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The most influential source of practical information for economic development marketing

From practical news, tips, and place marketing strategies to industry news and product updates, our blog posts keep you up to date and informed about all things economic development.

11/21/2023

For all of this, we are thankful

GIS Planning has always felt like a family to those of us who have worked here over the past 25 years, and we've always seen our clients as part of the family. We're fortunate to ...

09/22/2023

What EDOs and IPAs should look for in a CRM

Is it difficult for your organization to incorporate economic development and investment promotion into a conventional CRM? Are you currently organizing information, leads, and ...

09/6/2023

And now, some words from some of our oldest clients

Without question, the very best part of GIS Planning's many years in business is our relationship with our clients. We have learned so much from them, developed some of our most ...

08/3/2023

fDi Institute - the e-learning platform for economic development

Economic development professionals work hard to gain the skills and expertise needed to represent their regions. This means not only the foundational education on corporate ...

07/12/2023

New! Talent pool added for Canada

Canadian economic development organizations will be delighted to see that we've added a new Talent Pool report to all ZoomProspector location analysis tools and Intelligence ...

05/19/2023

Make the most of your online data tools at ICSC and other trade shows

I'm looking forward to reconnecting with many clients at ICSC Las Vegas next week and it's got me thinking about the ways economic developers expend resources, time, and energy ...

05/17/2023

New! Property display widget features your properties on your website

Don't bury your leads! Your available commercial sites and buildings are going to generate interest from site selectors and potential investors, so GIS Planning has made it easy ...

05/2/2023

New products and services in the expanded fDi Intelligence portfolio

A few weeks ago, we broke the exciting news that the Financial Times had acquired WAVTEQ products and services (excluding lead gen); our newly expanded fDi Intelligence portfolio ...

04/19/2023

North Delta RPDD (LA) launches website to attract investment

Investors, community stakeholders, site selectors, realtors, and businesses searching for key site selection data in Northeast Louisiana can now turn to the powerful, interactive ...

03/2/2023

Five AI tools for economic developers

Ever since the release of ChatGPT and Microsoft's Bing AI tool (or should we call it Sydney?), pundits have been spinning in circles analyzing the many threats, opportunities and ...

02/22/2023

New! Engaging new design for our Intelligence Components data tools

We are proud to release the beautiful new design of our suite of nine standalone GIS data tools, known as Intelligence Components. These powerful interactive data tools can be ...

02/9/2023

Legacy-driven leadership: 25 Years of innovation focused on the future

"Please think about your legacy because you are writing it every day" - Gary Vaynerchuk What kind of difference is your organization making for your community? How will the work ...

02/3/2023

Why GIS Planning Canada?

As I look forward to next week's EDCO Time for TransformatiON conference in Toronto, followed in April by the EDA Xperience in Kananaskis, Alberta and then BCEDA's BC Economic ...

01/27/2023

New! Customizable search widget drives web traffic to ZoomProspector

As part of our ongoing commitment to help clients drive as much quality traffic as possible to their online GIS data mapping and property search tools, we're proud to release a ...

01/19/2023

New! DIY 3D renderings feature available for multiple buildings

You asked and we built it! The incredibly popular 3D rendering feature in ZoomProspector can now be used to add multiple buildings to any site. With this change, it's easier than ...

01/18/2023

The new ZoomTour makes using virtual tours easier than ever for EDOs

The very first challenge in place marketing is crafting compelling, effective digital content quickly and on a budget. Sounds like the impossible dream, right? Well, it's not. The ...

01/10/2023

GIS Planning celebrates 25 years as GIS software leader

Once upon a time, economic development marketing meant printed brochures, VHS cassettes, telephone calls and in-person visits. It's hard to imagine now, but back then, if a ...

12/21/2022

Happy economic development holidays and a gift for 2023

The GIS Planning team would like to thank all of our clients, colleagues, friends and acquaintances and wish you all a very happy holiday season! We'd like to welcome you back in ...

12/7/2022

2022 Updates - A year of innovation in GIS Data

GIS Planning clients know they can expect consistent and meaningful innovation from their suite of interactive GIS data products and software tools. It's something we're very ...

11/30/2022

GIS Planning clients win multiple IEDC Excellence Awards for 2022

We're absolutely delighted to recognize the innovation and hard work of the many GIS Planning clients who won IEDC's Excellence in Economic Development Awards this fall. This ...

11/22/2022

For all this, we are thankful

During this week of thanks and giving, we feel enormous gratitude to you, the economic developers, investment promotion professionals, chambers of commerce and business support ...

11/3/2022

Golden Isles of Georgia Launches Powerful Location Analysis Data Tool

The Golden Isles Development Authority (GIDA) of Glynn County, Georgia is proud to launch their strategic economic development website, GoldenIslesDev.com to spur business growth, ...

10/26/2022

New! Trade and technical schools added to ZoomProspector talent report

Trade schools and technical colleges offer essential education and training for a wide variety of skilled jobs. Providing pathways for job opportunities not served by traditional ...

