What is GeoDash™

GeoDash is a light weight location intelligence tool designed to seamlessly integrate geospatial functions into MicroStrategy.  It is the only geospatial solution for MicroStrategy that provides truly deep integration with the platform and Google Maps™.  GeoDash fully capitalizes on MicroStrategy v9’s plug-in architecture to natively leveraging BI functions from drilling and pivoting to metadata and security.  No other solution provides that level of integration.  Most require their own metadata and server environment while some require resources with specialized skills and knowledge of GIS.  Jump to GeoDash vs. MicroStrategy 9.2 Google Widget.

By providing a tightly integrated solution, customers of GeoDash can deploy location intelligence at a fraction of the cost. Reduced administrative overhead, rapid deployment, low upfront investment, minimal training requirements, and increased user adoption are just some of the benefits.

Key advantages of the GeoDash architecture:

• Low administrative overhead
• Light foot print architecture
• Requires no additional hardware, software, client tools, or database space
• Sensitive data never leaves the MicroStrategy ecosystem
• Heavy GIS processing done int he cloud without sensitive data
• Increased user adoption due to seamless UI integration
• Lower total cost of ownership

How it Compares

GeoDash vs. MicroStrategy 9.2 Google Widget

The most important thing to understand here is that you are still required to secure a separate license agreement with Google in order to use the maps in production.  BigDataLabs is a certified Apps Reseller and thus includes Google licensing when you buy from us.  The cost of GeoDash is bundled together with the cost of Google to provide you with the simplest licensing structure for enterprise software.

In addition to being the most cost effective and lightweight alternative to other solutions, GeoDash offers rich GIS features which the MicroStrategy Map widget simply does not provide (through the latest v9.2 release).  Although the native Map widget offers the familiar static Google maps interface, end users are not able to perform detailed drilling using user defined hierarchies, templates, etc.  Unlike the MicroStrategy Map widget, GeoDash offers “heat maps”, providing tiling technology to color code boundaries based on countries, states, counties, zip-5, and zip-3.  End users are also able to create “custom territories”, which are more business driven rather than geographical based (e.g., Sales Territories).  GeoDash offers many easy-to-use GIS and spatial features (which the Map widget does NOT), that are tightly embedded within the MicroStrategy reports and dashboards, including:

• Clustering (Automatic “cluster” of pin markers on the Google maps interface, with ability to drill down to “sub-clusters” or pin markers)
• Routing (Automatic distance and time calculation handled on the fly)
• Geocoding on the fly (Data does not need to be geo-coded)
  • MicroStrategy Map widget requires location data to be geocoded already
• Ability to draw lines and shapes on the map directly