com/glossary/geographically-weighted-regression/ ### GeoJSON GeoJSON is a type of JSON format designed for encoding geographic data structures. It supports various geometry types such as points, lines, and polygons. GeoJSON, based on the JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format, is a lightweight data-interchange format that is easy for humans to read and write, and easy for machines to parse and generate. It is often used for data exchange between a server and a web application, as well as for configuration files and data storage. GeoJSON is language-independent, meaning it can be used with various programming languages. GeoJSON for GIS and Spatial Analysis In the context of GIS (Geographic Information System) and spatial analysis, GeoJSON is often used as a format for representing and exchanging geospatial data. Its application in GIS and spatial analysis involves encoding geographic features, … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/geojson-format/ ### GeoParquet GeoParquet is a project aimed at extending the Parquet file format to directly support geometry data. A benefit of GeoParquet is its cloud data interoperability GeoParquet is a project aimed at extending the Parquet file format to directly support geometry data, eliminating the need for later translation and reducing computational costs. Parquet’s columnar data storage and compression make it efficient and faster for analysis compared to traditional row- based formats. A key benefit of GeoParquet is that it is cloud data interoperable meaning that Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, Databricks can all work together seamlessly with the same geospatial data format. With v1.0.0 released in 2023, GeoParquet is rapidly maturing and being adopted across the geospatial tech stack, in platforms such as CARTO and across libraries including geoarrow, GeoParquet.jl … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/geoparquet/ ### Geospatial Analytics Geospatial analytics is the analysis of data with a geographic dimension to uncover patterns, trends, and relationships invisible in non-spatial analysis. Geospatial analytics is the analysis of data that has a geographic dimension, with the goal of uncovering patterns, trends, and relationships that depend on where things happen. Where traditional analytics treats records as independent rows in a table, geospatial analytics treats them as objects in space (points, lines, polygons, and grid cells) whose relative positions carry information. What is Geospatial Analytics? At its core, geospatial analytics asks questions that involve location: Where are the patterns concentrated? Why do they happen there and not somewhere else? Who and what are nearby? How will the patterns change if conditions change? Answering these questions requires combining … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/geospatial-analytics/ ### Geospatial Foundation Models Geospatial foundation models are AI models trained on vast datasets like satellite imagery to understand the physical and human world, adapting to diverse tasks. Geospatial foundation models are AI models pre-trained on vast amounts of data that can be adapted to a broad range of tasks. In the geospatial world, these models are trained on diverse datasets like satellite imagery, maps, and online behavior to understand the physical and human world. A remote sensing foundation model, for example, is trained on a huge corpus of satellite imagery and can be used for tasks like object detection or semantic segmentation without the need for extensive, task-specific training. The Population Dynamics Foundation Model (PDFM) The Population Dynamics Foundation Model (PDFM) is a powerful type of geospatial foundation model created by Google Research. Its … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/geospatial-foundation-models/ ### Geospatial Reasoning Geospatial Reasoning is the ability of an AI system to understand a complex spatial problem, independently devise a multi-step analytical plan, execute it, and interpret the results to provide an actionable solution. Geospatial Reasoning is the ability of an AI system to understand a complex spatial problem, independently devise a multi-step analytical plan, execute it, and interpret the results to provide an actionable solution. URL: https://carto.com/glossary/geospatial-reasoning/ ### Google Cloud's BigQuery Google Cloud's BigQuery is the serverless, cost-effective, and multi-cloud data warehouse offered by Google Cloud Platform (GCP). ‍Google Cloud’s BigQuery is the serverless, cost-effective and multi cloud data warehouse offered by Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Users can store, process, and analyze large datasets in a scalable way, leveraging Google’s infrastructure while using SQL queries. In the context of Location Intelligence, BigQuery’s spatial data types and functions make it possible to perform geospatial data analysis. Moreover, by connecting BigQuery with CARTO, users can analyze and manage large volumes of geospatial datasets, perform complex spatial analyses, gain insights from location-based information, visualize geographic data, and derive meaningful conclusions to support various industries and use cases. … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/google-bigquery/ ### GPKG Geopackage GPKG is an open standard vector file format developed by the Open Geospatial Consortium. Designed to be platform-independent and self-contained. Geopackage (GPKG) is an open standard vector file format developed by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). It is a SQLite database that can store multiple layers of vector data along with their attributes, styling, and metadata. GPKG is designed to be platform-independent and self-contained. URL: https://carto.com/glossary/gpkg/ ### H3 Spatial Index H3 is an open-source hexagonal grid system developed by Uber that divides the Earth into uniformly shaped cells for fast spatial joins and aggregation at scale. H3 is an open-source spatial index developed by Uber that divides the Earth’s surface into a hierarchical grid of hexagonal cells. Each cell has a unique identifier, allowing locations and aggregations to be referenced through compact integer codes rather than precise coordinates. What is H3? H3 partitions the globe into 122 base cells at its coarsest resolution (resolution 0), with each cell subdivided across 16 finer resolution levels. At resolution 15, individual cells are roughly 1 square meter. The grid is hexagonal because hexagons offer two analytical advantages over squares or triangles: Uniform neighbor distance: every cell has six neighbors and they are all the same distance away. … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/h3-spatial-index/ ### HEAVY.AI HEAVY.AI is a San Francisco-based company that specializes in providing advanced analytics solutions for businesses and government organizations. HEAVY.AI is a San Francisco-based company that specializes in providing advanced analytics solutions for businesses and government organizations. Their primary focus lies in analyzing large-scale location and time-based data to uncover insights. HEAVY.AI’s roots can be traced back to research conducted at Harvard and MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). HEAVY.AI is funded by GV, In-Q-Tel, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), NVIDIA, Tiger Global Management, Vanedge Capital and Verizon Ventures. CARTO, in contrast to HEAVY.AI, scales on demand with all data stored within your existing cloud data warehouse. Avoiding the cost of expensive GPU server-based … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/heavy-ai/ ### Hotspot Analysis Hotspot analysis is a spatial analysis technique used to identify and evaluate statistically significant spatial clusters of high or low values in a dataset. Hotspot analysis is a spatial analysis technique used to identify and evaluate statistically significant spatial clusters of high or low values in a dataset i.e. its spatial autocorrelation. This statistical approach helps to facilitate informed decision-making and resource allocation. Hotspot analysis enables the identification of high or low values of data on a map, going beyond visual representation. For instance, it can pinpoint frequent violent incident locations in a city, identify regions with exceptionally high endemic species, determine popular destinations and attractions within a region or predict potential disease outbreak areas based on historical data patterns. In the Insurance … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/hotspot-analysis/ ### HTML HTML plays a crucial role in being used to embed interactive maps, geospatial visualizations, and geospatial data in web applications. HTML is used for creating the structure and content of web pages. While HTML itself is not specifically designed for geospatial applications, it plays a crucial role in being used to embed interactive maps, geospatial visualizations, and geospatial data in web applications. You may also come across HTML in geospatial software, being frequently used as a means of creating custom pop-ups. Learn more about how to do this in the documentation. Embedding a map in a web page with HTML.HTML is typically used in conjunction with CSS, the latter of which defines the presentation and styling of the HTML “building blocks.” It is useful for web or geospatial developers and data visualization experts. … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/html/ ### Isoline Map An isoline map is a way of presenting numerical data cartographically, helping recognize geographical patterns, such as travel time catchments. An isoline map is a way of presenting numerical data cartographically, helping readers recognize geographical patterns and relationships, such as travel time catchments. Isolines are lines drawn on maps connecting data points of the same value. Isolines should typically have equal intervals between them numerically, and if shaded in a choropleth manner, the map can be known as an isopleth map. URL: https://carto.com/glossary/isoline-map/ ### JavaScript JavaScript is often employed for creating interactive and visually appealing web maps. It allows developers to use libraries such as React and deck.gl. JavaScript is a widely used programming language that is used to create interactive and dynamic web content, rather than for data analysis and processing. For spatial use cases, JavaScript is often employed for creating interactive and visually appealing web maps. It allows developers to manipulate and visualize spatial data using libraries such as React and deck.gl. It is most useful for geospatial developers and data visualization experts. Loading a CARTO Builder map into deck.gl. How to Spot Javascript is typically executed within web browsers, so if you encounter code that is embedded or included within HTML files or interacts with web elements like DOM (Document Object Model), it is … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/javascript/ ### Kinetica Kinetica is a real-time GPU-accelerated analytic database for big data. Kinetica leverages GPUs and modern many-core CPUs to improve performance. Kinetica is a real-time GPU-accelerated analytic database for big data. Kinetica