FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

All client websites are stored on Amazon Web Services (AWS). That means your ZoomProspector Enterprise is securely hosted on the most reliable and fastest cloud system in the world, the same one used by the U.S. federal government, Netflix, Dow Jones, Airbnb, Comcast, Expedia, and multinational corporations like Unilever and Pfizer.

No. All services from sales to programming to marketing to training and customer service are performed by full-time GIS Planning team members.

GIS Planning’s online tools are all fully featured and mobile responsive, so all of the functionality can be enjoyed from any device. That includes maps and reports, features not offered on the mobile versions of competing vendors.

Yes. We do not "tier" levels of service. Changing a logo, additional training, adding local layers, updating your data and features... all are included. We pride ourselves on being responsive to client need and inquiries and never charge for this service.

We push out updates, upgrades, and new features or functionality roughly every three months. And since we are the only GIS site selection data tool vendor to do all our programming in-house, you can count on products that actually work. Our clients know they count on using the most sophisticated and user-friendly tool in the industry. That's why #wearewhatsnew.

Yes. Our Intelligence Components can be placed in various areas outside of your website outside of the GIS application. This allows for consistent data that is updated multiple times annually and it comes with our ZoomProspector Enterprise Tool.

Yes. ZoomProspector.com is our U.S. national site selection portal that allows the user to search for communities and/or properties based on MANY variables that are important to them. All of our full edition clients have their properties automatically listed and add their contact information, photos, and additional community information and links for free. It’s an additional SEO boost that helps ensure your location is easily found by investors.

We provide the data featured in ZoomProspector, though we can also accommodate many kinds of local data you may wish to provide. Our data sources depend on your country. In the United States, we use a variety of public and private sources, including Applied Geographical Solutions (AGS) and InfoGroup USA. In Canada, we use Environics and InfoGroup Canada. We have a team in Belfast devoted to selecting the best possible data sources for countries in Europe and around the world. We also do our best to build in any relevant local data you would like to include.

This again depends on the data source for your country. In the U.S., demographic and labor force data is updated two times a year, with business data updated four times annually. Canadian data sources are updated twice annually.

Yes, we provide you with over 20 local layers such as rail, cable lines, fiber, hospitals, environmental, incentives (including Federal Opportunity Zones), and more.  You can also add additional layers by providing us with the ShapeFile or KML/KMZ.

Yes. Thematic heat maps are included on our Demographics, Labor Force, Consumer Expenditures, and Wages reports.

Yes. No other vendor offers this interactive talent pool data.

Yes, at a time duration you set (i.e., 60 days, 90 days etc.).

Yes. We can set up data feeds to your GIS application from any broker firm and MLS system that will allow us to connect. We work with major listing services such as RealMassive.com, OfficeSpace.com, Spacelist, Altus and others. Our client services team will work with you to find the best possible data listing solutions for your region.

Yes, as many relevant layers as you like! 

Site selectors and businesses making location decisions come to your website with unique questions; static PDF reports can be frustrating because they don't allow users to drill into the data, sort it, and analyze it to get the answers they need. GIS Planning's ZoomProspector offers dynamic, interactive report that is easy to save and share in multiple formats.

Dynamic searching is best practices design for online data tools. It means our tools adjust results on the fly as users input criteria. This is tremendously helpful because it keeps your website visitors (site selectors, businesses making location decisions, existing businesses and other stakeholders) engaged. It also means search criteria calculate and offer results faster. All of this helps lower bounce rates and ensure your website visitors are able to access the data they need as quickly and easily as possible.

ZoomProspector users can take advantage of our dynamic radius tool, which can be dragged across the map to the desired distance. Radius and drive time can also be entered manually at the top of reports. Website users can also use the free draw tool which allows them to draw any shaped area for analysis.

Yes. It allows the administrator to conduct a “call for properties” with their registered site users and/or send a customized proposal to a site selector with identified sites that are mapped as well as any other relevant information the administrator would like to include (i.e. video, pictures, etc…).

We offer three layers of analytics. The first one is Google Analytics, which provides information such as where a user is coming from, time of day, duration of visit etc. Second, you can access ZoomProspector Analytics from the admin, which will tell you what economic development data the user is searching for (i.e. office space and what size, community, etc.). Third, we have Lead Gen ID, which provides you with the actual name of the company looking at your website, the location of the office doing the online search, and which properties and/or reports they are visiting.

Absolutely. Any property, report, or thematic heat map with (or without) layers can be emailed, posted on social media, downloaded as a PDF, and even shared with a custom generated link to bring viewers back to your website.

Yes. Our mobile-friendly, intuitive admin allows you to add/delete/modify any property in the application and provide your city partners and/or broker firms with various levels of access and management.