Want vs. Need: What would you give up?

Recession or not, volatile economics in one's life can force an evaluation of the distinction between a want vs. a need. 

And when technology is involved, the choices can sometimes seem harder. Pew Research's  Internet and American Life Project published a study earlier this year. The study  was focussed on moble acces to data and information, but it also contained an interesting chart (see below) that attempted to quantify what struggles people would have in giving up particular devices.

The trends would seem clear: mobility and broad utility would be hard to give up.  

Surprising (to me at least) is the distinction between cell phone and wireless email device responses. As smartphones/iPods and others blur the distinction between applications (like voice or email) and networks (like internet access), I wonder if the perception of need changes or if it's the question that must? From the study:

1. 􀂄58% of adult Americans have used a cell phone or personal digital assistant to do at least one of ten mobile non-voice data activities, such as texting, emailing, taking a picture, looking for maps or directions, or recording video.
   
2. 41% of adult Americans have logged onto the internet on the go, that is, away from home or work either with a wireless laptop connection or a handheld device.

These numbers, in the context of the chart below, would indicate that use correlates highly with perceived need in the case of mobile and internet (41% need from 58% use).  Whereas with TV, less than half the users (where 100% are assumed to have used) would find it hard to live without. 

Either way, marketers will face challenges in selecting vehicles perceived as easy to discard...particularly if economics force a choice between wants and needs.

(Click to enlarge) 

A map of the world

We prepare maps frequently for our client's planning efforts. For some, the maps are associated with traditional media planning. For others, maps show opportunity clusters of customers prospects and the hybrid also known as "distribution".

We love maps...especially when we are trying to figure out where we are headed. The problem with maps is getting the data to make them. You know data is out there, you just don't know where to get it. Or if you do, you sometimes have to pay upfront for the prospect that it may be of high quality and use. What's one to do?

Well, here's an answer: GeoCommons

Their tag is 'Actionable maps in five minutes'.

Their offering consists of two components: The Finder!, which scans the global web for accessible data sources and then allows you to search for the datasets.

And The Maker! which allows you to create maps from the data you have found.

The Finder! search function is not nearly as nuanced as a Google search in its results, so the more specific your input, the less wading one will do.

The Maker!, unfortunately, is coming soon.

In the meantime, you can download datasets from the Finder! in file formats like Excel or in .KML format, which can be imported directly into Google Earth, or other mapping software.

Here's a screen grab of an FCC dataset on High Speed Lines by State, 2002-07 that I imported into Google Earth using the uber-complicated drag-and-drop method (for the record it took me 7 minutes and 15 seconds, to find, download and create this, but that's because I'm an ID10T):

(click to enlarge)

What my shiny new point-and-click interface shows me is that Wyoming actually has a higher broadband penetration among businesses than residential locations...a whopping 50.8% of businesses are connected at hyper-speeds. Now if I could just find a dataset on wi-fi hotspots, I might be able to publish a point-and-click Google Earth wi-fi locator density map!

In the end, GeoCommons has the potential to remove the inefficiencies in finding and employing data in novel ways. In the short term, it may also challenge proprietary mapping software like MapPoint. What's unclear is whether access to publically available data--with tools to put it to use in 5 minutes-- will encourage or discourage the sharing of that data.