❶  Renounce the GIS status quo

Majority of geographical information systems back then bloated with robust functionality. But one had to be a GIS expert to properly utilise them. The bar for any previous GIS knowledge requirements had to be pushed as low as mentally possible. Anyone with zero GIS knowledge was supposed to be able to work with and gain insight from CleverMaps.




❷  The map is the core visualisation

Charts, ranks, numbers, statuses... That's what business intelligence has been after for years already. Location intelligence has to be all about its greatest asset: the where component. The map had to become the actual cornerstone of the product with all the other elements supplementary to it—not the other way around.




❸  Provide relevant information only

That sounds pretty obvious, but relevant information has no clear contours when dealing with huge amounts of data from different business verticals with thousands of possible use cases and opposing user archetypes. The information hierarchy and flow had to be completely redefined and the entire UI stripped to the bones to even begin to figure out what the relevant information means and in what contexts.




❹  Make the platform universal

The product had to universally satisfy wide range of very diverse uses—not providing ad hoc solutions to very specific needs of few specific clients. It had to be flexible and consistent at the same time and introduce a lot of supporting peripherals to really become a fully mature product—not just a bunch of features stitched together.