Location intelligence is crucial, not only in the planning and operation of a city and its infrastructure, but in the design and construction of those structures as well. For example, location analytics can generate insight about flood-prone areas and give designers accurate information to influence a structure's location, orientation, and even construction materials. By integrating location intelligence in design process, a structure will be designed in the context of a larger, smarter landscape, creating a more sustainable surroundings.

An all-encompassing smart city experience would not only focus on citizen wellbeing, smart delivery of services and sustainability but also on the radical shift in approach towards urban ecosystem and its myriad facets. Location intelligence, integrated with emerging technologies such as AI, IoT and 5G will be one of the pillars of the smart city framework, with interconnectivity as the lynchpin.

Self-driving vehicles would not only overhaul the automobile industry, but a lot of other sectors. It is expected that the self-driving industry would be worth a whopping $7 trillion by 2050. While anticipating the dawn of driverless future, it is crucial that we work on the infrastructural groundwork constituting 5G, AI and IoT.

FinTech, empowered by location data, can help banks engage with their customers at individual level. For example, provide customized notifications to consumers as they enter a branch, including their account balances and last transactions; provide cardless entry into ATM lobbies; assign a queue number automatically as a consumer steps into a branch; and text consumers the location of the nearest branch or ATM.

E-commerce is possibly the most competitive fintech segment today. With market aspiring towards going cashless, speedy and real-time transactions are becoming key to customers' satisfaction. But beyond speedy transaction, fintech providers can use location intelligence to offer competitive advantage to merchants. Value-added services such as transaction data reports can be used for market trends monitoring and creation of spending profiles, which merchants and marketers can use for marketing campaigns and personalization efforts.

Mobile location data provides real-time and relevant proximity-based information of target consumers. This information is tremendous for businesses to gain behavioral insights about consumers, such as shopping and eating habits. Real-time data analytics allows businesses to target those mobile users with the right promotional message when they are in the proximity of that store, opening the door to a multitude of opportunities.

Location data market would undergo a seismic transformation in the upcoming years due to the power of Blockchain to address security drawbacks in centralized content hosting. Location-based advertising is expected to grow manifold as blockchain would enhance transparency, expands business reach and provides better deal to customers.

Humans spend most of their time indoors and the next innovation in precision of location would be indoor localization. In a world of increasing customer intimacy, venue-based marketing strategies and soaring demand for location-based services and application, indoor localization would open new vistas.

Maps were always designed for the human-to-human interface; however, there is a new breakthrough now with the advent of digitalization and requirement of high precision mapping. Maps would now mainly be designed keeping in mind the human-machine interface and unlike humans, they would be read and analyzed by machines. The applications could be an autonomous car hurtling past you in the future or a robotic workforce in assembly line of a factory or in a large departmental store. The key question that arises is whether the industry is ready for this mega transition.

Commercial geospatial information industry has been at the forefront of innovation and development of geospatial information products that fulfill consumer market demand. There is a great scope for collaboration between national geospatial agencies and commercial geospatial data providers towards strengthening geospatial information infrastructure at national, regional and global levels.

It has been recognized that an efficient geospatial information infrastructure could serve as foundational knowledge platform and contribute significantly in governance and development in the digital age. However, issues of privacy, security, quality, proprietorship and funding have grown increasingly complicated with the interlocking of dynamic geospatial datasets. A strong data policy will be imperative in promoting growth of location-based services market.