These 3D Maps Show Where Shoppers Are At Any Moment Based On Their Mobile Phone Signals

Placed is a new mobile "location analytics" company that builds visual 3D maps for advertisers showing where their customers are at any given moment based on signals sent out from their mobile phones.

Knowing where shoppers are when they're not actually in the store will help advertisers buy location-based mobile ad campaigns, the company believes.

The maps Placed produces show high "affinity locations" for a brands' audience in any given metro areas.

The data is based on an opt-in panel 100,000-plus users who have volunteered to be tracked in exchange for shopping "incentives." Their data is continuously mapped by Placed, based on GPS. Placed then adds a level of intelligent modeling, so that, for instance, if a person is equidistant from a Starbucks and a bar on a Friday at midnight, the model will show that the bar is the likely location of the user.

Here's an example, for Starbucks loyalists in the Seattle area:

The system allows companies to compare the density and location of their users versus their competitors. Here is Sears v Kmart in Chicago and Macy's v. JCPenney in New York:

Here are McDonald's fans, as located in Chicago:

Dunkin Donuts in Boston:

And Apple in San Francisco: