Programmers usually fall into two camps. Those who studied Computer Science or similar at school; and those who are eventually pushed into the programming world and use interest and necessity to drive their progression.

As a graduate with a Management Masters and a BSC in Biology, programming is far from my background.  Even after learning python and touching on a few web languages, I constantly found myself wondering where on the spectrum of understanding I actually stood. If you’re like me and are constantly trying to advance your knowledge and practise good standards then you too might spend a lot time on Google going around in circles. I recently learned that not all IDEs are created equally and because I had used Wing101 for so long I decided to do some research to see if I could better my practise in python.

             The Python IDE library

 A quick google returns a plethora of blogs about useful environments from fairly expensive to cheap, right down to free ones. Many that offer license based IDEs offer a free one with limited options but ones that are still useful for those starting out. Wing, Sublimetext 3, Eclipse, PyCharm the longer you look the more that emerge and with cult like support for each, it was hard to simply pick one.

The most obvious thing that stood out for me was that in today’s python world if your IDE doesn’t have support for more than one language, and doesn’t support common Python frameworks like Django, then it is time to find a new IDE. After reading many documents, blogs, articles, reviews and general comments on IDEs and text editors there were a few common and recurring options.

In recent times, PyCharm and Komodo have been mentioned as heavyweights in the Python IDE world. Older long standing champions include Wing IDE, NotePad++, Emacs and PyDev in Eclipse. Depending on your budget and goals, any one of these is acceptable. Do your research and weigh up the pros and cons of each.

Komodo IDE is a nice package to with further language support for RUBY, PHP etc., but at $99 for a single use licence without update support, $395 for the full transferable license and only a 21 day trial I was less inclined to give it a go. Emacs is a very highly regarded environment but comes with its own learning curve because it is built using the GNU framework. If you are comfortable with python and want to build your own libraries this is the IDE for you. Wing comes in three different packages, having used Wing 101 I didn’t want to simply update to the professional version, although for some of you this may be all you need to see a lot of benefit.

After some research, I decided to try PyCharm, because it offers a free python only option, and is very highly regarded by those who have used simple lightweight IDEs beforehand. The commercial license is only a $100 license and adds support for JS, Node, CSS, etc, and because I will likely be doing web design and mapping applications in the future, this suited me.

Initially the step up from Wing IDE 101 to PyCharm was vast in a way that was both daunting and exciting. There are many more toolbars, from the inspector which can find bad practises and spelling, to the structure toolbar which displays functions, classes and variables. While there are many more menus, it all seems very similar. As I said I was excited to try much of this new functionality.

Pycharm has functionality like an Android (sorry Iphone users), and there are many tools I have still yet to use however, the ones that I have used and continue to use are outstanding. Pycharm lets you load different versions of Python in (32Bit, 64Bit, 2.7, 3.0…) as well as creating virtual environments and installing packages for you. It even automatically re-opens all of the files you were using  when you load a project. If there is one drawback it is that it suffers from memory problems and crashes randomly after extensive testing and debugging periods. It also saves as you type. Removing the need for constantly pushing save and run, however if you delete some code during a redo/undo and it crashes you’re stuck with what you had.

If you have considered using a different IDE to better your understanding of a language or have never changed are stuck using a seemingly obsolete IDE, I would recommend an upgrade. And while there have been times where I felt like it’s going to be too steep a learning curve, hanging on and pushing through has helped me in the long run. Do your research and find what you feel is the best match to not only improve now but also provides options to do it again in the future.

 - Cody Kinzett

While many businesses are moving to an on-line economy, there are nevertheless a great number of product lines where simply being in the right place on the ground is, and will always be, important.

Is your business located in the right place? If it is, or you don’t have a choice to shift it right now, then what Customer opportunities are you missing? Do you know why your customers use you? And how can you find out?

One of the critical parts of business intelligence is finding out why your customers use you. You can create questionnaires and surveys but these are notoriously unreliable. Firstly people have to be committed to spending the time to fill it in, and secondly people often give the answers that they think you want to hear. Also if you haven’t asked the right questions you won’t get the right answers. Laslty, you can’t ask the people who don’t use you why it is so. However if you know your customer’s location, where they live or work then many of these questions can be answered for you.

A great way to visualise business data is through using spatial analysis tools to create new insights. In the case of this business we calculated the market penetration of the business’s target market demographics which can be visualised as a contoured map, such as the one shown. While there was some variance, the business exceeded 50% market penetration within 1.25 km driving distance. As the driving distance away from the business increased, market penetration dropped off at a steady rate to a distance of 4km clearly showing the importance of customer location to the business. Beyond this location played no part in the customers choosing to use the business, which accounted for 30% of the purchasers.