09/30/2022

ICYMI: A round-up of links to videos of webinars you might have missed

We've had a super busy start to our fall webinar line-up! More than 800 people signed up for our recent webinar offerings, on subjects from rural economic development to ...

09/13/2022

We've walked in your shoes

They say that one should be flattered when others copy your work. We get it... and truly, we are flattered! That's to be expected when you are the consistent leader in innovation ...

08/17/2022

Hyperlocal to hyper regional: Showcase your GIS site selection data

Site selection decisions depend on a wide variety of criteria unique to every project, so it can be hard to predict exactly what each new case requires. However, in our 25 years ...

08/9/2022

Our GIS site selection tools are different. Here's how.

In the more than 23 years I’ve been in this industry, I’ve seen companies like ours come and go, but I am proud that GIS Planning will celebrate 25 years next year! This is an ...

07/25/2022

Why rural EDOs choose ZoomProspector

From agriculture to tourism, forestry to manufacturing, rural communities bring their own specific perspectives to economic development. They are proud to promote their unique ...

07/13/2022

SC Department of Commerce launches new site selection microsite

The South Carolina Department of Commerce (S.C. Commerce) today announced the launch of its new online site selection tool – LocateSC – to promote business relocation and ...

07/7/2022

NEW! ZoomProspector now offers side-by-side property comparison

This one or that? It can be incredibly difficult to sort through the many property options for an optimal site selection decision, especially when so many important factors need ...

06/2/2022

June webinars you don't want to miss

School may be out for summer this month but the learning opportunities never stop with GIS Planning! We've got three of our most popular professional development webinars lined up ...

05/17/2022

St. Tammany (LA) Launches Powerful Location Analysis Data Tool

The St. Tammany Corporation (LA) is proud to launch its strategic economic development website, InveST St. Tammany, to spur business growth, attract investment and create jobs. ...

05/11/2022

California Launches Innovative Community & Place-Based Data Tool

The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) for the State of California has launched an innovative economic development data research and analysis tool for ...

04/28/2022

Milestone: 2,000+ proposals generated by our clients since 2021

Since we launched the super convenient drag & drop proposal generator feature in ZoomProspector, our clients have consistently told us how much they love the ability to ...

04/5/2022

Fulton County (GA) Launches Powerful Location Analysis Data Tool

Select Fulton County (GA) has launched the industry's most sophisticated GIS site selection search tool for metro Atlanta and surrounding cities, combining robust data layers ...

03/22/2022

Powerful new data web tool promotes Mount Pearl (Canada) to investors

Mount Pearl (NFLD) - Finding the best location for your business in eastern Newfoundland (Canada) is now much easier to do, thanks to the City of Mount Pearl's powerful new data ...

03/17/2022

Creating killer content: Webinars you don't want to miss

There's no excuse for boring! We're offering two free professional development webinars in the next couple of weeks to showcase practical ways to make your economic development ...

03/1/2022

State of Maine Launches Robust Location Analysis GIS Data Tool

The Maine Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) has launched a new site selection search tool that offers complex data layers in association with available sites ...

02/10/2022

3D renderings with GIS for economic development offers real innovation

The beauty and advantage of having a 3D rendering tool truly integrated into your online GIS data tool means that you and your website visitors can create as many 3D models as you ...

02/2/2022

Invest Glasgow (UK) launch new website and branding

Invest Glasgow, the City of Glasgow’s dedicated Investment Promotion Team, has gone through a rebrand and launched a new website, InvestGlasgow.com. The powerful online portal has ...

01/27/2022

Rutherford County (TN) Chamber of Commerce Launches Dynamic New Website

Rutherford Works, the economic and workforce development division of the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce (TN), has launched a comprehensive new website to attract investment ...

01/24/2022

EDO lessons from kindergarten: The critical importance of sharing

Play fair. Clean up your mess. Don't hit people. When you go out in traffic, hold hands and stick together. Robert Fulgham's oft-quoted book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned ...

01/21/2022

Webinar: 10 Key trends for economic development websites in 2022

What will 2022 bring for site selection and economic development? Will your location be ready to meet the opportunities and challenges of the months ahead?

01/14/2022

NEW! 3D rendering feature helps prospects picture their investments

The digitization of the site selection process - already well underway in years past - has unquestionably been greatly accelerated by the pandemic. From online proposals and ...

12/22/2021

2021 in review: New features, new tools, new functionality

We're proud to end 2021 with another stellar year of updates, new features and new tools for GIS planning clients. This unmatched stream of innovation is the reason ZoomProspector ...

12/20/2021

Happy holidays! Enjoy the gift of easy-to-use 3D renderings for 2022

Wishing all our clients, colleagues and friends a happy and healthy holiday season and a prosperous new year!

12/9/2021

BC orgs respond to flooding crisis with virtual tour info resources

When extreme rain and an "atmospheric river" first hit southern British Columbia on November 12th, no one was prepared for the extent of the devastation. Within days, extensive ...

