Case study
.id case study
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Leveraging PSMA spatial data for growth
.id (informed decisions) is a company that provides demographic analysis tools to local governments across Australia and New Zealand.
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Their online tools enable local governments to perform key planning tasks such as resource and service allocation, resource planning, and asset management.
The Challenge
As General Manager, Janet Coombs, explains: “Our clients need to understand demographic characteristics at a very localised level to enable planning and investment decisions. We break down the demographic data available through the ABS, and produce population forecasts at a suburb or smaller level, to allow clients to understand the diversity of their area.
Understanding where people are in terms of their spatial location is increasingly important in helping us build more accurate products. The world of online mapping is becoming more sophisticated, and so we need internal systems that are robust and flexible.
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We had a supplier who provided us with base level mapping through the PSMA dataset, but, because he was moving out of the business, he suggested that we work with Callpoint Spatial. So we gave them a call.”
The Solution
“Callpoint have been extremely responsive to our business, and have made an effort to understand what we do and why we do it. They deliver the updates in a very timely and efficient manner, so it becomes something that we never need to worry about or chase up – it just happens automatically.
But they’re more than just a supplier. As demographers, longitudinal study is very important to us. We often need to look at data at a particular point in time. Traditionally, when new data was made available, it used to overwrite the previous historical data. But Callpoint were able to find datasets both within Australia and New Zealand that had a historical component and a fixed point in time, so that we could compare the latest data with the historical data.
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In this modern world, there is so much data out there, and it’s not the lack of data that’s the problem – it’s actually being able to find the right data. Where Callpoint add a great deal of value is suggesting additional datasets that may be useful to us, and getting us evaluation copies so that we can understand what’s out there. Being an expert in the area, Brian, Callpoint’s MD, can bring to our notice data that we would not be able to find otherwise.
"Where Callpoint add a great deal of value is suggesting additional datasets that may be useful to us, and getting us evaluation copies so that we can understand what’s out there. Being an expert in the area, Brian, Callpoint’s MD, can bring to our notice data that we would not be able to find otherwise."
- Janet Coombs
This has enabled us to improve our service to our clients, and we’re embarking on some exciting growth as a result. In fact, we’ve been so successful in serving local government that our work now covers 80 percent of Australia’s population.
We have a very strong focus on maintaining and supporting our existing clients, but we also know that the desire for making sound, evidence-based investment decisions isn’t just limited to local government. So we’re now producing a national demographic analysis tool that will be made available to a wider audience.
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We’re also expanding overseas, to New Zealand and other countries, to replicate that delivery of online information to local governments in other geographic areas.
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We see an increasing need for good spatial information to feed into both of those processes. If Callpoint Spatial continue to provide us with the support and service that they have, I imagine we’ll be very happy clients for a long time to come.”