Blog – Page 6 – Polaris

Release Notes June 29, 2020

Posted on June 30, 2020 (October 3, 2023) by jmei_b

This month’s release includes many exciting updates for Polaris! We updated data/reports, added a new Food Spending Report (everything from amount spent on breakfasts purchased at table-service restaurants to spending on canned tuna), reorganized the structure of our Consumer Behaviour Report Categories, and recategorized our 4-digit NAICS Labour Force and NOC Occupation reports under Profession Patterns. We also made small aesthetics changes, fixed typos and other bugs […]

What is Location Intelligence?

Posted on June 24, 2020 (October 3, 2023) by jmei_b

Location intelligence refers to the insights gained from layering a variety of useful geographical information systems (GIS) tools (such as POIs, demographics, geofences, heat maps and thematic maps of variables of interest). Using the layered spatial data, as well as the trends and relationships that these tools offer, businesses can make informed decisions on where to offer their services or operate their business. Use cases include site selection, identifying new customers and markets, […]

Release Notes June 3, 2020

Posted on June 3, 2020 (October 3, 2023) by jmei_b

If there was one word to summarize the highlights of this release, it would be “geography”. We added support for a more granular level of geography for Trade Areas and for Thematic Maps. We also added a new report, the “Geography Report”. Of course, in anticipation of a delayed patio season, we also squashed some bugs. We added support for the use of Dissemination Areas (DAs) as Trade Areas. DAs are much smaller than FSAs and a little larger than postal codes, as you can see […]

Be Human: The Journey to Capture and Codify Human Emotions

Posted on May 28, 2020 (October 3, 2023) by jmei_b

We invited a nationally recognized partner, RBC, to share their experiences at the Conference on Big Data and Information Analytics at the Fields Institute at the University of Toronto. RBC is a large financial institution with many banking locations across Canada that deeply values the interactions between their customers and employees. RBC’s size presents it with challenges such as ensuring their customers always have a positive […]

COVID-19 and Financial Wellness

Posted on May 20, 2020 (October 3, 2023) by jmei_b

The province of Québec is leading Canada in terms of reopening its economy. What are some financial risks if household incomes in Québec don’t return to normal soon? Are there parallels to be drawn to the rest of Canada? Which areas are most impacted financially and what does this mean for Québec’s real estate market? We can create a simple potential mortgage default index in Polaris by multiplying the following variables: % Household income from employment, Average mortgage […]

Zooming in on Market Insights: Why Do Postal Codes Matter?

Posted on May 7, 2020 (October 3, 2023) by jmei_b

Businesses and organizations looking to analyze their market and gain customer insight need to choose the geographic resolution of their statistical and demographic data. Any GIS analyst can tell you one geographic level of analysis may not be perfect for all questions, and there are many different options to choose from (CMA, CD, DA, FSA, Postal Code level, etc.). Many underestimate the value of postal code […]

Release Notes May 4, 2020

Posted on May 4, 2020 (October 3, 2023) by jmei_b

The Mapping Centre, Trade Areas, POIs, sharing custom reports, and Data Mining saw a number of improvements this release. In the Mapping Centre, you can now save a picture of your map as a PNG through our new download map feature! When creating trade areas, you can now use latitude and longitude instead of postal code to define the centre or other points! All of your customized reports can now be shared with Polaris users in your group with the click of a button! […]

COVID-19 Hotspots: Finding high risk populations using Polaris

Posted on April 20, 2020 (October 3, 2023) by jmei_b

COVID-19 is quickly spreading and impacting an alarming number of people that come from different walks of life. The demographics of confirmed cases indicate that some groups are much more vulnerable to the virus than others. How can we find the communities which are most at risk? Is the distribution of the most vulnerable groups to COVID-19 geographically even? We use Polaris to tackle these questions. […]

Release Notes Apr 13, 2020

Posted on April 13, 2020 (October 3, 2023) by jmei_b

Our latest release includes a little bit of everything! New features, new data, faster performance, and bug fixes. New ways to define Trade Areas. Users can now define trade areas by uploading a list of FSAs (first 3 digits of the postal code). To take advantage of this feature, upload a Trade Area File as a Point-Based Trade Area and select Forward Sortation Area (FSA) as the Geography Level. New Reports! We’ve added a couple new selections for report types: Household Spending by Major Group, Labour Force […]

Insight, Plain Sight, Out of Sight

Posted on April 6, 2020 (October 3, 2023) by jmei_b

Longo's Intro slide for their presentation on how they use Manifold Data Mining for data analytics

We invited a sophisticated, well-esteemed partner, Longo’s, to share their experiences at the Conference on Big Data and Information Analytics at the Fields Institute at the University of Toronto. Longo’s is an independent, family-owned grocer with many locations across Ontario that has long known the value of data for growing their business. As a grocery retailer in a highly competitive field, they rely on effective data analytics to increase their understanding of their customer’s needs […]