12/3/2021

Webinar: Data & diversity-Talking about numbers & economic development

Data can serve as an important starting point for conversations about an inclusive economy, a way to objectively document disparities and guide outreach, policy and action. But ...

11/24/2021

We have much to be thankful for

On this Thanksgiving week here in the U.S., the GIS Planning team has been reflecting on our many reasons to feel thankful. Despite the many challenges of 2021, we feel fortunate ...

11/16/2021

Bilbao Region (Spain) Launches Data Microsite to Attract Investment

Invest in Bilbao, the local foreign investment office of the Bilbao City Council, has just launched Bilbao Business Explorer, a tool that seeks to promote foreign investment and ...

11/15/2021

What is the real ROI on a site selection web tool?

It’s hardly surprising that one question we get asked a lot is: “What are the website traffic metrics of ZoomProspector client websites? What’s the ROI?”

11/1/2021

How COVID-19 Permanently Digitized Site Selection (Part II)

In my last post, I described how the COVID pandemic has irrevocably changed the practice of corporate site selection and economic development. This has also been fostered by large ...

10/28/2021

How COVID-19 Permanently Digitized Site Selection

Have you ever had a meal, gone on a date, or enjoyed a vacation so good it made you never want to repeat the lower quality experiences you’ve had in the past? Why would you want ...

10/22/2021

New! Smart bubbles to visualize state and regional business data

We've made it even easier for site selectors and potential investors to visualize critical business and industry data on ZoomProspector, with the new addition of smart bubbles for ...

10/13/2021

Webinar: 5 Simple Rules for Complex Collaboration in EconDev

Collaboration is a process that drives innovation. Getting key players from different organizations and backgrounds to work smoothly together for a common goal in economic ...

10/7/2021

Clayton County (Georgia) launches robust site selection data microsite

Clayton County, representing seven municipalities and their surrounding regions, has launched AdvanceClayton.com, a powerful microsite portal designed with the industry's most ...

10/1/2021

5 Things to know about the IEDC annual conference in Nashville

We are eagerly looking forward to the 2021 IEDC Annual Conference in Nashville and we are really hoping to see you there. Before you head out or tune in, we wanted to share the ...

09/21/2021

Explore Lublin Promotes Data Microsite to Attract New Investment

Businesses researching international and regional investments and development potential in Poland can now take advantage of a powerful set of online tools dedicated to showcasing ...

09/16/2021

NEW! Property images now automatically supplemented from Google

Economic developers everywhere know the struggle of trying to get photos and images into property listings. The truth is that it can be tricky to draw attention to a fantastic ...

09/9/2021

How ZoomProspector works like an extra staff member for your team

GIS Planning’s clients range from small towns with a single economic development person (who often also handles duties at the chamber, the city manager’s office etc.) to large ...

08/19/2021

New! Data Heat Maps For People with Color Blindness

The GIS Planning Design team always designs our online software products with the rule of ARI in mind. That means having applications that are easy to Access, Read, and Interpret. ...

08/17/2021

New! Drive time data for cars, trucks, walk time on ZoomProspector

We're thrilled to introduce yet another new feature on ZoomProspector: adjustable drive time analysis for cars, trucks and walking. This is a game-changer for prospective ...

07/20/2021

Powerful New Online Data Tool Promotes Eastern Ontario to Investors

Finding the best location for your business in eastern Ontario is now much easier to do, thanks to the Ontario East Economic Development Commission's powerful new mapping tool.

07/8/2021

GIS Planning by the numbers

For the past 23 years, our clients have ensured we've always remained the industry's leading GIS data tool for corporate site selection and economic development. We've earned that ...

06/22/2021

Greater Albuquerque launches innovative site selection tool to attract investment

AED, a nonprofit economic development organization that serves the four-county metro Albuquerque area, has launched ABQSites.com, a new database mapping tool designed to make the ...

06/7/2021

We've got your back: Why R&D and client support matter

One of the best parts of my job is interacting with each of our clients prior to and after they launch our industry-leading data tools. After all, economic development is ...

06/1/2021

Are you settling for anything less than the best?

I invite you to take a moment before we begin to consider the beautiful and under-appreciated digital art on these VHS cassette boxes. How did I never notice this before? I must ...

05/28/2021

Can your website visitors find the data they're seeking?

Digital dead ends. Virtual cul de sacs. Obstacles in your path.

05/14/2021

Savvy link placement strategies drive more qualified web traffic

Sure, it's the industry's leading corporate site selection data tool but ZoomProspector is also so much more. Did you know it's also a compelling open access community data tool? ...

05/7/2021

FDI Masterclass: Digital Strategies to Unlock Investment Beyond COVID

Covid-19 has accelerated the digital transformation of industries across the board, and economic development is no exception. We're all doing things we never thought we could do ...

04/20/2021

Creative new ZoomTours help promote our innovative clients

When we launched ZoomTour back in December, we recognized that our innovative clients would produce a wide variety of interactive online tours this unique new virtual tour ...

