Generating business intelligence geospatial elements

Abstract

Techniques are described for creating geospatial elements based on geographical data. In one example, a method for creating geospatial elements based on geographical data includes collecting one or more geographical indicators comprised in a set of operational data, the geographical indicators indicating one or more geographical areas. The method further includes collecting, from a set of geographical data, geospatial data associated with the one or more geographical areas indicated by the one or more geographical indicators. The method further includes generating one or more aggregated geospatial elements based on the one or more geographical indicators and the geospatial data.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for creating geospatial elements based on geographical data, the method comprising:
 collecting, with one or more computing devices, one or more geographical indicators comprised in a set of operational data, the geographical indicators indicating one or more geographical areas;   collecting, with the one or more computing devices, from a set of geographical data, geospatial data associated with the one or more geographical areas indicated by the one or more geographical indicators; and   generating, with the one or more computing devices, one or more aggregated geospatial elements based on the one or more geographical indicators and the geospatial data.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a defined outer geographical boundary contains the one or more geographical areas indicated by the one or more geographical indicators, the method further comprising:
 assigning one or more additional geographical areas contained within the outer geographical boundary to one of the aggregated geospatial elements.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 assigning the additional geographical areas contained within the outer geographical boundary to one or more of the aggregated geospatial elements, until all portions of area within the outer geographical boundary are assigned to one of the aggregated geospatial elements.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein assigning the one or more additional geographical areas contained within the outer geographical boundary to the one of the aggregated geospatial elements further comprises:
 selecting one of the aggregated geospatial elements to which to assign one of the additional geographical areas, wherein the selecting is based on a set of logical rules.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein assigning the one or more additional geographical areas contained within the outer geographical boundary to one of the aggregated geospatial elements comprises compositing one or more of the additional geographical areas together with the one or more geographical areas indicated by the one or more geographical indicators using set union and intersection semantics. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more aggregated geospatial elements indicate geographical areas. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising superposing one or more of the aggregated geospatial elements on a map image of a map application. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more aggregated geospatial elements comprise one or more geospatial files. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the one or more geospatial files are compatible for usage with a Geographical Information System (GIS) application. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the operational data comprises a business model hierarchy. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the business model hierarchy comprises leaf nodes comprising one or more of the geographical indicators, and one or more of the aggregated geospatial elements are associated with one or more of the leaf nodes of the business model hierarchy. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the leaf nodes comprise one or more names and one or more attributes, wherein the one or more names comprise one or more names of geographical areas, and the one or more attributes comprise one or more attributes of geographical areas. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the operational data comprises Business Intelligence reports, and the one or more geographical indicators comprise geographical indicators associated with Business Intelligence data. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the operational data comprises a business model hierarchy and one or more business transaction records, wherein the business model hierarchy comprises leaf nodes corresponding to geographical divisions of the business model hierarchy, the leaf nodes comprising one or more of the geographical indicators, and one or more of the aggregated geospatial elements are associated with one or more of the geographical divisions of the business model hierarchy and with one or more of the business transaction records. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein collecting the one or more geographical indicators comprises:
 searching, with one or more computing devices, one or more Business Intelligence data sources in the set of operational data for the geographical indicators.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more aggregated geospatial elements are in a format that is searchable with a geospatial query using set union and intersection semantics.