The Added Value of Geoportals

The Added Value of Geoportals: An Internet Marketing Perspective

Version 7/22/2008

ABSTRACT

Despite the exponential growth in geoportals at all levels of organization, from local to worldwide, surveys indicate stagnating or even declining trends in visitor numbers. The cause of these trends is poorly understood. In this paper we present a marketing analysis of geoportals. We identify their main competitors, and the two domains in which geoportals can do better than their competitors: creating market transparency and supporting cross-selling. Also we discuss the importance of responding to user feedback and of giving feedback to users. We show what can be practically done by geoportals in those domains. A survey among 48 of geoportals indicates that those which are more active at providing market transparency also have more positive trends in visitor numbers. Other marketing variables were also positively correlated. The theory in this paper can be helpful for geoportal managers in setting up a marketing strategy and that it is worth doing so.