leverages GPUs and modern many-core CPUs to achieve the right performance for generative AI, spatial, time-series, OLAP, and Graph related queries. Key features of Kinetica include its ability to ingest, process, and analyze data from various sources, including structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data. It supports SQL, geospatial, and machine learning analytics. Kinetica is commonly used in industries such as retail, finance, and government, where real-time analytics on large datasets are relevant for driving business decisions. In contrast to Kinetica, CARTO connects directly to your data warehouse so … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/kinetica/ ### KML KML stands for Keyhole Markup Language and it is an XML-based file format used to display geographic data. Originally developed for Google Earth. KML stands for Keyhole Markup Language and it is an XML-based file format used to display geographic data. KML is an international standard maintained by the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. This open, vector-based file format was originally developed for Google Earth. You can find the complete specification for KML here. You can use a .kml or .kmz (compressed) file, or a URL pointing to a KML file. It contains features of different geometry types and can even contain both vector and raster data. You can navigate and explore the KML information, and change a few aspects of the layer’s display, but you cannot modify the KML file. Supported elements for a KML file include: Time spans Time … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/kml-format/ ### Kriging Kriging is a spatial interpolation method for predicting missing values, taking into account the distance and spatial correlation of known data points. The group of interpolation techniques which estimate missing values in a continuous dataset based on known values. These tools are based on the stochastic model of the spatial dependence, which is quantified either by the calculated variogram or by expectation, and the covariance function c (x,y) of the random field. Multiple methods exist including ordinary, universal, cokriging, and indicator kriging. For instance, ordinary kriging is a geostatistical interpolation technique that takes into account both the distance and spatial correlation of data points, incorporating both local variations and broader trends. Advantages of Kriging **Spatially Efficient: **Suitable for datasets with … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/kriging/ ### Lakehouse A lakehouse is a modern data architecture that combines the flexibility and low-cost storage of a data lake with the transactional capabilities and performance of a data warehouse. A lakehouse is a modern data architecture that combines the flexibility and low-cost storage of a data lake with the transactional capabilities and performance of a data warehouse. It is a unified platform where data is stored in open formats in a data lake, while a metadata layer on top adds key data warehousing features like ACID transactions, schema enforcement, and data governance. This approach allows organizations to perform business intelligence, data science, and machine learning on a single, shared source of truth, eliminating the need for separate data systems and complex data movement. URL: https://carto.com/glossary/lake-house/ ### Large Language Model (LLM) Large Language Model (LLM) is a type of generative AI trained on massive datasets to understand and produce human-like language. A type of generative AI trained on massive datasets to understand and produce human-like language. LLMs make it possible to interact with spatial data using natural language - enabling users to type questions like “Where are underserved areas for electric vehicle chargers?” and instantly receive insights. URL: https://carto.com/glossary/large-language-model-llm/ ### Machine Learning (ML) Machine Learning (ML) is a subset of AI where algorithms learn from data to make predictions or decisions, improving over time without being explicitly programmed. A subset of AI where algorithms learn from data to make predictions or decisions, improving over time without being explicitly programmed. It powers models that can forecast demand by neighborhood, detect traffic anomalies, or assess flood risk based on spatial and environmental patterns. URL: https://carto.com/glossary/machine-learning-ml/ ### Map Software Map software refers to computer programs or applications designed to create, display, and manipulate spatial information in the form of maps. Map software is also known as mapping software or GIS (Geographic Information System) software. It refers to computer programs or applications designed to create, display, and manipulate spatial information in the form of maps. These software tools use geospatial data to represent the physical features of the Earth’s surface, including natural and man-made elements, and allow users to interact with and analyze this information for various purposes such as navigation, planning, analysis, and decision-making. Some examples of mapping software include ArcGIS, QGIS, Mapinfo or Mapbox. Map software often incorporates features like data visualization, spatial analysis, and navigation … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/map-software/ ### Mapbox Mapbox enables users to create and integrate custom maps into their applications and websites. It provides a range of tools and APIs for map design and geocoding. Mapbox is a platform that enables users to create and integrate custom maps into their applications and websites. It provides a range of tools and APIs for map design, geocoding, search, navigation, and data visualization. Mapbox was founded in 2010 by Eric Gundersen and his team in Washington, D.C. Their geocoding and search services allow conversion of addresses or place names into geographic coordinates and vice versa, as well as facilitating place discovery within maps. In comparison to CARTO, Mapbox does not connect natively to cloud data warehouses. Data must be uploaded into Mapbox, by UI or API, for processing and analysis. URL: https://carto.com/glossary/mapbox/ ### Markov Chain Monte Carlo MCMC Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) is a class of simulation methods used to approximate the posterior distribution by randomly sampling in a probabilistic space. Class of simulation methods used to approximate the posterior distribution by randomly sampling in a probabilistic space. URL: https://carto.com/glossary/markov-chain-monte-carlo-mcmc/ ### Model Context Protocol (MCP) Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that lets AI applications connect securely to external tools, data, and systems through a unified interface. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard, with public documentation, that lets AI applications connect securely to external tools, data sources, and systems through a unified interface. It provides a standardized way for AI agents and large language models to interact with the real world: querying databases, calling APIs, triggering workflows, and accessing enterprise resources. What is MCP? MCP acts as a universal adapter between AI models and external capabilities. Without MCP, every AI integration requires custom code for each tool or data source. MCP standardizes these connections so that any MCP-compatible AI application can use any MCP-compatible tool, much like how USB … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/model-context-protocol-mcp/ ### Model-Agnostic Model-Agnostic refers to CARTO's philosophy of not depending on a single AI provider. It gives the user the freedom to choose the one that best fits their needs and adheres to their governance requirements. Model-Agnostic refers to CARTO’s philosophy of not depending on a single AI provider. The platform is designed to be compatible with different Large Language Models (LLMs), giving the user the freedom to choose the one that best fits their needs and adheres to their governance requirements. URL: https://carto.com/glossary/model-agnostic/ ### Natural Language Processing (NLP) Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a branch of AI that enables computers to understand, interpret, and generate human language. A branch of AI that enables computers to understand, interpret, and generate human language. NLP is the foundation of tools that allow teams to “talk to their maps,” making it easier for non-technical users to explore location data and surface insights through conversational queries. URL: https://carto.com/glossary/natural-language-processing-nlp/ ### Orchestration Orchestration (in the context of AI) is the process of centrally coordinating and managing all system components (the LLM, tools, data, and user interface) to consistently execute user-requested tasks. Orchestration (in the context of AI) is the process of centrally coordinating and managing all system components (the LLM, tools, data, and user interface) to consistently execute user-requested tasks. Platforms like Google’s Gemini Enterprise can be seen as Orchestration platforms. ‍ URL: https://carto.com/glossary/orchestration/ ### Projected Coordinates Projected Coordinates use a two-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system to represent locations on a flat surface, such as a map or a plane. Projected Coordinates, also referred to as geometries, utilize a two-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system to represent locations on a flat surface, such as a map or a plane. Projected coordinates result from applying a mathematical transformation to geographic coordinates, projecting them onto a flat surface. This projection aims to minimize distortion and provide accurate distance, direction, and area measurements within a specific geographic region or map projection. ‍ URL: https://carto.com/glossary/projected-coordinates/ ### Python Manipulate, visualize, and analyze spatial data with Python, a programming language for spatial analysis. Relevant for GeoPandas, Shapely, and PySAL libraries. Python is a popular programming language which can be used for spatial analysis by leveraging various libraries like GeoPandas, Shapely, and PySAL, which provide functionalities to manipulate, visualize, and analyze spatial data. Python’s versatility, rich library ecosystem, community support, and compatibility make it an excellent choice for spatial analysis and data science. Python is most useful for: data scientists, data analysts, data visualization experts. Using Python to run a spatial join between target and join datasets. How to Spot Python code often starts with import… to import necessary libraries. Python also has its own set of syntax rules and keywords; look for Python-specific … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/python/ ### R (Programming Language) R is a programming language specifically designed for statistical computing and data analysis. R offers spatially focused packages like sf, sp, and raster. R is a powerful programming language specifically designed for statistical computing and data analysis. R offers a rich ecosystem of spatially-focused packages like sf, sp, and raster. Its benefits include advanced spatial modeling capabilities, integration with statistical methods and easy access to geospatial data sources. However, outside academia and research, R remains less widely-used than Python in the geospatial industry (source: The State of Spatial Data Science, 2023). R is most useful for data scientists, data analysts, data visualization experts. Using R to create a distance matrix between all points. How to Spot R code blocks often begin with library() or require() to import … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/r-programming-language/ ### Raster Data Raster data is represented as a grid of cells or pixels, with each cell containing a value. It represents elevation, temperature, satellite imagery, and more. Raster data is represented as a grid of cells or pixels, with each cell containing a value or attribute. It has a grid-based structure and represents continuous values such as elevation, temperature, or satellite imagery. Raster data has wide application in remote sensing, where it provides valuable information about land cover, vegetation health, and climate patterns. It is also used in elevation modeling to create Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and analyze terrain characteristics for hydrology, slope analysis, and viewshed analysis. It is often used for visualization and photorealistic rendering of maps and scenes. Common Raster File Types Common file types for raster data include: … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/raster-data/ ### Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) is a technique that enhances LLM responses. This allows responses to be more accurate, reliable, and based on real-time data. Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) is a technique that enhances LLM responses. Before generating an answer, the system searches for and retrieves up-to-date, relevant information from an external knowledge base (such as data from a lakehouse). This allows responses to be more accurate, reliable, and based on real-time data. URL: https://carto.com/glossary/retrieval-augmented-generation-rag/ ### Site Suitability Analysis Site suitability analysis ranks candidate locations against multiple weighted spatial criteria to identify the best places for a new store, facility, or asset. Site suitability analysis is a structured method for ranking candidate locations against multiple weighted spatial criteria to identify the most suitable place for a new store, facility, infrastructure asset, or advertising panel. Unlike a simple ranking by a single attribute, site suitability analysis combines many factors (demographics, accessibility, competition, environmental risk, regulatory constraints) into a single composite score for every candidate site. What is Site Suitability Analysis? The core idea is multi-criteria decision-making applied to geography. The analyst defines: A set of candidate locations (existing parcels, a grid of cells, points along a network) A set of … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/site-suitability-analysis/ ### Snowflake Snowflake is a single, global platform that powers the Data Cloud. Its architecture separates computing and storage, allowing independent cost optimization. Snowflake is a single, global platform that powers the Data Cloud. Operating on multiple cloud providers, including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), it offers users the ability to choose their preferred cloud environment. Its architecture separates computing and storage, allowing independent scaling and cost optimization. One of the key features of Snowflake is its architecture, which separates storage and compute resources. This separation allows users to scale each component independently, meaning they can dynamically allocate resources based on their specific needs. Snowflake also automatically handles tasks such as data replication, encryption, and performance optimization, … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/snowflake/ ### Spatial AI Spatial AI is the industry-facing umbrella term for applying artificial intelligence to geographic data, often used interchangeably with GeoAI. Spatial AI is the application of artificial intelligence to geographic data and problems where location is a primary dimension. It is widely used as the industry-facing umbrella term for the same set of techniques that are referred to in research as GeoAI. What is Spatial AI? Spatial AI covers the use of AI methods for tasks where the geographic structure of the data matters: predicting outcomes at locations that have not yet been observed, extracting information from satellite or aerial imagery, learning representations of places and movements, and reasoning over spatial networks. Spatial AI vs GeoAI The two terms refer to the same broad practice and are often used interchangeably. The … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/spatial-ai/ ### Spatial Data Spatial data is any data with a geographic component that connects information to a specific location on Earth, such as coordinates, addresses, or boundaries. Spatial data is any data that has a geographic component, connecting information to a specific location on Earth. This includes coordinates, street addresses, administrative boundaries, postal codes, and any other reference to a place. It is estimated that up to 80% of all data has a spatial component. What is Spatial Data? Spatial data — also called geospatial data or location data — describes objects, events, or phenomena that have a position on the surface of the Earth. Every time you tag a photo with a location, log a delivery address, or record sensor readings from a weather station, you are creating spatial data. Spatial data can be as simple as a pair of latitude/longitude coordinates … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/spatial-data/ ### Spatial Data Catalog The Spatial Data Catalog is a great resource for Data Scientists, Analysts, and Developers who want to enrich their internal data and enhance spatial analysis. You can use the Spatial Data Catalog to browse and filter our collection of public and premium datasets available in the Data Observatory. The Spatial Data Catalog is a great resource for Data Scientists, Analysts, and Developers who want to enrich their internal data & broaden their spatial analysis. Furthermore, the Data Observatory is a spatial data platform that streamlines the process of evaluating, licensing and accessing data products, saving you a significant amount of time. You can read the documentation for accessing free data samples and learn more about the data subscriptions In the Spatial Data Catalog, more than 12,000 datasets are organized into different categories, including … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/spatial-data-catalog/ ### Spatial Data Governance Spatial data governance is a framework that provides a clear, structured approach to managing your spatial data, making it trustworthy, secure, and compliant. Spatial data governance is a framework that provides a clear, structured approach to managing your spatial data, ensuring it is trustworthy, secure, and compliant. It involves defining policies, roles, and procedures to ensure the quality, integrity, and privacy of location-based data throughout its lifecycle. How does AI impact spatial data governance The rise of AI has changed how spatial data is used. Location data now informs AI agents that can act on it in real-time, from optimizing logistics to detecting environmental anomalies. This shift makes governance more critical than ever. Poorly governed data can lead to biased, inaccurate, or non-compliant AI outcomes, especially when dealing … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/spatial-data-governance/ ### Spatial Data Science Spatial data science is a subset of data science that applies statistical and machine learning methods to geographic data to understand why things happen where they do. Spatial data science is a subset of data science that focuses on the unique characteristics of geographic data. It moves beyond asking “where do things happen?” to understanding “why do they happen there?” by applying statistical methods, machine learning, and domain expertise to data with a spatial component. What is Spatial Data Science? Traditional data science treats each observation as independent. Spatial data science recognizes that observations close together in space tend to be more similar than observations far apart — a principle known as Tobler’s First Law of Geography. This spatial dependence means that standard statistical methods can produce misleading results when applied to … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/spatial-data-science/ ### Spatial Indexes Spatial indexes are hierarchical grid systems that divide the Earth's surface into discrete cells for fast spatial queries and geospatial analysis at scale. Spatial indexes are hierarchical grid systems that divide the Earth’s surface into discrete cells, each identified by a unique index value. They combine the advantages of both vector and raster data: like raster, they provide a uniform grid covering the entire planet; like vector, each cell is an individual feature that can be queried and joined. What are Spatial Indexes? A spatial index assigns every location on Earth to a cell in a global grid. The grid can be made finer or coarser by choosing different resolution levels. Higher resolutions produce smaller cells with more precision; lower resolutions produce larger cells for faster aggregation. The most widely used spatial index systems … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/spatial-indexes/ ### Spatial Join A spatial join combines records from two datasets based on the geographic relationship between their locations, such as containment, intersection, or proximity. A spatial join combines records from two datasets based on the geographic relationship between their locations rather than on a matching column value. Where a traditional SQL join uses an equality between two keys, a spatial join uses a geometric predicate such as “contains,” “intersects,” “is within X meters of,” or “is the nearest to.” What is a Spatial Join? Spatial joins answer questions that involve geography, for example: Which sales transactions happened inside each city polygon? Which customers live within a 10-minute drive of each store? Which weather stations report measurements covering each parcel of land? The join is performed by evaluating a geometric predicate between every … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/spatial-join/ ### SQL Structured Query Language SQL is used for managing and querying relational database management systems RDBMS, as well as running analysis. Structured Query Language (pronounced either as sequel or “ess-queue-ell,” depending on who you talk to) is used for managing and querying relational database management systems (RDBMS), as well as running analysis. The language will differ slightly depending on the database provider. Using SQL to create lines running from the centroids of origins and destinations. How to Spot SQL is most useful for data engineers, data scientists and data analysts. It has a heavy reliance on “the big 6” commands: SELECT, FROM, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING, and ORDER BY. SQL