Technology Trends

There’s an old saying that “what you don’t know can’t hurt you.” Charming. But not in the world of modern business, where what you don’t see, literally, can derail your supply chain, wreck your timeline and make your carefully budgeted quarter look like a very expensive game of hide-and-seek.
Welcome to the often-overlooked world of location intelligence. Not the buzzword version with fancy dashboards and GPS pins, but the deeper, real-time, silently powerful kind that keeps your operations humming before disaster strikes.
Location Intelligence Trends for 2025: What the Numbers Say
Let’s start with the good news: businesses are waking up. The global location intelligence market hit $21 billion in 2024 and is marching confidently toward a projected $53 billion by 2030. The future of location intelligence involves deeper integrations across enterprise operations.


These location data trends reveal how businesses are focusing heavily on visible consumer-facing efficiencies:
Splendid. Except that only 14% are using it for risk assessment or insurance claims. Which is a bit like installing CCTV in your café but forgetting to lock the door.
This tells us that while location intelligence trends for 2025 point to growth and buzz, the real value, proactive risk visibility, is still snoozing in the corner.
The Real Risk: Underestimating Location Data
Experts agree: location data is still widely underused or worse, misused. One report put it rather bluntly:
“If your location data isn’t accurate, complete and accessible across your business, it will increase business risk instead of generating business value.”
This isn’t scare-mongering. It’s math. And logistics.
Consider this: many companies still view location intelligence as a fancy wrapper for marketing reports. In reality, it’s the digital nervous system of a brand, essential for avoiding everything from bad weather to bad vendor decisions.
Supply chain strategists now argue that real-time, location-aware monitoring is the foundation of operational resilience. Without it, you’re essentially guessing your way through turbulence, with a blindfold on and a spreadsheet for comfort.
How Brands Got Location Intelligence Right or Totally Missed It
If you ever want to know who’s truly using location intelligence, not just saying they are waiting for a crisis. Because when the world starts spinning sideways, brands either reroute with grace or scramble like cats in a bath.
Global Crisis Routing (COVID-19 & Ukraine Conflict)
During the early COVID-19 lockdowns and again in the 2022 Ukraine conflict, companies with robust location intelligence systems did something magical: they rerouted shipments and found alternate suppliers within hours. The key? Real-time visibility into not just where goods were, but what routes were still viable.
And those without it? Let’s just say some were last seen pleading with customs officers via fax.
Suez Canal Blockage (2021)
When the Suez Canal was famously blocked in 2021 (yes, by that one ship we all remember), companies equipped with advanced location visibility rerouted shipments along alternate paths with surprising speed. Delays were minimized. Customers were still served.
In contrast, others had no idea what was happening until their “in-transit” inventory turned into “sitting-duck” stock. Some learned the hard way that maps without insight are just colourful wallpaper.
Regional Disruptions: Floods & Strikes
Flash floods in Europe (2021) and logistics strikes on the Mexico border (2023) tested businesses again. Those with location risk alerts adjusted logistics or sourcing in real time. Those without? Well, they adjusted their PR statements instead, after absorbing longer delays and bigger losses.
Unilever: Quietly Brilliant with Traceability
And then there’s Unilever, quietly proving that location intelligence isn’t just for deliveries and disasters. They use location-enabled traceability tools to track raw materials down to the source, ensuring environmental and ethical compliance throughout their supply chain.
No drama. No scandals. Just proactive transparency using geospatial data, the kind that helps you sleep at night and sail through audits.
Each of these stories makes one thing clear:
Ignoring location intelligence creates gaps. Using it builds resilience.
When brands integrate real-time location data into critical decisions, they don’t just survive disruption; they often sidestep it entirely.
Indoor Mapping with Location Intelligence: How Mapsted Changes the Game
Now, let’s talk indoors. Yes, indoors! Where traditional GPS throws up its hands and says, “Not my problem.”
Enter Mapsted. It supports minimal hardware and indoor mapping with location intelligence, which means malls, airports, campuses and even the corner coffee shop can unlock real-time visibility without cluttering the space with beacons or wires. Just data, beautifully harnessed.
Need to track customer flow across a multi-level store? Done. Want to map assets in a campus building with GPS-level precision? Easy. Mapsted’s self-serve mapping tools let brands digitize their spaces and see what’s happening inside.
As founder Paramvir Nagpal puts it, this is “the next big thing for navigation, mapping and intelligent data.” And frankly, if your operations include even one square foot of indoor activity, ignoring this might just be the “one thing” you regret later.
TL;DR: The Location Intelligence Trend You’re Probably Missing in 2025
Location intelligence is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s a strategic lever. And the biggest blind spot brands face is assuming that a pin on a map is the whole picture.
The truth?
It’s the data you don’t see, the factory near a floodplain, the warehouse in a transit strike zone, the customer behaviour behind your store walls, that will make or break your resilience. And that’s the answer to the question – how will location intelligence evolve in 2025, more real-time, more precise and more indispensable than ever.
If you found this blog helpful, please read our blog on Role of Smart Technology for Passenger Engagement at Airports or watch our video on Mapsted Location Technology Navigation Capabilities Demo.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What are emerging trends in location intelligence?
Ans. Emerging trends in location intelligence include AI-powered spatial analytics, real-time risk mapping and broader adoption in sectors like healthcare, urban planning and logistics.
Q2. How will AI in location intelligence evolve in 2025?
Ans. AI in location intelligence is evolving from reactive analytics to predictive intelligence, automating risk alerts, powering indoor navigation and enabling real-time decision-making at scale.
Q3. Why is location intelligence important for 2025?
Ans. In a world of constant disruption, geopolitical, environmental or infrastructural, location intelligence provides the visibility brands need to act fast, stay resilient and remain competitive.
Q4. What are some location intelligence use cases?
Ans. Location intelligence use cases include last-mile delivery optimization, real-time asset tracking, fraud prevention, supply chain risk detection and customer behaviour analysis in physical spaces.
Q5. How to implement a location intelligence strategy effectively?
Ans. Start by digitizing your indoor and outdoor spaces, then integrate with tools that layer in AI insights and spatial data. Using platforms like Mapsted helps streamline this process from day one.
Q6. How is Mapsted different from other solutions?
Ans. Mapsted offers indoor mapping with location intelligence, without relying on Bluetooth, beacons or external hardware, delivering accurate, real-time data from spaces where GPS can’t reach.
Q7. What are location intelligence trends for 2025?
Ans. Location intelligence trends for 2025 include deeper enterprise integration, convergence of indoor and outdoor data, predictive AI applications and smarter spatial tools for operational resilience.