03/26/2021

The plain truth about virtual site visits for commercial real estate

There's a lot of talk and excitement among economic developers about using virtual tours to profile commercial real estate to potential investors and site selectors who may not be ...

03/15/2021

March: Economic development webinars you don't want to miss

So much goes into strategy and planning for economic recovery and this line-up of free professional development webinars is designed to help you and your team take on the ...

03/5/2021

March EDO Roundtable: How are different regions planning for recovery?

One of the things we've all lost during this pandemic is the opportunity to get out and meet new colleagues from across the industry and discuss different strategies for dealing ...

02/25/2021

Tell us what you think about economic development marketing

If you are an economic development professional, we want to know what you think about place marketing - whether you're a marketer yourself or not.

02/19/2021

Check out these powerful economic development videos

If you missed these webinars, you can still check out all the great content we covered in these two fantastic sessions. Enjoy practical solutions and words of wisdom and ...

02/11/2021

February webinars you don't want to miss

We've got loads of great free professional development content coming up this month for economic developers and chamber professionals. Check out the following free webinars and ...

02/2/2021

REACH (CA) launches Central Coast Data Center to spur economic growth

REACH has launched a new Central Coast Data Center with interactive tools to attract new investment, support business and stimulate the regional economy. The REACH Central Coast ...

01/29/2021

Don't wait for spring to clean up your website

Does it sort of seem as if your economic development organization or chamber of commerce website (or the ED page on your city website) takes care of itself, with a major refresh ...

01/22/2021

GIS Planning online data tools now available in Spanish

Investors from around the world visit our clients' online GIS data tools to research and analyze properties for businesses making location decisions. With that in mind, GIS ...

01/15/2021

Upcoming economic development webinars you won't want to miss

Mark your calendars! This first lineup of 2021 economic development webinars is well worth your time. Can't attend? No problem! Register anyway to ensure you receive a follow-up ...

01/11/2021

Maryland Promotes Investment in Opportunity Zones with Online Tool

The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development has upgraded its Opportunity Zone Information Exchange platform with GIS Planning’s industry-leading ZoomProspector ...

01/6/2021

Build desktop getaways of your region with the new ZoomTour

In an era where physical travel is restricted for the foreseeable future, there's no better time to engage people online with ZoomTour. Our new cloud-based desktop software makes ...

12/21/2020

5 Top GIS Planning Innovations of 2020

Safe to say, 2020 was a year for the books. No question, we'll all be glad to say good bye to this one. But in the midst of this crazy, challenging year of COVID and wildfires and ...

12/17/2020

Season's Greetings! Join Us for the GIS Planning Virtual Holiday Tour

Warm wishes for a happy and healthy holidays to all our clients, colleagues, partners, friends and acquaintances across the industry. We know this has been a challenging year for ...

12/9/2020

Business Tampere's (Finland) Data Microsite Attracts New Investment

International investors and businesses researching investments and development potential in Tampere, Finland can take advantage of a powerful set of online tools dedicated to ...

12/7/2020

NESA (SC) Launches 1st ZoomTour Virtual Tour

South Carolina's North Eastern Strategic Alliance (NESA) has launched the first ever example of the new ZoomTour, cloud-based software that makes building and sharing beautiful, ...

12/1/2020

Glasgow City Region Launches Innovative Site Selection Data Portal

Invest Glasgow has launched online data tools on their website to put the Scottish city firmly on the map for business relocation, investment and expansion.

11/30/2020

NEW product: ZoomTour shows off your community's top features

If there is one thing we've all learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, it's how absolutely critical it is to have top quality digital tools to connect with people, whether it's for ...

11/24/2020

For all of this, we are thankful

In the days leading up to Thanksgiving here in the U.S., we at GIS Planning have been reflecting on our many reasons to feel thankful. As we lead up to the end of a challenging ...

11/17/2020

Pennsylvania Upgrades Interactive Data Tools for Investors & Business

Pennsylvania’s innovative online data tool and property inventory on PASiteSearch.com recently upgraded to the latest version of GIS Planning’s ZoomProspector. The redesigned tool ...

10/30/2020

Virtual Road Trip with Stevie: Ice storm in OKC through TX and into NM

We headed out early because we knew we had a big driving day ahead of us. Starting with a Hurt Donut is my kind of Wednesday! It started to rain and it turned out, we were going ...

10/29/2020

GIS Planning clients win multiple awards at IEDC Annual Conference

We wish to extend our hearty congratulations to all of the winners of this year's International Economic Development Council (IEDC) awards. All these achievements deserve public ...

10/28/2020

Virtual Road Trip: Follow Stevie Field-Chavez Across the US

My daughter, Jenn and son in law, Tom, are expecting their first baby on November 3rd.The challenge? They live in Southern California and I live in South Carolina! With baby Ezra ...

10/20/2020

Webinar: All you need to know about GIS data tools but haven't asked

Back by popular demand! Do terms like GIS and granularity cause your eyes to glaze over? Wondering about virtual tours for your sites and buildings? Want to share live links to ...

10/14/2020

NEW! How does your community compare?

This car model or that one? These sneakers or those? If you're like most people, you spend a fair bit of time comparing and contrasting when you make a purchasing decision, ...

10/6/2020

Grapevine (TX) launches new website with GIS Planning data tools

The City of Grapevine (TX) has launched online data tools on their website, ChooseGrapevineTX.com, to promote the region for business relocation and expansion. The online data ...

09/21/2020

Webinar: Expand broadband access for your region

Join us tomorrow (Tuesday, September 22nd, 1 pm EDT/ 10 am PDT) for a free 30-minute webinar with guest Chris Pederson, Executive Vice President of Development and Planning for ...

09/15/2020

4 Economic development webinars you won't want to miss

As regions everywhere move through their different pandemic recovery plans, we're hearing questions about how to support local businesses effectively, offer virtual site visits ...

09/10/2020

Can your economic development data do this?

Economic development data is critical to the practice of investment attraction, business retention and corporate site selection. GIS Planning is proud to offer a top quality range ...

09/1/2020

How GIS Planning Offers the Most Robust Data for Economic Development

A significant advantage to licensing the data in our industry-leading online GIS data tools directly from our data providers is the ability to provide you with more interactive ...

08/18/2020

User-friendly interface is key for GIS site selection online tools

Economic development and investment promotion agencies seeking to share regional data and available properties with online GIS data tools are in the business of place marketing. ...

07/30/2020

360° Virtual Tours & Custom Tours - what's the difference?

The addition of the 360° Virtual Tour and Custom Tour buttons to our ZoomProspector sites and buildings GIS data tool a couple of weeks ago has generated serious interest from ...

07/15/2020

New! 360 Virtual tours, flyovers & street views free on ZoomProspector

Before the coronavirus pandemic, site selections and businesses seeking a location would typically visit a short list of properties in person. They would walk around the building, ...

07/13/2020

New! Business data now updated regularly

Economic developers have shifted their attention to supporting and nurturing their existing businesses during the coronavirus pandemic, offering support and information wherever ...

06/26/2020

5 Ways to help your area businesses adapt to COVID-19 recovery

Businesses of all sizes have been dramatically impacted by COVID-19 pandemic closures and restrictions. Even in regions that have progressed through phased re-openings, the data ...

06/23/2020

Two economic development webinars you don't want to miss

Mark your calendars! Next week's economic development webinars are well worth your time. Can't attend? No problem! Register anyway to ensure you receive a follow-up email with a ...

06/8/2020

Webinar: Economic Resilience for COVID-19 Recovery with Quality Data

Data is a critical way for economic developers to tell the story of their region, whether they are trying to attract new investment or support the local businesses already there ...

06/4/2020

Offer drone and virtual site video in proposals and on ZoomProspector

Offering virtual tours and video to site selectors and companies making location decisions is more critical than ever during the COVID-19 recovery phase. Luckily, integrating ...

05/27/2020

GIS Planning salutes the class of 2020

Every commencement speech ever refers to graduates as the future: our future leaders, professionals, entrepreneurs, workforce. This is where our talent comes from - the brains, ...

05/20/2020

Nearly 11,000 businesses now listed on ZoomBusiness

It's been just one month since we launched our innovative new ZoomBusiness tool, a GIS data map directory to list businesses open during the recovery from COVID-19 - and beyond. ...

05/14/2020

What this hyperlocal moment means for your region's businesses

Eight weeks into quarantine, one of my daughters ran out of acrylic paint. Happy to support any activity that isn't online, we looked online to replenish her supply. Amazon Prime ...

05/6/2020

Case study: See how Rowan EDC (NC) promotes their ZoomBusiness tool

With nearly 40 communities across North America launching their ZoomBusiness online mapping directory of businesses open during COVID-19 since the product debuted two weeks ago, ...

04/30/2020

EDO Roundtable webinar series on COVID-19 Recovery - Part II

As economic development professionals everywhere grapple with the unprecedented challenge of keeping their regional economies afloat, it can be enormously helpful and instructive ...

04/23/2020

7 Ways to list local restaurants, retailers & services on ZoomBusiness

Congratulations! Your ZoomBusiness online, interactive mapping directory of businesses open during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns is an excellent way to get the support they need ...

04/22/2020

Meet the innovative EDOs using ZoomBusiness to support area economies

They are in Pennsylvania. South Carolina. Texas. Florida. Alabama. Georgia. Wisconsin. Wyoming. Maryland. British Columbia and Ontario. Communities all over North America are ...

04/15/2020

NEW: Interactive COVID-19 Data Center for US and Counties

We are proud to announce this week's release of a new COVID-19 Data Center for the United States and Counties. The interactive mapping and data visualization tool can be found at ...

04/14/2020

ZoomBusiness: A new way to support your local businesses right now

Over the last month of progressive shutdowns to mitigate the loss of life from COVID-19, we heard from our clients and webinar participants that your primary concern is supporting ...