commands are also always written IN CAPITAL LETTERS. For spatial analysis, you will also often see functions that start with ST… (which … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/sql/ ### Tileset A tileset optimizes spatial data for responsive map views, rendering only necessary tiles for immersive exploration. A tileset is a representation of spatial data optimized for map visualizations. By dividing datasets into smaller tiles, only the necessary tiles for their zoom level and extent are rendered, resulting in a responsive and immersive map viewing experience. Tilesets are designed to facilitate faster loading, optimized bandwidth usage, and seamless navigation in map visualizations. In CARTO, tilesets are a collection of pre-rendered image tiles that are generated from spatial datasets using SQL procedures available in the tiler module of the Analytics Toolbox. The four main types of tileset include dynamic tiles, simple tiles, aggregation tiles and spatial index tiles. You can read more about … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/tileset/ ### Trade Area Analysis Trade area analysis defines the zone from which a business draws most of its customers, used to plan stores, target marketing, and forecast sales. Trade area analysis is the practice of defining the geographic zone from which a business location draws most of its customers or sales. Understanding a trade area helps retailers, restaurants, banks, and other consumer-facing businesses plan store networks, target marketing campaigns, forecast revenue, and evaluate competitive overlap. “Trade area analysis” and “catchment analysis” are used interchangeably and refer to the same practice. The term varies by industry and region: “catchment” is more common in the UK and Europe and in sectors such as healthcare and education, while “trade area” is more common in North American retail. What is a Trade Area? A trade area is the catchment of a … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/trade-area-analysis/ ### Vector Data Vector data represents geographic features as discrete points, lines, and polygons. It is scalable without loss of quality and can be easily modified. Vector data represents geographic features as discrete points, lines, and polygons.It has a geometry-based structure in which each element in vector data represents a discrete geographic object, such as roads, buildings, or administrative boundaries. Vector data is scalable without loss of quality and can be easily modified or updated. Vector data is useful for spatial analysis operations such as overlaying, buffering, and network analysis, facilitating advanced geospatial studies. Vector data formats are also well-suited for data editing, updates, and maintenance, making them ideal for workflows that require frequent changes. Common Vector File Types Shapefiles Shapefiles are a format … URL: https://carto.com/glossary/vector-data/ --- ## Recent blog posts ### Access advanced geospatial capabilities in Snowflake CoWork Date: 2026-09-14 · Author: javier-perez-trufero Snowflake customers can register the CARTO MCP Server as an external connector in Snowflake CoWork, letting agents build and revise CARTO Builder maps, run spatial analysis, and publish reusable CARTO Workflows directly against governed Snowflake tables — with no data extracted, and each user's own row access policies, masking, and permissions enforced through per-user CARTO consent. Setup requires ACCOUNTADMIN in Snowflake and a confidential SPA OAuth client created in CARTO. The CARTO CLI, also available in Snowflake CoCo, extends this to building spatial apps and iterating on complex analysis workflows. URL: https://carto.com/blog/access-advanced-geospatial-capabilities-in-snowflake-cowork/ ### Agentic GIS in Microsoft Copilot with CARTO Date: 2026-09-09 · Author: javier-perez-trufero CARTO published a guide for connecting the CARTO MCP Server to Microsoft Copilot Studio, putting maps, CARTO Workflows, geocoding, routing, and platform administration in reach of any Copilot agent inside Microsoft 365. Every call runs as the authenticated CARTO user, executes natively in the customer's connected data warehouse under existing permissions and row-level security, and is logged in Activity Data. Setup takes a few minutes: create an SPA OAuth client in CARTO, add the CARTO MCP Server as a manually-configured OAuth 2.0 tool in Copilot Studio, and publish the agent to Microsoft 365 or Teams. URL: https://carto.com/blog/agentic-gis-microsoft-copilot/ ### Making deck.gl AI-Ready: What Seven Frontier Models Taught Us About Maps Date: 2026-09-09 · Author: javier-de-la-torre We asked seven frontier AI models to build deck.gl maps, rendered every result, and took five proposals to the Open Visualization Summit in Zürich. What we learned, and why deck.gl matters so much to CARTO. URL: https://carto.com/blog/making-deckgl-ai-ready/ ### Geospatial Analysis in Claude with the CARTO MCP Server Date: 2026-09-08 · Author: javier-perez-trufero CARTO has published a guide for connecting the CARTO MCP Server to Claude as a custom connector, putting maps, CARTO Workflows, geocoding, routing, and platform administration in reach of any Claude conversation, with the map rendering inline via MCP Apps. Every call runs as the authenticated user, executes natively in the customer's connected data warehouse, and is subject to that user's existing IAM permissions and row-level security, with every action logged in Activity Data. Setup only requires adding the CARTO MCP Server URL as a custom connector in Claude's Settings and signing in with a CARTO account, with no OAuth client to register. Two examples show Claude Cowork building a CARTO Workflow to find buildings outside telco network coverage in Denver and then mapping the resulting coverage gaps in CARTO Builder. The post also covers pairing the CARTO CLI and Agent Skills with Claude Code to build spatial apps and run complex analytical pipelines. URL: https://carto.com/blog/geospatial-analysis-claude-mcp-server/ ### All of CARTO from Gemini Enterprise Date: 2026-09-07 · Author: javier-perez-trufero CARTO has published a guide for registering the CARTO MCP Server as a custom MCP server in Google's Gemini Enterprise, putting maps, CARTO Workflows, geocoding, routing, and platform administration in reach of any Gemini Enterprise agent. Every call runs as the authenticated user, executes natively in the customer's connected data warehouse, and is subject to that user's existing IAM permissions and row-level security, with every action logged in Activity Data. Setup involves creating a CARTO SPA OAuth client, registering the CARTO MCP Server as a custom MCP data store in Google Cloud's AI Applications, enabling the desired tools, and linking the data store to a Gemini Enterprise app. Two examples show Gemini Enterprise agents building a CARTO Builder dashboard for EV charging accessibility in San Francisco and a CARTO Workflow for cell tower site planning in Denver. URL: https://carto.com/blog/all-of-carto-from-gemini-enterprise/ ### Spatial Data Infrastructure, Rebuilt for the Age of AI Date: 2026-09-02 · Author: javier-de-la-torre Javier de la Torre explains how three changes are reshaping spatial data infrastructure: cloud-native formats such as GeoParquet, COG, PMTiles and Apache Iceberg move cost and compute from the publisher to the user; AI agents can discover, inspect, federate and query authoritative datasets and return answers with sources and reproducible queries; and sovereignty has become an architectural requirement. CARTO is joining the launch of Portolan, an open specification and toolkit for publishing geospatial data as files in publisher-controlled storage, using STAC metadata, README and AGENTS.md documentation, a validator, and a registry of independently hosted catalogs. CARTO also introduces CARTO SDI, its commercial implementation of Portolan, with three parts: a branded catalog, an AI interface, and a control plane for governance, access, usage telemetry, quality, monetization and writable Iceberg data. Everything it publishes remains a standard Portolan catalog usable from QGIS, DuckDB and BigQuery. URL: https://carto.com/blog/introducing-portolan-and-carto-sdi/ ### Building a Retail Fingerprint with PlacePulse Embeddings Date: 2026-09-01 · Author: miguel-alvarez See how PlacePulse Embeddings help retail site selection teams turn top-performing stores into a reusable fingerprint for finding the next location. URL: https://carto.com/blog/placepulse-retail-fingerprint/ ### The 6 questions every enterprise asks before turning on AI Agents in GIS Date: 2026-08-27 · Author: estefania-puente Enterprises evaluating AI Agents in GIS consistently ask six questions. CARTO's answers: you can use CARTO's managed models or bring your own LLM, and CARTO integrates natively with Google AI Studio and the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, Snowflake Cortex AI, Amazon Bedrock, Databricks Mosaic AI and Oracle Generative AI; your spatial data is not used to train any models; agents are scoped to explicit instructions and approved tables, and their output is inspectable, with the logic explicit, versioned and auditable rather than generated on-the-fly; agents authenticate as governed users and inherit the permissions of that identity, including row-level security; AI functionality may trigger an additional procurement review or an AI addendum, which CARTO documents up front; and AI Agent usage draws from the same usage-based subscription as the rest of the platform rather than a separate meter. URL: https://carto.com/blog/6-questions-enterprises-ask-ai-agents-gis/ ### All of CARTO, in every agent Date: 2026-08-26 · Author: javier-perez-trufero CARTO has made every platform capability available as an MCP tool through the CARTO MCP Server, letting AI agents in Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini Enterprise, Snowflake Cowork, Databricks Genie, and Oracle Agent Factory create maps, build Workflows, and query spatial data directly. All actions run inside the user's own data warehouse and stay governed, auditable, and subject to existing permissions. This extends CARTO for Agents beyond technical teams to every GIS professional, making CARTO the first fully headless GIS platform. URL: https://carto.com/blog/all-of-carto-in-every-agent/ ### Public sector: The spatial analytics upgrade hiding in your Oracle Database Date: 2026-08-17 · Author: helen-mckenzie Oracle has supported spatial data since the 1990s, but most public sector agencies aren't using it. CARTO runs natively inside Oracle, turning GIS analysts' expertise into reusable AI Agents so decision-makers get instant, auditable answers without a request queue. URL: https://carto.com/blog/public-sector-oracle-database-spatial-analytics/ ### Finding the Next EV Charging Hotspots with PlacePulse Embeddings Date: 2026-08-04 · Author: lucia-garcia-duarte CARTO used PlacePulse Embeddings, its geospatial foundation model built with Applied Geographic Solutions, to identify EV charging infrastructure gaps in the US. A regression model trained on the embeddings predicts the expected number of chargers for every H3 resolution-7 cell based on a neighborhood's structural profile. Comparing predicted to observed charger counts produces an opportunity