We are all aware of the fact that applications have made possibly everything achievable to today's date. And seeing the unbelievable competition between businesses, they are leaving no stone unturned in offering a satisfactory experience to their users!
However, there are subtle details that make an application worth using, one of which is location intelligence.
Imagine a world without virtual maps, live locations, interactive navigation, virtual street view, customizable layers, and so on. One can hardly do without virtual maps and guides, isn't it?
Well, all of this is possible with location intelligence, which derives meaningful information from geospatial data to address particular issues. It examines spatial data such as geographic coordinates and attributes for pattern identification, makes predictions, and offers real-time understanding of location-specific queries.
How Geocoding contributes to location intelligence is something that we will discuss here. So, let's get cracking.
What is Geocoding?
In Microsoft Azure maps, geocoding is the technique of converting addresses (e.g., "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C.") into geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude) and vice versa with the help of Azure maps. The Azure Maps geocoding service enables developers to integrate location-based features like navigation, mapping, and location-based analytics into their apps. With the help of these features, organizations can easily convert textual addresses into coordinates to showcase them on maps, search nearby places, evaluate routes, and examine geographic data.
By optimizing the powerful cloud infrastructure of Microsoft Azure, you can leverage geocoding that provides scalable, precise, and worldwide local intelligence that is pretty easy to integrate different types of applications.
Essential Use Cases of Geocoding in Applications
Let's check out the core use cases of geocoding in applications to learn more about it.
1. Mapping and Navigation
Geocoding is important in mapping and navigation applications like Microsoft Azure Maps, Google Maps, and Apple Maps. It mainly turns physical addresses into geographic coordinates, which is quite useful for plotting routes, providing directions, and tracking locations. Popular ride-sharing apps like Uber and Ola are highly dependent on geocoding to identify accurate locations of both drivers and passengers.
2. Address Validation and Auto-Completion
Popular e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart harness geocoding to improve the user experience during checkout. Because geocoding ensures that the address mentioned by users are exact by doing the real-time verification. Also, as a user you might have noticed an auto-complete address field as you type, that's one of the features of geocoding. Auto-complete process saves a lot of time and effort which significantly enhances the overall user experience.
3. Location-Based Service
Location-based services are a prime application of geocoding, specifically in apps like TripAdvisor and Google Local. Such types of apps use geocoding to allow users to pinpoint nearby restaurants, businesses, hotels, or services on the basis of their current location or entered address.
4. Real Estate Property Search
In real estate applications like Zillow, geocoding enables users to look for properties based on the location they entered. When adding an address, ZIP code, or city, geocoding converts the entered information into coordinates that allow apps to present properties on an interactive map. Not just that, users can also filter listings on the basis of nearness to particular areas or land or landmarks such as schools or gardens.
5. Travel and Tourism
Travel applications like MakeMyTrip, Goibibo, and TripAdvisor optimize geocoding for helping tourists to search for nearby hotels, popular spots, restaurants, and so on. Geocoding converts the mentioned addresses into coordinates which are showcased on virtual maps, allowing travelers to plan their trip in an effective manner.
6. Emergency Response and Safety
In emergency response and safety applications, geocoding is critically involved by helping users to find service, hospitals, and shelters. If any disastrous or emergency situation takes place, geocoding enables users to look for critical locations based on geographic coordinates. Geocoding is also utilized for safety features like "FindMyLocation" in tracking applications to help with precise location when users are in the quest of help.
Why Should You Go for Microsoft Azure Maps Geocoding Services?
Now that we are aware of Geocoding's capabilities let's understand why you should choose Microsoft Azure Maps geocoding services:
1. Worldwide Coverage
If you choose Azure's geocoding capabilities, then there is no limitation to handling location irrespective of region. Microsoft Azure geocoding allows the handling of location data for every region, as Azure maps provide geocoding services globally.
2. Accuracy
Azure's services help with highly precise geocoding and reverse coding by making sure that addresses are transformed into pinpoint geographic coordinates and vice versa. Accuracy is quite important for navigation, logistics, and location-based services.
3. Scalability
Created on Microsoft Azure's cloud infrastructure, Azure maps are scalable enough to meet with high-powered apps. Azure maps can handle increasing volumes of geolocation requests without any hurdles whether you are working on a small app or an extensive enterprise solution.
4. Security and Compliance
Microsoft Azure maps are strictly aligned with rigorous security compliance standards of Microsoft Azure, which include data encryption and compliance with international regulations such as GDPR. This is extremely important for businesses that deal with confidential and sensitive location data.
5. Integration with Other Azure Services
As Azure maps is a part of Microsoft's Azure suite, it will work effortlessly with other Azure cloud services like Azure IoT, Azure Active Directory, and Azure Machine Learning. This integration enables businesses to build more integrated, feature-rich apps that merge geospatial data with other cloud capabilities.
How Can Dynatech Help You?
In this blog, we learnt how Geocoding is a secret ingredient that ensures enhancing customer experience in an efficient way. We hope that entrepreneurs out there have got a chance to unlock ample insights to achieve new possibilities in their venture and expand their landscape with the help of Microsoft Azure's smart geocoding services.
But if you are in search of assistance with how to leverage the bundle of smart solutions wrapped in Microsoft's Azure Cloud Infrastructure, then be our guest!
We hold expertise in helping businesses transform their presence in the market just by guiding them to make the most of the innovative solutions that Microsoft D365 offers. So, if you want to be the best in the industry, allow us to create your roadmap.