04/7/2020

COVID-19 response webinars you don't want to miss

UPDATED with links: Here are some of the free webinars we hosted last week to assist economic developers everywhere as they work to meet and mitigate the challenges posed by the ...

04/1/2020

NEW: Free COVID-19 GIS mapping data tool for US economic development

GIS Planning is proud to release today a free, interactive GIS data tool to map the spread and impact of COVID-19 for US economic developers. This is a customized version of our ...

04/1/2020

NEW: COVID-19 map layers added for all U.S. ZoomProspector clients

As economic developers everywhere grapple with the new realities of the COVID-19 outbreak, many have found themselves fixated on an entirely new set of data about how the ...

03/30/2020

Covidiary: Thoughts about economic development on quarantine day 19

It's blursday the umpteenth of Marpril, what feels like the longest month in our collective history. I'm going on day 19 of self-isolation myself, including a mandatory 14-day ...

03/27/2020

NEW: Add JobsEQ COVID-19 Vulnerability Economist GIS data layers

The rapid spread of COVID-19 has completely disrupted the usual practice of economic development. GIS Planning remains fully open for business and here to help. Please do not ...

03/25/2020

NEW: Add layers for open businesses, COVID-19 testing centers and more

The coronavirus pandemic has completely upended the practice of economic development. One of the things we have heard over and over again from economic developers and investment ...

03/24/2020

White Paper: 10 Impacts of the Coronavirus on Economic Development

While public health, public policy, and businesses are working to respond to the impact of this novel coronavirus, so too must the profession of economic development. There are ...

03/23/2020

Your ZoomProspector data tool is powerful open access community data

Economic developers and investment promoters everywhere are scrambling to figure out how to best adapt to the new realities of the unfolding COVID 19 pandemic. One of the things ...

03/20/2020

Webinars: Resources for economic developers during the COVID 19 crisis

The coronavirus pandemic has hit everyone hard, disrupting all aspects of normal life. We're offering the following free webinar resources to economic developers seeking ...

03/16/2020

GIS Planning remains open for business

We understand your normal operations may be disrupted or in great flux because of the novel coronavirus pandemic and we want to reassure you that GIS Planning remains completely ...

02/28/2020

Using data to drive more leads to commercial brokers

Commercial real estate is about so much more than just connecting businesses with sites and buildings. Before any company or organization makes a decision on a new location, ...

02/27/2020

Smart Bubbles: An intuitive way to display more properties on the map

At GIS Planning, we are always working to improve our software applications - and we get our best ideas from our clients. Our customers told us they wanted to display their full ...

02/14/2020

Happy Valentine's Day to economic developers everywhere

Happy Valentine's Day! In the spirit of the day, we'd like to celebrate all kinds of love, including the deep connection many of us feel for the communities, towns, cities, ...

02/11/2020

New Google Maps logo - the GIS Planning connection

Google Maps is celebrating 15 years of what has arguably become far and away one of the most powerful and popular mapping applications on the market, one that is the foundation of ...

02/4/2020

GIS Planning Expands Coverage in Canada with Spacelist Partnership

GIS Planning, the industry’s leading online economic developer GIS data solutions provider, is delighted to announce that we have partnered with Spacelist, the leading commercial ...

01/28/2020

GIS Planning launches new company website (VIDEO)

As GIS Planning's design director, I’m proud to officially announce the new launch of our corporate website. Visitors will quickly see that this isn't just an informative website ...

12/18/2019

GIS Planning Holiday Gift Guide

It can be so hard to find just the right holiday present for those we hold dear. You try to take into account their interests, passions, and needs. After all, nothing feels better ...

12/10/2019

The future is now

This morning, I saw something really cool. I was leaving my local supermarket when I saw a woman having a conversation in American Sign Language (ASL) using her smartphone.

11/28/2019

We are thankful

In the days leading up to Thanksgiving here in the U.S., we at GIS Planning have been reflecting on our many reasons to feel thankful. We feel fortunate to have so many.

11/20/2019

Whose branding is on your data reports?

Put on your site selector hat for a moment. Or your "business looking for a location" hat. Now imagine you're visiting your own economic development website for the very first ...

10/23/2019

New client launch: Junction City/Geary County EDC (KS)

GIS Planning is thrilled to be part of the launch of the Junction City/Geary County Economic Development Commission's new website, with ZoomProspector, the industry's leading ...

10/13/2019

See the newest - and only - drag and drop Proposal Generator for EDOs

If you're still spending long hours cobbling together responses to RFIs with old school GIS data tools, it's time to check out the newly updated proposal generator built into GIS ...

10/10/2019

In a world of copycats there's only one GIS Planning

There are many wannabee imitators in the world of economic development and corporate site selection but ONLY one GIS Planning.

10/1/2019

3 Reasons to ditch old school static PDFs

If your economic development organization is still expecting site selectors and businesses making location decisions to rely solely on your outdated static data reports, you are ...

09/13/2019

5 free ways to promote your web tools

Launching a website or online data tools without promotion is kind of like throwing a party but forgetting to send invitations. Your website will compete for attention in a ...

08/23/2019

When it comes to data, you've got options

Different economic development organizations have different needs, which is why we make a point of offering our clients a variety of data options to best meet their requirements. ...

08/9/2019

Drive More/ Better Traffic to Your Economic Development Website

Have you been feeling disappointed by lacklustre traffic results to your economic development website? Looking for some new ideas to keep things fresh and attract interest from ...

08/2/2019

28 US Statewide EDOs have chosen ZoomProspector

We're proud to announce that, as of last month, an impressive 28 U.S. statewide economic development organizations have chosen GIS Planning's ZoomProspector to help attract ...

07/24/2019

6 Questions for EDOs about their online GIS data tools

If you suspect your online GIS corporate site selection data tools aren't quite up to industry standards, here are six key questions to ask about the interactive tool you are ...

07/19/2019

Business mapping a key part of site selection

In my conference presentations, I often ask economic developers how much they know about the businesses in their communities. How much data do they have about those organizations? ...

06/27/2019

FPL first to launch new GIS Planning web tool with FDI data

Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) has launched the brand new Explore Florida web tool, using the completely redesigned ZoomProspector Enterprise. The GIS web tool promotes ...

06/21/2019

Three webinars you may have missed

Our immensely popular webinar series features all kinds of topics of interest to economic developers. We know you can't attend all of them, so we've picked the three most popular ...

06/6/2019

Are Your Region's Businesses Prepared for a Disaster?

Wildfires. Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Mudslides. Ice storms. Floods. Earthquakes.

05/28/2019

The Power of Links in Your Online GIS Data Tool

Today's digitally connected world requires you to be able to share links. No one sends static PDFs anymore. Think about it: When you see a property in AirBnb that your friends ...

05/9/2019

Opportunity Zone search now on ZoomProspector.com

Anatalio Ubalde, co-founder and co-managing director of GIS Planning, announced today in his presentation at the Las Vegas Opportunity Zone Expo that businesses and site selectors ...

05/9/2019

Webinar: Build strong relationships with commercial brokers

Strong working relationships between commercial brokers and economic development organization benefit everyone. Unfortunately, in many areas, this kind of mutually beneficial ...

05/1/2019

More than half of all US states choose ZoomProspector

When GIS Planning first invented online corporate site selection data tools for economic development in 1998, it was no surprise that we were the industry leaders. It's hard not ...

04/25/2019

Q&A follow-up: What site selectors want ED pros to know

What do site selectors want economic development professionals to know? Turns out this is a question on many minds, as yesterday's webinar was one of the most popular titles in ...

04/23/2019

Webinar: What site selectors want ED pros to know

As part of my job, I work with hundreds of economic developers all around the world. I also often work with site selectors who use our tools for research and decision-making. And ...

04/10/2019

Export & share properties, folders and reports

The all-new GIS Planning ZoomProspector tool makes it easier than ever to share properties, custom folders, and reports. Your website visitors can choose from a variety of ways to ...

03/28/2019

New! Save reports to multiple custom folders

Let's say your an economic developer preparing business cases for 2 or 3 different businesses interested in location in your community. You research the demographics, business, ...

03/27/2019

SC Power Team launches new ZoomProspector

We're delighted to welcome the SC Power Team to our growing family of clients, with the launch last week of their brand new ZoomProspector web tool. Our Director of Sales, Russell ...

03/22/2019

GIS Planning partners with Emsi on occupation data

We're pleased to announce an exciting new partnership with Emsi to add occupation data by ZIP code for interested U.S. clients. This data can be used to identify where jobs are ...

03/20/2019

Data analysis: Try the new freehand drawing tool

Imagine you're a business seeking your ideal business location and you've got a pretty good idea where it needs to be. Maybe you've got a manufacturing facility that wants to ...

03/14/2019

What is dynamic property search anyway?

In a webinar the other day, I was explaining some of the brand new GIS Planning ZoomProspector features and I mentioned "Dynamic Property Search." One of our attendees asked what ...

03/8/2019

Top 5 #EconDev Twitter tips

Why tweet? Twitter is different than other social networks and is an extremely valuable marketing tool for all businesses. With over 326 million people using Twitter every month, ...

02/13/2019

Think you know ZoomProspector? Look again

We are what's new.

01/31/2019

Indiana first state to launch new version of ZoomProspector Enterprise

After years of promoting the state through various location analysis tools, Indiana is the first state to launch the completely redesigned location analysis tool known as ...

01/17/2019

Webinar: 5 Ways to Use Data for Place Marketing

Do you ever feel like your marketing messages get lost in the shuffle? Find all your best efforts to communicate your community's economic development assets aren't translating ...

01/10/2019

Webinar: Showcase Opportunity Zones

Back in December, we showed you several ways you can use our online data tools to showcase the Opportunity Zones in your community, regardless of whether you use our GIS sites and ...

12/13/2018

Happy holidays from the GIS Planning team

Season's greetings from our team to yours. Wishing you peace and prosperity in 2019.

