Gis data appliance for identifying and comparing data associated with geographic regions

Abstract

The invention includes systems and methods that permit users to research, identify and compare geographical regions for purposes of business formation, expansion or relocation decision making. The systems and methods include receiving, compiling and formatting data from a plurality of sources for use in the GIS system, populating a searchable database with the GIS data, and enabling the user to search the data using demographic, economic and other search parameters to identify and compare geographic locations of interest. The data further includes information provided by participating economic development organizations, enabling such data to be included in user search parameters, and permitting such third parties to provide commentary on regional data, and to market their regions and services to prospective businesses. The systems and methods also enable a user compare multiple regions of interest via an interface that displays different datasets selected by the user via tabs or buttons, and to generate reports using comparative data specifically selected by the user.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for utilizing a geographic data search and visualization system comprising:
 providing a computer infrastructure operable to enable a user to search a database of demographic and economic data that has been spatially dissected and aggregated to portray characteristics of custom regions to identify geographic regions of interest by selecting a plurality of search criteria;   searching the database of demographic and economic data to ascertain responsive geographic regions meeting the search criteria;   displaying the responsive geographic regions on an interactive map;   enabling the user to select a responsive geographic region in the interactive map to display demographic and economic data associated with said region from said database, said data including a list of economic development organizations associated with said region; and   enabling the user to select one or more of the listed economic development organizations to view data associated with the region of the selected organization and information provided by the selected organization.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising means to enable the user to adjust the search parameters to display a modified set of responsive regions on the interactive map. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein adjustment of the search parameters comprises addition of a search parameter. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2  wherein adjustment of the search parameters comprises modification of an existing search parameter. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said database comprises demographic and economic data obtained from a plurality of sources, including data provided by economic development organizations. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the information provided by the selected organization comprises one or more of commentary on the region, a description of available regional incentives, data compiled by the organization, or commentary on the regional data. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said database of spatially dissected and aggregated data has been created through the steps of:
 preparing statistical regions by collecting statistical region boundaries, rectifying the boundaries to a common cartographic projection, assigning unique identifiers to the regions, and persisting the regions, region boundaries and identifiers in said database; 
 associating the demographic and economic data to said statistical regions by identifying locations associated with each dataset, rectifying the location information to the common cartographic projection, and identifying and persisting each data element's spatial relationship to the regions in the database; and 
 incorporating economic development organization data into the database by collecting organization information including geographic information, identifying the spatial relationships between an organization's geographic information and said statistical regions and identifiers, aggregating and accumulating the demographic and economic data associated with a geographic area associated with each organization, and persisting the data associated with each organization in the database. 
 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the step of inputting search criteria includes selecting a region type, and the step of searching the database of demographic and economic data to ascertain responsive geographic regions meeting the search criteria includes searching the database according to the selected type. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the region types comprise state, county, core based statistical area, or economic development organization. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising communication means that enable a user to communicate electronically with one or more of the selected economic development organizations via the computer infrastructure. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the data search and visualization system and computer infrastructure displays data such that a user can view data for a plurality of geographic regions simultaneously. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the data search and visualization system and computer infrastructure further comprises a graphic user interface that enables the user to select a dataset for viewing when comparing data for a plurality of regions by activating a tab or button. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the user selects data from a plurality of datasets for inclusion in a report covering said plurality of regions. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising the step of editing a report alter creation by adding data associated with an additional region, and saving said edited report. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the step of creating and transmitting a request for information wherein the user selects data points of interest from the database of demographic and economic data, add questions, selects one or more regions of interest and initiates a request for information to be transmitted to one or more economic development organizations associated with such regions, and wherein when a recipient organization responds to the request for information, the computer infrastructure incorporates data associated with the geographic region of the organization into the response and enables the organization to answer the questions, and the computer infrastructure issues notification to the user that a response has been posted. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the computer infrastructure further includes an API module, and wherein a user searches the database and generates a customized dataset that is incorporated into an API that can be incorporated into third party applications and websites. 
     
     
         17 . A geographic information system for researching, identifying and comparing geographic regions comprising:
 computer infrastructure comprising a server, a processor, a content management system, a geospatial server and a database, said infrastructure configured to receive demographic and economic data from a plurality of sources, including content provided by regional economic development organizations, to analyze and associate said data to a plurality of statistical region boundaries, and to store said data and related data associations to a common cartographic projection in the database;   a user connection to the infrastructure enabling the user to enter a plurality of search criteria to search for geographic regions of interest, said infrastructure configured to search the database utilizing the search criteria to identify geographic regions responsive thereto and to generate a display of said responsive geographic regions for viewing by the user on an interactive map;   a user interface configured to enable the user to select a responsive geographic region in the interactive map to display the demographic and economic data associated with said region, said data including economic development organizations associated with the selected region, to compare data from multiple selected regions simultaneously; and to enable the user to select one or more of the listed economic development organizations to view information provided by the selected organization for the selected region.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17  wherein said computer infrastructure processes said content provided by regional economic development organizations by collecting organization information including geographic information, identifying spatial relationships between an organization's geographic information and statistical regions and identifiers utilized for the demographic and economic data, aggregating and accumulating the demographic and economic data associated with a geographic area associated with each organization, and persisting the data associated with each organization in the database. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17  wherein the user interface enables the user to select a region type as search criteria, and the computer infrastructure is configured to search the database of demographic and economic data to ascertain geographic regions meeting the search criteria including the selected region type. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19  wherein the available region types comprise state, county, core based statistical area, or economic development organization. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 17  wherein the computer infrastructure further comprises communication means that enable a user to communicate electronically with economic development organizations providing content to the system. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 17  wherein the user interface and computer infrastructure displays data such that a user can view data for a plurality of responsive geographic regions simultaneously. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 22  wherein the user interface and computer infrastructure enable the user to select a dataset for viewing when comparing data for a plurality of regions by activating a tab or button. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 17  wherein the user selects data from a plurality of datasets for inclusion in a report covering a plurality of regions. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 24  wherein the user can edit a report after creation by adding data associated with an additional region. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 17  wherein the user connection to the infrastructure enables a user to adjust the search parameters to cause the infrastructure to search the database utilizing the adjusted search criteria to identify geographic regions responsive thereto and to generate a display of said responsive geographic regions for viewing by the user on an interactive map. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 26  wherein the search parameters may be adjusted by addition of a search parameter. 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 26  wherein the search parameters may be adjusted by modification of an existing search parameter. 
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 17  wherein said demographic and economic data comprises data provided by economic development organizations. 
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 17  wherein said content provided by regional economic development organizations comprises one or more of commentary on the region, a description of available regional incentives, data compiled by the organization, or commentary on the regional data. 
     
     
         31 . The system  claim 17  wherein the user connection, the user interface and the computer infrastructure are configured to enable the user to select data points of interest from the database of demographic and economic data, add additional questions, select one or more regions of interest and initiate a request for information to be transmitted to one or more economic development organizations associated with such regions, and wherein said computer infrastructure is further configured such that when a recipient organization responds to the request, the computer infrastructure incorporates data associated with its geographic region into the response, enables the organization to answer the additional questions, and issues notification to the user that a response has been posted. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 17  further comprising an API module that enables a user to generate customized datasets from the database via the computer infrastructure for incorporation into third party applications and website