score: areas with fewer chargers than expected signal investment opportunities, while areas exceeding expectations signal saturated markets. The workflow is built entirely in CARTO using the Composite Score Supervised component and generalizes to other structural prediction tasks beyond EV charging. URL: https://carto.com/blog/ev-charging-hotspots-placepulse-embeddings/ ### PlacePulse Embeddings: a Fingerprint for Every Place in the US Date: 2026-07-28 · Author: lucia-garcia-duarte PlacePulse Embeddings is a geospatial foundation model from CARTO and Applied Geographic Solutions that encodes the structural profile of every US location into a single 256-dimensional vector. Built from AGS demographic, economic, built-environment, and climate data across 1.06 million H3 resolution 7 cells, it powers similarity search, segmentation, and predictive modeling directly in CARTO Workflows without feature engineering. The model is available now in private preview. URL: https://carto.com/blog/placepulse-embeddings-fingerprint-every-place-us/ ### Your AI Agents also need spatial semantics Date: 2026-07-21 · Author: javier-perez-trufero AI Agents need semantic models to answer business questions accurately, but standard semantic layers treat geometry columns like any other field, with no concept of spatial indexes, geometry types, or spatial relationships. CARTO AI Agents now support semantic models built on Apache Ossie (Incubating), the open standard launched as the Open Semantic Interchange by Snowflake, Salesforce, dbt Labs and others, extended by CARTO to carry spatial context: geometry types, H3 and Quadbin spatial indexes with resolutions, spatial relationships, and geographic hierarchies. Semantic models can be written in CARTO Builder, imported as YAML, or generated by the Agent Configuration Assistant. In CARTO's evaluations, agents with a semantic model wrote around 50% fewer database queries per answer, returned consistent results for the same question, and answered correctly on business terms where they otherwise guessed or gave up. URL: https://carto.com/blog/ai-agents-spatial-semantics/ ### CARTO and Marker Announce Strategic Partnership to Advance Location Intelligence in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay Date: 2026-07-15 · Author: candice-julka CARTO announces a strategic partnership with Marker, its new exclusive partner for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay. The collaboration brings CARTO's cloud-native Location Intelligence and Agentic GIS platform to organizations across the region, with Marker providing local market knowledge for use cases like site selection, territory planning, logistics, and risk assessment. URL: https://carto.com/blog/carto-marker-strategic-partnership/ ### Migrate from Esri to CARTO with your AI Agent Date: 2026-07-13 · Author: eva-estrada-adler Enterprise GIS teams move from Esri ArcGIS to cloud-native CARTO to run spatial analysis directly inside their data warehouse, with no data movement and no per-seat licensing. The open carto-arcgis-migration Agent Skill handles the move from ArcGIS Enterprise or ArcGIS Online in three phases: discover and inventory content, migrate hosted feature layers and tables to warehouse tables, and migrate web maps and simple apps to CARTO Builder maps. ArcGIS keeps running in parallel during the migration, and a readiness assessment shows the likely effort, timeline, and right entry point. URL: https://carto.com/blog/migrate-from-esri-to-carto-ai-agent/ ### What's new in CARTO - Q2 2026 Date: 2026-07-08 · Author: eva-estrada-adler CARTO Q2 2026 product update: the launch of CARTO for Agents (CLI, MCP Server, and Agent Skills) bringing CARTO into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and other MCP-compatible tools, AI Agent tool traceability, OpenAI-compatible providers and the latest AI models, Workflow version history, new Oracle and Databricks Analytics Toolbox functions, Builder layer groups and Google Photorealistic 3D Tiles, projects and folders, and enterprise-grade AI usage controls. URL: https://carto.com/blog/whats-new-in-carto-q2-2026/ ### CARTO and BSI Announce Exclusive Partnership to Bring Agentic GIS to Mexico Date: 2026-07-07 · Author: candice-julka CARTO has named Bufete de Soluciones Integrales (BSI) its official partner and exclusive distributor in Mexico. The partnership brings CARTO's Agentic GIS platform and Location Intelligence to Mexican organizations across retail, logistics, telecommunications, and the public sector — running natively inside their existing cloud data warehouses, with no new infrastructure to manage. URL: https://carto.com/blog/carto-bsi-partnership-agentic-gis-mexico/ ### SaaS, self-hosted, or native app? Choosing the right CARTO deployment Date: 2026-07-01 · Author: estefania-puente CARTO offers three deployment options. CARTO SaaS is hosted and operated by CARTO, and connects to your warehouse without you running any infrastructure. CARTO Self-hosted runs the application layer inside your own environment on a virtual machine or Kubernetes, and suits organizations with strict network boundaries, private endpoints, or in-tenant requirements. The CARTO Native App runs inside your Snowflake account through Snowflake Container Services. SaaS and self-hosted work with every supported warehouse (BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks, Redshift, Oracle); the Native App is specific to Snowflake. In all three models your data stays in your own data warehouse, and single sign-on, role-based access, and warehouse permissions carry over unchanged. URL: https://carto.com/blog/carto-deployment-options-saas-self-hosted-native-app/ ### What being cloud-native should really mean for your spatial data Date: 2026-06-30 · Author: javier-perez-trufero Truly cloud-native geospatial means all analysis, visualization, and pushdown analytics run inside your data warehouse with no data copying. CARTO runs natively on BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks, Redshift, and Oracle using Dynamic Tiling. Because data never leaves the warehouse, this architecture is the foundation for Agentic GIS, where AI Agents reason over spatial data and run multi-step analysis securely in place. URL: https://carto.com/blog/what-being-cloud-native-should-really-mean-spatial-data/ ### The 12 questions enterprises ask before buying a cloud-native GIS platform Date: 2026-06-22 · Author: estefania-puente The 12 questions enterprises ask when evaluating a cloud-native GIS platform, with CARTO's answers: spatial data stays in your own cloud data warehouse; one workspace can connect to several warehouses at once, including hybrid estates; deployment can be SaaS, self-hosted or a Snowflake Native App; the platform inherits the governance your warehouse already enforces; pricing is usage-based with unlimited users rather than per-seat; CARTO can be bought through the Google Cloud, Snowflake, Databricks or AWS marketplace using committed spend; AI Agents are scoped, authenticated and logged under your existing controls; the Data Observatory supplies demographic, mobility, POI and environmental data; a spatial analytics platform computes with location rather than just visualizing it as BI tools do; cloud-native differs structurally from desktop-era GIS; evaluation should run as a structured proof of concept before signing an annual contract; and implementations typically land in weeks to a few months. URL: https://carto.com/blog/12-questions-buying-cloud-native-gis-platform/ ### The Per-Seat Trap: How Consumption Pricing Opens Spatial Analytics to Everyone Date: 2026-06-17 · Author: leo-rodriguez Traditional GIS software is sold per seat or per concurrent license, which forces organizations to ration access and traps Location Intelligence inside a small specialist team. CARTO is moving to consumption-based pricing, where cost scales with actual usage rather than headcount. This model fits how spatial analytics now runs, directly on cloud data warehouses like BigQuery, Snowflake, and Databricks, and through AI agents that perform work without occupying a seat. The result is broader access across teams, less shelfware, faster time to value, and costs aligned to business impact. CARTO also offers a flexible pay-as-you-go option so teams can start small and grow with their usage. URL: https://carto.com/blog/the-per-seat-trap-consumption-pricing-spatial-analytics/ ### Vibe coding spatial apps with CARTO for Agents Date: 2026-06-15 · Author: javier-perez-trufero Shows how a coding agent paired with the CARTO CLI and Agent Skills scaffolds a working CARTO and deck.gl spatial app from a prompt, with scoped API tokens keeping warehouse data and access governed. URL: https://carto.com/blog/vibe-coding-spatial-apps-carto-for-agents/ ### Where does my data live? How CARTO works in hybrid cloud environments Date: 2026-06-13 · Author: estefania-puente CARTO runs spatial analytics directly inside your own cloud data warehouse (BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks, Redshift, or Oracle), so data is never synced, copied, or moved to CARTO's servers. One workspace can connect to multiple warehouses at once, supporting hybrid and multi-cloud environments. CARTO inherits your existing access controls, row-level security, and audit trails, including when AI Agents run spatial analysis. URL: https://carto.com/blog/where-does-my-data-live-hybrid-cloud-gis/ ### Where Should World Cup 2026 Sponsors Activate? A Spatial Analysis of All 16 Host Cities Date: 2026-06-11 · Author: estefania-puente A trade-area analysis of all 16 World Cup 2026 host cities, scoring every cell within a 30-minute drive of each stadium for people, retail, and food activity to guide sponsor activation, built with CARTO. URL: https://carto.com/blog/world-cup-2026-sponsor-activation-map/ ### AI-assisted spatial analysis with coding agents and CARTO Date: 2026-06-04 · Author: javier-perez-trufero Explains how a coding agent uses CARTO Agent Skills to design end-to-end CARTO Workflows from a prompt, encoding spatial analysis steps like hotspot detection as playbooks for auditable, reusable results. URL: https://carto.com/blog/ai-assisted-spatial-analysis-coding-agent-carto/ ### Geospatial AI and Analytics for Proactive, Safer Government Date: 2026-06-02 · Author: eva-estrada-adler How state and local government agencies can move from reactive to predictive decision-making with geospatial AI, breaking the GIS analyst bottleneck caused by siloed data and legacy desktop tools. URL: https://carto.com/blog/from-reactive-to-predictive-geospatial-ai-public-sector/ ### Agentic GIS in Snowflake with Cortex Code and CARTO Date: 2026-06-01 · Author: javier-perez-trufero How CARTO for Agents integrates with Snowflake Cortex Code and Snowflake Intelligence so agents build maps, workflows, and spatial apps inside Snowflake, with the CARTO MCP Server keeping analysis auditable. URL: https://carto.com/blog/agentic-gis-snowflake-cortex-code-carto/ ### Iceberg V3 Geometry, One Year Later: From Standards to Implementations Date: 2026-05-29 · Author: javier-de-la-torre A CARTO testbed checks which engines can read, query, and prune Apache Iceberg V3 native geometry one year on. Snowflake and Databricks deliver it end-to-end, DuckDB is close, and a CRS-consistency gap