12/13/2018

Showcase your community's Opportunity Zones

The creation of Opportunity Zones in the U.S. is easily one of the most important economic developments of the year, with big implications for investment attraction strategies in ...

11/30/2018

ZoomProspector now offers 3D views

You can now view maps in high-density areas in beautiful 3D on Zoomprospector Enterprise applications. The image below, taken from our newly redesigned ZoomProspector Enterprise ...

11/21/2018

We are thankful

In the days leading up to Thanksgiving here in the U.S., we at GIS Planning have been reflecting on our many reasons to feel thankful.

11/9/2018

How to capitalize on a big pending project

Your community has an amazing new development project to re-purpose that decrepit indoor mall built in the 1970’s into a multi-use (residential, commercial and retail) destination.

11/1/2018

To embed your GIS data tools or not?

One of the most common questions we get from our clients is whether to embed their online data tools or to set them up as microsites. In the 20 years since we invented online data ...

10/18/2018

Webinar: Tour the all-new ZoomProspector Enterprise

Twenty years ago, we disrupted corporate site selection with the first ever online GIS mapping software, ZoomProspector Enterprise. Since then, we've consistently updated and ...

10/17/2018

A GDPR Primer for U.S. economic developers

By now you may have heard of the letters ‘GDPR’ being discussed in the industry. Wait, bear with me - don’t get bored just yet! What if I told you that the impact of complying ...

10/16/2018

Video compilation from an epic #econdev party

It's not quite Thanksgiving in the U.S. just yet (although we celebrated here in Canada a little over a week ago), but we wanted to let our clients, colleagues and friends know ...

10/9/2018

Webinar: Building a Entrepreneurial Superhub

Today, a multitude of new jobs are being created by startups and small businesses. Now more than ever, community leaders need to bring supportive and effective entrepreneurial ...

09/30/2018

Breaking news! GIS Planning at IEDC Atlanta

GIS Planning and the fDi Intelligence team are thrilled be in Atlanta for the IEDC 2018 Annual Conference. Drop by our booth in the exhibit hall (look for the blue and white ...

09/26/2018

5 Things about Atlanta #IEDC2018

We are eagerly looking forward to the 2018 IEDC Annual Conference in Atlanta and we are really hoping to see you there. Be sure to check out our hilarious collection of IEDC ...

09/25/2018

IEDC Annual Conference summed up in GIFs

The IEDC annual conference is coming up this weekend in Atlanta. Are you ready? Here are some gifs to sum up some up the whole wonderful, intense experience.

09/21/2018

Webinar: 10 Key trends for #econdev websites

I can't claim to own a crystal ball, but working in economic development tech has given me a front row seat to some of the most important online trends in the industry. I get to ...

09/7/2018

Webinar: The next 25 years of retail

The seismic shift in consumer behavior brought about by the growth of online shopping has left many economic developers unsure about planning strategy - how will brick and mortar ...

08/30/2018

20 Years of #econdev data innovation

VHS tapes. Printed catalogues. Direct mail. Telemarketing. Magazine ads. That's what place marketing looked like before 1998, the year GIS Planning was founded.

08/17/2018

ZoomProspector Enterprise used to compare city data

Accessing reliable economic development data is one thing, but being able to drill into it and analyze it for your own purposes is quite another. We take great pride in offering ...

08/2/2018

New! Nationwide Flood and Wetlands Layers

As part of our continuing commitment to innovation, we've added new nationwide flood and wetlands data to all U.S. ZoomProspector Enterprise web pages as well as ...

07/24/2018

Our 20-Year Anniversary Video

It's been 20 years since two UC Berkeley grad students invented the software that would go on to disrupt the practice of corporate site selection. Pablo Monzon and Anatalio Ubalde ...

07/11/2018

Can you answer the "why" of site selection

Does it ever feel like different sides of the site selection conversation are happening in different rooms, independent of each other?

06/28/2018

4 Things ED pros can do for entrepreneurs

This past Monday, I enjoyed the privilege of speaking on a panel at the IEDC Economic Futures Forum in Buffalo, NY. My fellow panelists, Sherron Washington of marketing ...

06/8/2018

Updated design on ZoomProspector Enterprise

If you noticed our ZoomProspector Enterprise applications look different today, you're 100% right.

05/10/2018

Clicks to Bricks: Bringing Retail to Your Commuity

The first job I had out of university was writing for the newspaper in a resort town in the Canadian Rockies. It was a spectacular place to live, and the streets teemed with ...

05/1/2018

How to use your online data tools at trade shows

We're looking forward to reconnecting with many clients at ICSC ReCon in Las Vegas in a few weeks and it's got me thinking about the ways economic developers expend resources, ...

04/27/2018

e-Newsletter Strategies that Work for EconDev

Most economic development organizations send out email newsletters from time to time, in order to communicate their location's value proposition, highlight recent successes, ...

04/20/2018

We don’t want to take your job away

You ever know the moment things suddenly go off kilter? In this case, I knew the demo had gone south when the senior economic developer in attendance exclaimed “You’re going to ...

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