How Commercial Real Estate Can Use 3D Maps
We see our world in 3D, yet 2D maps are still used for navigation, data visualization, and understanding our cities. But new advances in technology have made 3D maps available for new opportunities that have limitless applications, including in commercial real estate, which we cover here.
Data Visualization
Strong data visualization and storytelling skills are vital for informing and improving your audience’s understanding. A visual summary of information makes it much easier to identify patterns and trends than looking through thousands of rows on a spreadsheet.
3D maps allow for flexibility and customization in creating property and/or lease data visualizations by attaching the information to where it exists in the real world. Context in real estate is really important - there’s market context, like trends and macro factors, but the biggest piece of context is the oldest adage in the book, and that’s location, location, location.
Having databases instantly accessible in an intuitive and interactive format makes data visualization easy, so users can quickly highlight the trends and data points they want to communicate.
Compelling Storytelling
PPT’s, PDFs, Excel spreadsheets and static imagery are certainly familiar, but they are not the most effective tools for showcasing the market to a client and winning the deal. It is absolutely clear that the next stage to organizing and visualizing data is giving it spatial context for actionable insights.
3D Maps allow users to interactively tell the story of the market in client pitches and stand-out from competition who are stuck in the stone age of static documents. By having data directly integrated into a visual representation of the city their team is flexible in meetings, allowing them to not only save immense amounts of time in presentation preparation but also be more adaptable based on client needs.
The immersive nature of 3D makes storytelling easy, putting the power of data-driven explorations of the market in the hands of any user so that they can highlight what matters and present the market in a way that instantly makes sense, no matter the data point. These custom maps provide a compelling visual representation of market data and can be delivered via digital or hard copy
Virtual Site Visits
The Coronavirus pandemic has made site visits impossible, forcing brokerages to adapt in real time, but the value of improving this experience exists whether there is a pandemic or not. Very few people would ever sign a lease for an office without first visiting the space — but what if you could cut down the list of desired site visits from 10 to 2 from the comfort of the office or over a Zoom call? One of leasee’s biggest complaints about the office search experience is how time consuming it is, mostly driven by adding numerous site visits to their already busy schedules and trying to navigate a process they are unfamiliar with.
3D maps allow you to explore and showcase where availabilities are virtually, drastically improving the client search process by giving them a more comprehensive understanding of all a location has to offer without ever leaving the office. Combined with the immersive nature of seeing data on each property and floor in an intuitive way, 3D maps allow users to tell the story of each availability in a way that helps clients arrive at the right decision faster.
Market Reports
Reports are created annually, quarterly, monthly, and sometimes even weekly to help commercial real estate companies take a snapshot of the market to help educate clients and the general public about trends and what’s happening.
3D maps turn these static reports into immersive and explorable experiences, where users can dive into the market and fully understand how indicators are shifting and what it means for the market. Since ever-changing information power 3D maps, these snapshots can be taken at any time, allowing real time analysis and discovery that takes a fraction of the time that traditional static reports do, helping to improve efficiency and make professionals more adaptable.
Understanding the Market
Spatial analysis has long been a leading way to plot data to make it easier to understand. Every industry on earth uses spatial mapping to optimize their business and improve efficiency in some way. In real estate, 2D maps are the leading solution, but they break down in big cities where buildings have hundreds of data points that cloud insights.
3D maps solve this by adding dimension to data, making it easier to reveal insights that are only available when information is organized spatially. Trends, hot spots, opportunities, and market changes can be more easily caught and acted on when they are clearly displayed in a visual interface.
Conclusion
3D maps have been made possible by amazing advances in technology, both in hardware and software. They allow users to explore and understand cities in ways that have never been possible. Commercial real estate companies should take advantage of this technology to standout from their competition and help their clients understand the market better, helping them to arrive at the right decision faster. If you would like to find out how KnoGeo can help your business, please fill out our contact form at www.knogeo.com and we will be in touch!