emerges. URL: https://carto.com/blog/iceberg-v3-geometry-one-year-later/ ### 5 steps to prepare for a migration from Esri to CARTO Date: 2026-05-28 · Author: eva-estrada-adler A practical checklist for GIS teams preparing to migrate from Esri ArcGIS to CARTO. Five steps: take inventory of your current GIS, map where your business data lives, calculate the real total cost of ownership beyond licenses, name your data governance and access owners (analyst, cloud admin, identity admin), and define your critical use cases alongside your AI and cloud strategy. Most migrations stall for non-technical reasons, so good preparation is what separates a smooth move from a stalled one. The Esri migration readiness assessment turns these steps into a personalized plan. URL: https://carto.com/blog/prepare-for-esri-to-carto-migration/ ### Prompt your maps: Agentic map-making with CARTO Date: 2026-05-28 · Author: javier-perez-trufero How AI agents use the CARTO CLI and the carto-create-builder-maps skill to compose, iterate, and ship production-ready CARTO Builder maps from a prompt, while CARTO governs access and warehouse data stays in place. URL: https://carto.com/blog/prompt-your-maps-agentic-map-making-carto/ ### Fleet Intelligence with OpenRouteService in Snowflake and CARTO Date: 2026-05-27 · Author: javier-perez-trufero OpenRouteService now runs inside Snowflake as SQL functions for directions, isochrones, matrices, and optimization. CARTO Workflows wrap them as components and expose them as MCP tools for AI-ready fleet intelligence. URL: https://carto.com/blog/fleet-intelligence-openrouteservice-snowflake-carto/ ### GIS for the Agentic Era: Highlights from #SDSC26 London Date: 2026-05-20 · Author: eva-estrada-adler Highlights from SDSC26 London, where over 400 professionals explored agentic GIS, open infrastructure, and urban and environmental analytics, including Javier de la Torre introducing CARTO for Agents. URL: https://carto.com/blog/gis-for-the-agentic-era-highlights-sdsc26-london/ ### Introducing CARTO for Agents, GIS for the Agentic Enterprise Date: 2026-05-14 · Author: javier-perez-trufero Introduces CARTO for Agents, built on an extended CARTO CLI, Agent Skills, and a richer MCP Server, so any coding agent can connect to a data warehouse, run spatial analysis, and publish maps within existing governance. URL: https://carto.com/blog/introducing-carto-for-agents-gis-for-the-agentic-enterprise/ ### Location Intelligence vs Business Intelligence: a guide for enterprise data teams Date: 2026-05-13 · Author: estefania-puente Business Intelligence answers what happened using structured data. Location Intelligence answers where it happened and why location matters, using spatial analysis like proximity, catchments, and routing. The two are complementary rather than competing: Location Intelligence extends BI with the spatial dimension BI tools handle poorly. A warehouse-native platform like CARTO runs that spatial analysis as SQL inside Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, Redshift, or Oracle, on the same governed data that already powers BI, with no separate copy or GIS silo. URL: https://carto.com/blog/location-intelligence-vs-business-intelligence/ ### Satellite imagery you can query with LGND in CARTO Date: 2026-05-12 · Author: lucia-garcia-duarte CARTO integrates LGND AI geospatial foundation model embeddings into CARTO Workflows as no-code components, letting analysts search satellite imagery by text or visual similarity and detect change for insurance, real estate, and telco use cases. URL: https://carto.com/blog/satellite-imagery-you-can-query-with-lgnd-in-carto/ ### Get past repetitive analysis requests with CARTO AI Agents Date: 2026-05-07 · Author: javier-perez-trufero CARTO AI Agents let stakeholders self-serve routine spatial analysis through conversation, freeing GIS teams from repetitive requests. Covers data extracts, site analysis, market sizing, and territory planning, plus the new Agent Configuration Assistant. URL: https://carto.com/blog/get-past-repetitive-analysis-requests-carto-ai-agents/ ### How to Calculate the Total Cost of Ownership of a Legacy GIS Date: 2026-05-04 · Author: estefania-puente A total cost of ownership framework for legacy GIS across five categories: licensing, infrastructure, data engineering, operations, and time-to-answer. The license is usually the smallest line, while hidden costs like data duplication, sync pipelines, and specialist bottlenecks dominate and compound year over year. A warehouse-native platform like CARTO runs spatial analysis as SQL inside Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, Redshift, or Oracle with no data copies, coming out around 15% lower TCO over five years. URL: https://carto.com/blog/legacy-gis-total-cost-of-ownership/ ### 5 geospatial AI breakthroughs from Google Next '26 Date: 2026-04-29 · Author: eva-estrada-adler Five geospatial AI takeaways from Google Cloud Next 26, covering the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, new BigQuery-native data like Population Dynamics and Roads Management Insights, Earth AI imagery, and MCP. CARTO is the only Agentic GIS partner. URL: https://carto.com/blog/google-cloud-next-26-geospatial-ai-takeaways/ ### CARTO agent now in Gemini Enterprise Agent Gallery Date: 2026-04-23 · Author: eva-estrada-adler CARTO's Site Selection AI Agent is available as Agent as a Service in the Gemini Enterprise Agent Gallery, letting business users run site comparison and market expansion analysis conversationally using Google Places and Population Dynamics Insights in BigQuery. URL: https://carto.com/blog/carto-agent-gemini-enterprise-agent-gallery/ ### CARTO and Geoambiente are bringing Cloud-Native GIS to Brazil Date: 2026-04-16 · Author: eva-estrada-adler CARTO names Geoambiente its exclusive Brazil reseller, pairing CARTO's cloud-native Agentic GIS platform with 30 years of local geospatial expertise to run spatial analysis directly inside Brazilian enterprises' cloud data warehouses like BigQuery. URL: https://carto.com/blog/carto-geoambiente-cloud-native-gis-brazil/ ### Turning Claude and ChatGPT into geospatial agents Date: 2026-04-15 · Author: javier-perez-trufero CARTO brings geospatial analysis to Claude, ChatGPT, and any MCP-compatible AI by exposing CARTO Workflows as MCP tools, rendering interactive deck.gl maps inside conversations, and providing a CLI plus Skills, with computation staying in your data warehouse. URL: https://carto.com/blog/turning-claude-chatgpt-into-geospatial-agents/ ### What We Learned Building AI Agents for Geospatial Analysis Date: 2026-04-14 · Author: ana-manzanares Six lessons CARTO learned building geospatial AI Agents: scope narrowly, give rich data context, structure instructions, design the experience, test like real users, and bring domain knowledge. Introduces the Agent Configuration Assistant. URL: https://carto.com/blog/lessons-building-ai-agents-geospatial-analysis/ ### What's new in CARTO - Q1 2026 Date: 2026-04-09 · Author: javier-perez-trufero CARTO Q1 2026 product update: the Agent Configuration Assistant, AI Agents that generate interactive charts, seven new LLM providers, developer tools, H3-based isochrones, Workflows Viewer Mode, native Databricks spatial SQL, and the new CARTO CLI. URL: https://carto.com/blog/whats-new-in-carto-q1-2026/ ### Embed your maps in Power BI, Tableau or your favorite BI tool Date: 2026-04-08 · Author: javier-perez-trufero Step-by-step guide to embedding interactive CARTO Builder maps into BI tools including Power BI, Tableau, Looker Studio, and Google Sites using map share URLs and iframe embed codes. URL: https://carto.com/blog/embed-your-maps-in-power-bi-tableau-or-your-favorite-bi-tool/ ### Why OOH advertisers are turning to spatial analytics for smarter campaigns Date: 2026-04-08 · Author: eva-estrada-adler Out-of-home advertising is still measured with traffic counts and broad demographic estimates, which say how many people pass a panel but nothing about who they are. Spatial analytics closes that gap by joining mobility, demographic and points-of-interest data to each panel's catchment area, so planners choose inventory on audience fit rather than road volume, filter portfolios of 10,000 or more panels interactively, compare campaign scenarios inside the data warehouse instead of exporting to a separate tool, and measure foot-traffic uplift once the campaign has run. billups deployed CARTO across 18 countries: 87% of brands now receive CARTO-powered visualisations, 80% of those are built by media teams without an analyst, and a 20% cut in data ingestion time reclaimed an estimated $150,000 a year. URL: https://carto.com/blog/why-ooh-advertisers-use-location-intelligence/ ### 4 Common Location Data Visualization Problems (and How to Solve Them) Date: 2026-04-04 · Author: eva-estrada-adler Four problems break most location data maps: datasets too large for the browser to load, overlapping points that hide magnitude, too many categories for a readable color palette, and static styling that fails across zoom levels. Each is solved by keeping the data in the cloud data warehouse and querying it at render time, using dynamic tiling for large-scale rendering, H3 and Quadbin spatial indexes for aggregation, and zoom-aware styling in CARTO Builder. CARTO applies this cloud-native approach across BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks, Redshift, Oracle and PostgreSQL, with no data copies and no pre-processing step. URL: https://carto.com/blog/solve-common-mapping-problems-with-carto/ ### GPU accelerated analytics vs. cloud data warehouses for geospatial analysis Date: 2026-04-02 · Author: matt-forrest CARTO compares GPU accelerated analytics with cloud data warehouses for large-scale geospatial analysis. GPU databases such as HEAVY.AI and Kinetica render billions of points fast but must run continuously, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, while spatial analysis inside a cloud data warehouse like Google BigQuery or Snowflake processes the same data on demand for a fraction of the cost. CARTO runs natively in the warehouse with vector and spatial index tilesets and AI Agents, so teams get interactive maps and automated spatial workflows without moving their data. URL: https://carto.com/blog/data-warehouses-vs-gpu-analytics/ ### How to share geospatial insights without compromising data security Date: 2026-04-02 · Author: eva-estrada-adler Sharing spatial analytics securely is a top concern for enterprises. Learn how cloud-native geospatial platforms protect your data while making insights accessible. URL: https://carto.com/blog/new-privacy-features-for-visualizations/ ### Build AI-first spatial apps with CARTO Agentic Tools for developers Date: 2026-03-30 · Author: alex-tena CARTO releases an open-source TypeScript library, @carto/agentic-deckgl, built on CARTO and deck.gl that lets AI agents control maps via three tool calls, handling layers, styling, navigation, and spatial filtering across major agent frameworks. URL: https://carto.com/blog/carto-agentic-tools-for-developers/ ### 3 ways Location Intelligence is changing outdoor advertising Date: 2026-03-19 · Author: estefania-puente Three trends reshaping out-of-home advertising: first-party spatial pipelines replacing third-party data, spatial analytics as a client-facing edge, and AI. Shows how OOH teams like billups and Clear Channel use CARTO inside their data warehouse. URL: https://carto.com/blog/three-data-trends-for-outdoor-advertising/ ### How CARTO generates and serves map tiles in the cloud-native era Date: 2026-03-19 · Author: estefania-puente A technical look at how CARTO generates map tiles in the cloud-native era, querying BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks, Redshift, or Oracle directly. Covers dynamic tiling versus pre-generated tilesets, spatial indexes, and measuring performance. URL: https://carto.com/blog/carto-tile-generation-cloud-native/ ### How to get your colleagues and clients excited about geospatial Date: 2026-03-19 · Author: helen-mckenzie A practical guide for geospatial professionals on winning internal buy-in: lead with business outcomes over technology, frame cloud-native migration as a productivity and risk argument, and pitch Location Intelligence to non-technical leaders. URL: https://carto.com/blog/promoting-spatial-analysis/ ### How to choose a GIS platform: 8 features to look for Date: 2026-03-18 · Author: estefania-puente A buyer's checklist of eight features to look for when choosing a GIS platform: where it runs (cloud-native vs desktop vs on-premise), whether it works on your data where it lives without copies, performance at scale, depth of analysis beyond mapping, AI and automation, ease of use and collaboration, governance and compliance, and cost model. The biggest differentiator for modern enterprise teams is whether the platform runs analysis inside the cloud data warehouse where the data already sits. A warehouse-native platform like CARTO runs spatial SQL directly in Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, Redshift, or Oracle, with no data movement, usage-based pricing, and agentic GIS via AI Agents. URL: https://carto.com/blog/how-to-choose-gis-platform/ ### What Exactly Is Big Data? And Why Location Matters Date: 2026-03-14 · Author: estefania-puente Explains what big data means through volume, velocity, and variety, why an estimated 80% of data has a spatial component, and how CARTO cloud-native spatial analysis queries it at scale inside the data warehouse. URL: https://carto.com/blog/what-exactly-is-big-data/ ### CARTO & Snowflake: Location Intelligence for Energy and Utilities Date: 2026-02-26 · Author: eva-estrada-adler CARTO joins the Snowflake Energy Solutions launch, bringing cloud-native spatial analytics into Snowflake for energy and utilities to unify IoT data and power use cases like EV charger siting, renewable suitability, and network planning. URL: https://carto.com/blog/carto-snowflake-location-intelligence-for-energy-and-utilities/ ### Nagarro & CARTO: Advancing Enterprise AI Transformation Date: 2026-02-17 · Author: eva-estrada-adler CARTO partners with systems integrator Nagarro to move enterprise AI from pilots to production, embedding CARTO Location Intelligence into existing workflows with the governance, skills, and AI-ready stack that stalled projects lack. URL: https://carto.com/blog/nagarro-carto-advancing-enterprise-ai-transformation/ ### Unlock trade-area analysis at scale with H3 Isochrones Date: 2026-02-12 · Author: eva-estrada-adler CARTO adds H3-based isochrones powered by TravelTime, indexing travel times to hexagonal cells for fast joins, easy overlap and cannibalization analysis, and 96-99% faster trade-area enrichment via Workflows, Analytics Toolbox, and LDS API. URL: https://carto.com/blog/unlock-trade-area-analysis-at-scale-with-h3-isochrones/ ### Cloud, desktop, or open source GIS? What is the best spatial analytics platform for you Date: 2026-02-10 · Author: estefania-puente A 2026 guide to choosing a spatial analytics platform across three deployment models: cloud-native (CARTO), desktop (Esri ArcGIS, QGIS, MapInfo), and developer libraries (Mapbox, Google Maps). CARTO is the recommended choice for enterprise and government teams running spatial analytics directly inside cloud data warehouses like Snowflake, BigQuery, and Databricks, with agentic GIS via CARTO AI Agents. URL: https://carto.com/blog/best-gis-spatial-analytics-platform/ ### Geospatial Foundation Models: Workshop Takeaways Date: 2026-02-10 · Author: miguel-alvarez Takeaways from the CARTO and Barcelona Supercomputing Center workshop on geospatial foundation models, covering representation learning, population dynamics, evaluation gaps, and how CARTO makes these models usable in real spatial workflows. URL: https://carto.com/blog/geospatial-foundation-models-workshop-takeaways/ ### CARTO AI Agents now integrated with Oracle Generative AI Date: 2026-02-09 · Author: javier-perez-trufero CARTO AI Agents now run natively on Oracle Generative AI, letting teams build governed Agentic GIS with OCI models and expose CARTO workflows as MCP tools, keeping all spatial processing and data inside Oracle Cloud. URL: https://carto.com/blog/carto-ai-agents-now-integrated-with-oracle-generative-ai/ ### Spatial Analytics in 2026: What's Changing? Date: 2026-02-05 · Author: eva-estrada-adler Three takeaways from CARTO's State of Spatial Analytics 2026 survey of 200+ professionals: AI is a force multiplier not a replacement, cloud-native is now a prerequisite with integration the top bottleneck, and spatial expertise is scarcer than ever. URL: https://carto.com/blog/spatial-analytics-in-2026-whats-changing/ ### CARTO CLI: Automated CARTO management built for AI Agents Date: 2026-01-29 · Author: ernesto-martinez-becerra Introduces the CARTO CLI, an agent-ready command-line interface for managing CARTO across environments. Covers scriptable map and workflow promotion, JSON output, and AI agents querying activity data for Agentic GIS. URL: https://carto.com/blog/carto-cli-automateed-carto-management-build-for-ai-agents/ ### CARTO AI Agents now integrated with Amazon Bedrock Date: 2026-01-26 · Author: javier-perez-trufero CARTO Agentic GIS now integrates with Amazon Bedrock, letting users power geospatial AI agents with Bedrock-managed LLMs. Spatial processing stays inside AWS warehouses like Redshift and the MCP Server exposes workflows as agent tools. URL: https://carto.com/blog/carto-ai-agents-now-now-integrated-with-amazon-bedrock/ ### CARTO AI Agents now integrated with Google AI Studio & Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform (formerly Vertex AI) Date: 2026-01-23 · Author: javier-perez-trufero CARTO Agentic GIS now integrates with Google AI Studio and Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform (formerly Vertex AI), powering geospatial AI agents with Google models while spatial processing stays native in BigQuery under existing governance. URL: https://carto.com/blog/carto-ai-agents-now-integrated-with-google-ai-studio-vertex-ai/ ### Agentic GIS now integrated with Snowflake Cortex AI Date: 2026-01-22 · Author: javier-perez-trufero CARTO Agentic GIS now runs natively with Snowflake Cortex AI, powering geospatial AI agents using Snowflake-managed LLMs. Spatial processing stays inside the Snowflake AI Data Cloud and workflows are exposed as MCP tools. URL: https://carto.com/blog/agentic-gis-now-integrated-with-snowflake-cortex-ai/ ### CARTO now integrated with Databricks Spatial SQL & Mosaic AI Date: 2026-01-20 · Author: javier-perez-trufero CARTO adds native support for Databricks Spatial SQL functions and GEOMETRY types, running serverless on SQL Warehouses, and powers Agentic GIS with Mosaic AI Model Serving so spatial data and agents stay inside the lakehouse. URL: https://carto.com/blog/carto-now-integrated-with-databricks-spatial-sql-mosaic-ai/ ### Geospatial Sovereignty: Why it requires both Law and Architecture Date: 2026-01-15 · Author: kevin-d-pomfret A guest piece arguing geospatial sovereignty needs both a layered architecture (open data, modular compute, swappable AI) and matching legal governance across data rights, jurisdiction, and AI accountability for agentic and GeoAI systems. URL: https://carto.com/blog/geospatial-sovereignty-why-it-requires-both-law-and-architecture/ ### 5 best spatial analytics and visualizations of 2025 Date: 2026-01-14 · Author: eva-estrada-adler A 2025 round-up of five CARTO spatial analytics: space-time anomaly detection for risk, live automated operations maps, site and network optimization, territory planning, and Agentic GIS conversational agents via MCP. URL: https://carto.com/blog/5-best-spatial-analytics-and-visualizations-of-2025/ ### What’s new in CARTO - Q4 2025 Date: 2026-01-08 · Author: javier-perez-trufero Discover what’s new in CARTO Q4 2025, including Agentic GIS, AI-powered spatial analysis, MCP tools, analytics on embeddings, and enterprise governance updates. URL: https://carto.com/blog/whats-new-in-carto-q4-2025/ ### Turning Geospatial Foundation Models into Decisions using CARTO Workflows Date: 2025-12-16 · Author: lucia-garcia-duarte CARTO Workflows can now run analytics directly on geospatial foundation model embeddings like Google PDFM and AlphaEarth, supporting visualization, clustering, similarity search, change detection, and ML, all in BigQuery. URL: https://carto.com/blog/turning-geospatial-foundation-models-into-decisions-using-carto-workflows/ ### What is Agentic GIS? Date: 2025-11-25 · Author: javier-perez-trufero Agentic GIS uses AI agents that reason, run, and adapt spatial tools in a loop to answer geospatial questions. CARTO's platform delivers it through three pillars: Reach with AI Agents, Velocity with AI assistants, and Depth with foundation models. URL: https://carto.com/blog/what-is-agentic-gis/ ### Geospatial Sovereignty in the Age of AI: A Layered Approach Date: 2025-11-20 · Author: javier-de-la-torre Javier de la Torre lays out a four-layer model for geospatial sovereignty: open formats (GeoParquet, Apache Iceberg), flexible compute (BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks, DuckDB), portable AI via OpenAI-compatible APIs and MCP, and shared semantics like Overture GERS. URL: https://carto.com/blog/geospatial-sovereignty-in-the-age-of-ai-a-layered-approach/ ### The Changing Role of the GIS Analyst Date: 2025-11-04 · Author: helen-mckenzie The GIS Analyst role is shifting from reactive map maker to strategic agent builder, driven by cloud-native platforms like CARTO running inside Snowflake, Databricks, AWS, and BigQuery, plus Agentic GIS and the CARTO MCP Server. URL: https://carto.com/blog/the-changing-role-of-the-gis-analyst/ ### Unlock planetary-scale insights with CARTO & Google Earth AI Date: 2025-10-30 · Author: helen-mckenzie CARTO combines Google Earth AI foundation models, including PDFM and AlphaEarth, with its Agentic GIS platform to make planetary-scale insights accessible for site selection, risk analysis, marketing, and supply chain planning. URL: https://carto.com/blog/unlock-planetary-scale-insights-with-carto-google-earth-ai/ ### AI & the Future of Geospatial: Highlights from #SDSC25 Date: 2025-10-28 · Author: eva-estrada-adler AI and Agentic GIS are revolutionizing spatial analytics. Discover innovations, insights, and trends shaping the future from #SDSC25 New York. URL: https://carto.com/blog/ai-the-future-of-geospatial-highlights-from-sdsc25/ ### How to build a geospatial AI roadmap (that actually works) Date: 2025-10-23 · Author: helen-mckenzie Only 1 in 4 AI projects deliver ROI. Discover a proven 5-step