Exciting new geospatial functionality - IBM Cognos and MapBox

IBM have partnered with MapBox to greatly extend the mapping capabilities in Cognos Analytics and Watson Analytics. Mapping has often felt out of reach for some businesses because it requires additional investment, customisation routines with map files, or integration with online services that don't work on mobile devices. This means this latest development is fantastic news to existing customers and will sway many potential businesses comparing vendors. Take a look at these MapBox examples for an idea of what's possible.

The new functionality is scheduled for release at the end of the year so details are (not surprisingly) a little thin on the ground at the moment, however there are several key messages:

• Fully integrated maps with drill, zoom and layer functionality
• Maps will be available on dashboards, computers and mobile devices
• All functionality will be a core part of the Cognos Analytics platform, with no requirements for additional component installations
• Mapping will be available in both the on-premise and cloud version of Cognos Analytics
• There will be no additional licence cost
• Will be able to use standard geographical, custom or polygon maps
• The functionality will only available in Cognos Analytics, not Cognos 10

The "no additional cost" message will be very interesting to many and because MapBox is an OpenSource company I believe this really will be the case. I know the majority of our customers are very keen to be able to use this type of functionality, so if this is something you're interested in then we need to start planning an upgrade to Cognos Analytics.

Here's a link to the IBM announcement video discussing the release.