In analytics terms, the graffiti could have produced a text analysis to accompany the spatial analytics of encampment movements.

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The Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) at University College London, another research hotbed, uses data from London's Oyster cards used to pay for public transport and Twitter messages.

ECONOMIST: Urban research

Walton Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis at Rutgers, who led the map's development.

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ESRI's software's key strength is the "club sandwich effect" by which customers handle advanced spatial analysis with up to dozens of layers of data from economic, demographic and environmental databases.

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By integrating various spatial, topographical and demographic databases, the Oak Ridge Siting Analysis for Power Generation Expansion (OR-SAGE) divides the U.S. into nearly 700 million 2.5-acre units that can be sliced and diced to determine if they are candidates for one or more types of electric power plant.

FORBES: Plotting The Next-Generation U.S. Power Grid