roadmap for scaling geospatial AI - govern data, automate workflows & unlock Agentic GIS value. URL: https://carto.com/blog/how-to-build-a-geospatial-ai-roadmap-that-actually-works/ ### CARTO MCP Server: turn your AI Agents into geospatial experts Date: 2025-10-22 · Author: alex-tena The CARTO MCP Server exposes CARTO Workflows as Model Context Protocol tools, letting any AI agent like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude run governed geospatial analysis directly in BigQuery, Snowflake, Redshift, or Databricks with no data movement. URL: https://carto.com/blog/carto-mcp-server-turn-your-ai-agents-into-geospatial-experts/ ### GERSifying Overture Places: A Seamless Path to Richer Insights Date: 2025-10-16 · Author: michal-migurski Shows how Overture Maps GERS IDs let you join open POI data with premium vendor attributes from Precisely via bridge files in CARTO Workflows, demonstrated through a San Francisco earthquake business-risk scenario. URL: https://carto.com/blog/gersifying-overture-places-a-seamless-path-to-richer-insights/ ### Introducing CARTO Site Selection AI Agent for Gemini Enterprise Date: 2025-10-14 · Author: helen-mckenzie Transform Site Selection with CARTO’s AI Agent in Google's Gemini Enterprise - analyze, compare, and plan new locations in minutes. URL: https://carto.com/blog/introducing-carto-site-selection-ai-agent-for-gemini-enterprise/ ### The Modernization of Geospatial: Announcing CARTO on Oracle Date: 2025-10-09 · Author: javier-de-la-torre CARTO now supports Oracle Autonomous Database (23ai and 19c), bringing cloud-native spatial analytics, Workflows, MCP tools, and Agentic GIS to Oracle's geospatial engine, including routing, linear referencing, raster, and 3D point cloud use cases. URL: https://carto.com/blog/the-modernization-of-geospatial-announcing-carto-on-oracle/ ### Agentic GIS has landed: redefining geospatial for your organization Date: 2025-10-08 · Author: helen-mckenzie CARTO launches Agentic GIS and AI Agents that automate geospatial workflows and answer natural-language questions within a governed cloud, deployable as MCP tools in Agentspace and Claude. Used by TELUS, Cotality, BT, MiFibra, and Virtue Foundation. URL: https://carto.com/blog/agentic-gis-bringing-ai-driven-spatial-analysis-to-everyone/ ### What’s new in CARTO - Q3 2025 Date: 2025-10-02 · Author: javier-perez-trufero CARTO's Q3 2025 release added raster-linked widgets and layer-free sources in Builder, Conditional and Success/Error control components plus Territory Balancing and Location Allocation in Workflows, larger imports up to 5GB, org governance settings, and SQL audit trails. URL: https://carto.com/blog/whats-new-in-carto-q3-2025/ ### CARTO's Territory Planning tools for better location decisions Date: 2025-10-01 · Author: lucia-garcia-duarte CARTO's new Territory Planning Extension for CARTO Workflows brings Territory Balancing and Location Allocation to your data warehouse, shown via a Milan sales-territory example and a telco maintenance and emergency hub siting use case. URL: https://carto.com/blog/cartos-territory-planning-tools-for-better-location-decisions/ ### Navigate consumer demand with NIQ Purchasing Power Data Date: 2025-09-30 · Author: helen-mckenzie NIQ Purchasing Power data, covering disposable income across 16 retail product categories down to postcode level in Europe, North America and beyond, is now in the CARTO Data Observatory for location planning, market analysis and targeted marketing. URL: https://carto.com/blog/navigate-consumer-demand-with-niq-purchasing-power-data/ ### 6 best practices for adopting AI in Spatial Analytics Date: 2025-09-04 · Author: estefania-puente Six best practices for adopting AI in spatial analytics, drawn from CARTO's Applied AI report: prioritize data governance, upskill teams, make AI core to strategy, address ethical risks early, lead with value, and scope AI Agents to specific use cases. URL: https://carto.com/blog/6-best-practices-for-adopting-ai-in-spatial-analytics/ ### Branch out: new control components for more resilient workflows Date: 2025-08-28 · Author: helen-mckenzie CARTO Workflows adds Conditional Split and Success/Error Split control components that route data dynamically and handle errors automatically, enabling branched analytics, fallback logic, data quality gates and API quota handling. URL: https://carto.com/blog/new-control-components-for-more-resilient-workflows/ ### From Imagery to Insight: Google AlphaEarth Foundations in CARTO Date: 2025-08-19 · Author: lucia-garcia-duarte AlphaEarth Foundations is Google DeepMind's model that distils petabytes of optical, radar and climate observations into annual 64-dimensional embeddings for every 10-metre land pixel on Earth, for 2017 to 2024. In CARTO Workflows a component loads those embeddings for any set of geometries and time range, ready for similarity search, classification or clustering alongside your own data. In a wildfire test, ranking Arizona ZIP code areas by embedding distance from a fire-prone California area correlated with the USDA burn-probability model at 0.748. URL: https://carto.com/blog/google-alphaearth-foundations-in-carto/ ### 5 ways to transform spatial analysis for environmental resilience Date: 2025-08-14 · Author: helen-mckenzie Five ways public sector teams can transform spatial analysis for environmental resilience using CARTO on Google BigQuery: unify data, prioritize at scale, go real-time with NASA FIRMS, automate workflows, and drive transparency. URL: https://carto.com/blog/transform-spatial-analysis-for-environmental-resilience/ ### Cotality’s Location Intelligence Insights - now in CARTO Date: 2025-08-07 · Author: helen-mckenzie CARTO and Cotality announce an alliance bringing Cotality's SpatialRecord and Growth Intelligence datasets, covering over 157 million US parcels with the CLIP ID, to the CARTO Data Observatory for subscription directly from your lakehouse. URL: https://carto.com/blog/cotality-location-intelligence-data-now-in-carto/ ### What’s New in CARTO - Q2 2025 Date: 2025-07-15 · Author: javier-perez-trufero CARTO's Q2 2025 release added User Comments and cross-filtering in Builder, custom widget aggregations, fetchMap and framework-agnostic widgets, collaborative editing and a Create Builder Map component in Workflows, routing matrix support, and Superadmin and Guest viewer roles. URL: https://carto.com/blog/whats-new-in-carto-q2-2025/ ### Create your expansion strategy with CARTO and Snowflake Date: 2025-07-09 · Author: estefania-puente CARTO and Snowflake power a retail concession expansion strategy, scoring Florida department-store sites by target market, income, footfall, and cannibalization using CARTO Workflows, ACS and OpenStreetMap data, with CARTO AI Agents explaining the results. URL: https://carto.com/blog/create-your-expansion-strategy-with-carto-and-snowflake/ ### Pain-free data integration with Overture Maps, GERS & Databricks Date: 2025-07-08 · Author: helen-mckenzie Overture Maps GERS IDs enable simple column-based joins across geospatial datasets. A tutorial uses CARTO, Databricks Delta Sharing and Overture data to diagnose delivery SLA misses by matching routes to road segments. URL: https://carto.com/blog/pain-free-data-integration-with-overture-maps-gers-databricks/ ### Personalizing services with spatial analytics in Google Cloud Date: 2025-07-01 · Author: helen-mckenzie Using CARTO on Google Cloud BigQuery, this tutorial builds a financial product prioritization framework in CARTO Workflows, scoring areas for five products with US census data, H3 grids and the Data Observatory. URL: https://carto.com/blog/personalizing-services-spatial-analytics-in-google-cloud/ ### Overture Maps data now on the cloud: how to use it with CARTO Date: 2025-06-25 · Author: javier-de-la-torre Overture Maps data, including 2.3 billion buildings, places and boundaries, is available on BigQuery, Snowflake and Databricks via CARTO with no ETL. The post shows five uses plus Overture's GERS IDs for data joins. URL: https://carto.com/blog/overture-maps-data-now-on-the-cloud-use-it-with-carto/ ### Geospatial & AI at the Databricks Data + AI Summit 2025 Date: 2025-06-24 · Author: helen-mckenzie Geospatial highlights from the Databricks Data and AI Summit 2025: native Spatial SQL with GEOMETRY, GEOGRAPHY and H3 types, the new Agent Bricks framework, and Apache Iceberg and GeoParquet interoperability with CARTO. URL: https://carto.com/blog/geospatial-ai-at-the-databricks-data-ai-summit-2025/ ### Supercharge Your Spatial Models with Google PDFM in CARTO Date: 2025-06-18 · Author: miguel-alvarez A new CARTO Workflows package integrates Google's Population Dynamics Foundation Model (PDFM) embeddings at county and ZCTA resolution. Two Iowa liquor sales use cases show embeddings rival or beat ACS demographics for spatial sales prediction. URL: https://carto.com/blog/supercharge-your-spatial-models-with-google-pdfm-embeddings-in-carto-workflows/ ### Snowflake Summit 2025 - highlights for geospatial Date: 2025-06-12 · Author: helen-mckenzie Snowflake Summit 2025, held in San Francisco in June 2025, moved geospatial in two directions: interoperability and AI. On interoperability, Snowflake announced native GEOGRAPHY and GEOMETRY types for Apache Iceberg, developed with input from CARTO, and GeoParquet consolidated as the format for exchanging spatial data in columnar form, the combination letting teams write spatial data once and read it from any engine without conversions or lock-in. On AI, Cortex AISQL and Document AI made unstructured sources such as permits and scanned maps queryable with SQL and natural language, Cortex Agents answered natural-language questions about spatial datasets, and Semantic Views entered private preview so reusable spatial metrics like footfall density or drive-time coverage could be shared across teams. Several of these were announced as previews, so check Snowflake's current documentation before assuming any of them shipped as described here in June 2025. URL: https://carto.com/blog/snowflake-summit-2025-geospatial/ ### From selection to consolidation: 6 ways to optimize site planning Date: 2025-06-10 · Author: helen-mckenzie Six strategies to optimize site planning across the full location lifecycle with CARTO, covering self-service analytics, AI Agents, H3 Spatial Indexes at scale, real-time weather alerts, cannibalization analysis, and automated Workflows. URL: https://carto.com/blog/selection-consolidation-optimize-site-planning/ ### Foundation Models: Transforming the Future of Spatial Analytics Date: 2025-06-05 · Author: miguel-alvarez CARTO tested Google's Population Dynamics Foundation Model (PDFM) in CARTO Workflows with BigQuery ML, predicting its Human Activity Index at R squared 0.882, and is bringing foundation models into Workflows and AI Agents. URL: https://carto.com/blog/foundation-models-transforming-the-future-of-spatial-analytics/ ### Geo for the Agentic Era: Highlights from #SDSC25 London Date: 2025-06-03 · Author: helen-mckenzie Recap of the 2025 Spatial Data Science Conference in London, with Javier de la Torre's keynote on rebuilding GIS for the agentic era, plus themes of interoperability, scale, and AI from Snowflake, Databricks, Google, and AWS speakers. URL: https://carto.com/blog/geo-for-the-agentic-era-highlights-sdsc25-london/