Li360 Community creates an open platform to grow GIS market

STAMFORD, Conn. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — November 13, 2017 — Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE: PBI), a global technology company that provides innovative products, solutions and data to power commerce, announced today the global availability of the Li360 Community, an online community for clients, product engineers, partners and the “GIS curious” to explore Location Intelligence capabilities, applications and tools to resolve challenges in the market.

The Li360 Community is a home for all subject matter experts, and those interested in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to generate mindshare that will grow the Location Intelligence market and foster leading innovation. To date, over 1000 people are accessing the Community to share best practices, analyze case studies, participate in real-time discussions, and identify development needs for Location Intelligence solutions. The Community has received 40,000 page views, and over 15,000 Community engagements since its introduction in August 2017.

As one platform user commented, “I must say I was originally a bit skeptical about Li360, as other companies sometimes make these platforms, and then they themselves don’t really put any effort into using it. But I have been very impressed by how responsive everyone from Pitney Bowes has been, and how it’s suddenly possible to get a dialog with the actual developers behind your programs. A big thumbs up from here!”

In today’s business climate, Location Intelligence permeates every business process and function. Location Intelligence provides a way to reveal relationships between data sets that might not have otherwise been obvious or easy to ascertain and, through location analytics, derive insights to grow business revenue. In fact, recent research reveals 63 percent of business professionals find Location Intelligence to be important to their ongoing business processes.

New use cases are being fueled by advances in Big Data analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence and augmented reality. For example, the public sector can use Location Intelligence to identify missing persons or improve infrastructure management; telecommunications providers can optimize their coverage areas and better market to consumers; and insurance providers can better assess risk associated with an area and offer the best coverage to a consumer.

“Every business entity has a location attached to it. Whether it’s a customer, a shipment, a service area, etc., there is an address that helps bring to light additional context to that entity,” says Jeff Winter, Vice President of Software Marketing & Communications, Pitney Bowes. “More and more organizations are looking to incorporate Location Intelligence capabilities in their day-to-day processes. We saw an opportunity to bring together subject matter experts in the industry to support innovation within the GIS community, and we couldn’t be more excited to open the Community to experts globally to join in on the conversation.”

Li360 provides a place for people to learn and advance their LI practice, including affinity groups by vertical and geographic region. Anyone can join the Li360 Community for free, and access an array of resources, such as “How To” content, industry use cases, sample data and sample maps, live discussion boards, industry-specific groups, and free software downloads.

To learn more about the Li360 Community, join us online at: https://li360.pitneybowes.com/s/.

You can also join Pitney Bowes during Geography Week 2017 to dive into the world of Location Intelligence. Webinar sessions are open to the public for free, including:

• The changing landscape of GIS careers and skills (Monday, Nov. 13 at 11:00 AM ET)
  • Moderator: Joe Francica, Pitney Bowes
  • Panelists: Dr. Dennis Bellafiore, Penn State & Keith Masback, USGIF
• Location Analytics – Unlocking the value of big data (Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 11:00 AM ET)
  • Moderator: Joe Francica, Pitney Bowes
  • Panelists: Dr. Shay Strong, EagleView & Rich Sutton, Skyworks & Rose Winterton, Pitney Bowes
• GIS 2.0 is coming – Explore the latest technology trends (Wednesday, Nov. 15 at 11:00 AM ET)
  • Moderator: Linda Hecht, 51by1 and ex-CMO, Esri
  • Panelists: Ed Parsons, Google & Marc Prioleau, Mapbox & Joe Francica, Pitney Bowes
• Saving money and making money with Location Intelligence in Insurance, Retail and the Public Sector (Thursday, Nov. 16 at 11:00 AM ET)
  • Moderator: Joe Francica, Pitney Bowes
  • Panelists: Mike Hofert, Jim Stone and Dan Collins, Pitney Bowes