By identifying which customers are coming to you where your location plays no part in their decision gives you a source of information about why your customers are choosing you over your competitors, in this case the green dots.

Being able to segment and understand your customers using maps is going to give you a valuable edge over your competitors.

What is your customer profile? Who are the customers that you are targeting most?

Are they wealthy or poor? Old or young? Single or Partnered? Parents or Empty Nesters? Educated? Employed, Self-employed, Unemployed or Retired? Do they belong to a particular ethnic group? Using the Census data we can tell what proportion of the population meets your target market.

In an ideal world how often should your customers be purchasing your products? If you know where your customers live or work then it is possible to determine what your market penetration is and where. Which means you then have the insight on where to target your marketing, how much you have to gain (or retain) and how much you should invest in pursuing that market.

If you don’t know where your customers live or work then that becomes the first problem to solve. Fortunately this is a relatively easy to overcome and will give you a strategic edge over your competitors. And to do it before they get in first.

While many businesses are moving to an on-line economy, there are nevertheless a great number of product lines where simply being in the right place on the ground is, and will always be, important.

Is your business located in the right place? If it is, or you don’t have a choice to shift it right now, then what Customer opportunities are you missing? Do you know why your customers use you? And how can you find out?

One of the critical parts of business intelligence is finding out why your customers use you. You can create questionnaires and surveys but these are notoriously unreliable. Firstly people have to be committed to spending the time to fill it in, and secondly people often give the answers that they think you want to hear. Also if you haven’t asked the right questions you won’t get the right answers. Laslty, you can’t ask the people who don’t use you why it is so. However if you know your customer’s location, where they live or work then many of these questions can be answered for you.

A great way to visualise business data is through using spatial analysis tools to create new insights. In the case of this business we calculated the market penetration of the business’s target market demographics which can be visualised as a contoured map, such as the one shown. While there was some variance, the business exceeded 50% market penetration within 1.25 km driving distance. As the driving distance away from the business increased, market penetration dropped off at a steady rate to a distance of 4km clearly showing the importance of customer location to the business. Beyond this location played no part in the customers choosing to use the business, which accounted for 30% of the purchasers.

By identifying which customers are coming to you where your location plays no part in their decision gives you a source of information about why your customers are choosing you over your competitors, in this case the green dots.

Being able to segment and understand your customers using maps is going to give you a valuable edge over your competitors.

What is your customer profile? Who are the customers that you are targeting most?

Are they wealthy or poor? Old or young? Single or Partnered? Parents or Empty Nesters? Educated? Employed, Self-employed, Unemployed or Retired? Do they belong to a particular ethnic group? Using the Census data we can tell what proportion of the population meets your target market.

In an ideal world how often should your customers be purchasing your products? If you know where your customers live or work then it is possible to determine what your market penetration is and where. Which means you then have the insight on where to target your marketing, how much you have to gain (or retain) and how much you should invest in pursuing that market.

If you don’t know where your customers live or work then that becomes the first problem to solve. Fortunately this is a relatively easy to overcome and will give you a strategic edge over your competitors. And to do it before they get in first.

Vicinity Solutions are excited to be on the cover of this month's NZBusiness magazine, helping spread the message of geospatial to NZ!

Vicinity has thrived despite its ongoing battles to survive, like many businesses, in the quake stricken city. NZBusiness was keen to showcase a cutting edge technology and tell the story of both the strengths and sacrifices needed that go to making a successful start-up.

Part of that success can be associated to the directors, Bryan Clarke and Shelley Sutcliffe’s, experience and part of it to the size of the growth in a relatively new industry, one in which they have existed since its birth. 

The Directors are both delighted and humbled by the company’s recent success. Bryan said of the news, “For us [being on the cover of NZ Business] is not only recognition of our standing in the geospatial community but also that we’re venturing into new territory.”

Shelley said “I genuinely want to see ‘geospatial as a concept’ understood by more people in the world, so anything we can do [for NZ Inc.], to increase the understanding of the geospatial world is great. This to me, is a step in the right direction. “

This comes at critical time for the company as it begins to release a new type of Business Analysis.

While the GIS industry has been quite focused on asset management, utilities, road networks, traditionally the domain of Governmental Organisations and Infrastructure companies; increasingly, industry recognition is causing many private organisations, who need to maximise their bottom line, to try new things and see the benefit from new types of analysis.

You can download the article: