GeoSmart's upcoming software release BIonaMAP, which stands for Business Intelligence on a Map, is designed to display location-specific market intelligence.

Sales and marketing manager at GeoSmart, Luigi Cappel, said BIonaMAP allows users to create and view layers of information over a map for easier visualisation and new applications of data.

GeoSmart intends to partner with a database provider to ensure that relevant third party data is available to users.

To illustrate, Cappel gave the example of an EFTPOS company which could load databases into BIonaMAP to view locations of its clients compared with locations of competitors clients. "At a glance, this will show them how well each territory is doing from a market share perspective," said Cappel.

Continuing the example, Cappel said the software could be used to identify specific areas to target for sales calls, sites by last contact with the company, sites closer to major events - and on.

BIonaMAP will be available as SaaS and will work in-browser, providing results much more quickly than similar GIS (Geographical Information Systems) applications could, said Cappel. BIonaMap will also bring the sort of information that previously has only been available through expensive GIS programmes into the hands of small businesses and requires minimal training.

Cappel said the service will include a range of data from the census, which will allow it to query based on owner-occupancy levels, ethnicity, average income, gender, age and much more.

No word on pricing for the service yet, but Cappel anticipated services for SMBs right through to large corporate and enterprise clients.

For more on BIonaMAP, see Cappel's blog at GeoSmart Weblog.

Update: Clarification on SaaS capabilities vs GIS.