So what is energy business intelligence? Well, it is a Web portal with data warehouses, online analytical processing, and service oriented architecture (SOA) Web services. These functions overlay applications like key performance indicators (KPI), what-if decision support systems, geographic information systems, and business processes onto building systems to create an enterprise resource planning and financial management tool for energy as well as a real-time management and energy policy enforcement tool for the building owner.

The first tool of this type is Hunt Energy IQ’s GEMS software as a service. GEMS allows owners to manage sustainability in real time. Converting terabytes of energy and building information is a major challenge, and this tool is designed to change that large volume of data into knowledge.

The success of your enterprise hinges on intimate knowledge of the economic, social, and political trends where you do business. Yet the data and tools that illustrate these crucial factors remain maddeningly inaccessible. Key staff members who need business intelligence can’t get their hands on necessary data. Even when they can, they need costly training to figure out what to do with it. Worse yet, they have no easy way to share it with their colleagues. In a tight market like today’s, businesses unable to leverage this information are at a distinct disadvantage.

Luckily, designing better tools can solve these issues. Join Jeff Christensen, Chief Product Officer of Rhiza Labs, for a discussion about implementing geospatial technology that incentivizes collaboration and data sharing. CNET, ZDNet and InformationWorld have recognized Rhiza’s web-based tools for enabling anyone to share, analyze, and visualize data with minimal effort or training.

Drawing upon Rhiza’s experience, Christensen will detail design techniques that yield collaborative, intuitive geoportals. Participants will explore how interfaces and processes can reward collaboration and enable contribution with minimal training. Christensen will explain how to leverage new technology that provides a unified point of access to data from many sources. Participants will learn from the best practices of real GIS professionals who have successfully deployed these systems.

Better information leads to better decisions, which are even more crucial in this economic climate. Help your staff to make better decisions by making your technology adapt to people – instead of vice-versa.

Why does the world need an open map? What happens when you treat geodata collection - surveying - as a service in the cloud? This talk explores that issues and explains the fantastic results you can achieve by giving up a little bit of control in return for amazing geodata. We'll walk through a story about how OpenStreetMap got started, where it is and where it's going with an eye to practical uses.

The media landscape is changing rapidly and with the introduction of new delivery platforms, like the iPhone and other mobile devices, consumers are getting their news and information in ways unexpected and unanticipated. People want their information immediately and they want it to be relevant. As the desire for information grows, traditional media outlets have been challenged to keep up. Advertisers do not see the same value in traditional media as once before, which is why Examiner.com has been successful since the hyperlocal online media and information site launched in April of 2008. In his presentation at the Location Intelligence Conference, Dave Schafer, Co-founder for Examiner.com, will discuss Examiner.com’s bold entry into the new media marketplace. He will explain the timing around the Examiner.com launch, how “Examiners” are different from bloggers and reporters, what Examiner.com is doing to market to local audiences, and how Examiner.com is working with company’s like Quova to target to consumers where they are with the information they want.

Maarten Oldenhof, CEO AND Automotive Navigation Data, will discuss the latest developments in the global mapping industry. Digital maps are key to power location based services, which will become increasingly popular with the integration of GPS in all mobile devices.

To use these maps, companies have to be able to use these maps they want. With market leaders NAVTEQ and Tele Atlas being part of another company these freedom for customers is limited however. Because of this the landscape of the mapping industry is changing and new market entrants and initiatives for crowd-sourced data try to break the duopoly held by Navteq and Tele Atlas. Independent digital map makers are needed to sustain the trend that LBS services will be very important in the coming years.

Maarten Oldenhof will also discuss the new business models that will make new LBS applications possible.