Geospatial Information System-Based

Macro-Analysis: Find Your Place in the World

Opportunity MappingOpportunity

Mapping

Location can have a huge impact on start-up, operating costs and business success. Whether you are in the business of manufacturing solar cells, packaging potato chips, or providing data center services, good site selection can make or break your business.

How does your business select its next manufacturing, sales, distribution, or headquarters location? How do you begin to narrow down the possibilities?

Opportunity Mapping is an IDC Architects method of macro-analysis based on a Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) approach of layering and weighting site criteria. This approach is designed to quantitatively and dynamically analyze multiple parameters and visually combine and map these parameters based on custom criteria.

Opportunity Mapping avoids anecdotal decisions and can quickly narrow your site search to a few key areas based on real data. Using this approach allows more time for due diligence and negotiations on a few specific sites and allows you to focus on moving your business forward.

The basic Opportunity Mapping process looks like this.

The following pages present a sample analysis of data center hot spots to demonstrate how the process can be applied. Opportunity Mapping can benefit a wide range of industries and facility types.

Opportunity mapping starts by understanding your business.

The first step in our process is to drill down into your business drivers, cost structures, and operating parameters and develop strong site selection criteria. Criteria can be project-specific and dynamic, including any of the following business drivers:

• Construction costs• Network connectivity• Operating labor costs• Road, rail, transportation

infrastructure• Incentives and special

enterprise zones• Weather, geology,

environmental factors• Workforce availability and

qualifications• Risk to infrastructure• Corporate, personal and

property taxes• Land or building costs• Utility rates• Proximity to raw materials

and markets• Logistics and

transportation• Special environmental

zones, protected species

Data Collection

and Individual

Variable Maps

Identifying Siting

Criteria

Opportunities Identified

Weighting and

Overlaying

Electric Power Availability & ReliabilityQuick, low cost connection to reliable power sources is a critical siting consideration for data centers. To measure these parameters, we analyzed the locations, capacities, and characteristics of substations and transmission lines in the U.S.

SubstationsIn this map layer we identified the stations most appropriate for supplying the electrical demands of a generic data center. The filtered “best” substation map appears above, with distances from the substation colored blue (closest to a substation) to red (farthest from a substation).

The filtered substations were then analyzed and mapped for density, highlighting areas of the U.S. in closest proximity to multiple appropriate substations blue (lots of redundant electrical infrastructure) to red (little or no redundancy or no existing service).

TransmissionIn the map layer at right, we identified the transmission lines most suited for supplying electric power at the scale required by general data centers, including filtering out long haul lines, DC lines, and other inappropriate infrastructure. The filtered “best” transmission line map layer is colored blue (closest to a potential transmission line) to red (farthest from a potential transmission line).

The filtered transmission lines were then analyzed to show the density of these transmission lines, effectively displaying the areas of the U.S. with the closest and most redundant access to transmission capacity.

Opportunity mapping sample analysis: data center hot spots

Substation Access

Redundancy and Reliability of Substations

Source Data from PLATTS

Best

Worst

Transmission Line Redundancy and Reliability

Substation Redundancy and Reliability

250kV and Greater Transmission Line Access

Electric power variables, especially price, availability and redundancy/reliability, are critical to energy intensive data center functions. Increasingly, the carbon footprints of a data center’s energy sources are also important.

Industrial Power Rates(Cents / kWh)

Source Data from PLATTS

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Industrial Power Rates

Pounds of CO2 / MWh by Service Territory

Electricity rates represent the single largest cost of operations, meaning that choosing a location with reasonable power rates is critical.

Electric rates vary by utility service territory. For this map layer, we mapped current industrial power prices per kWh by utility service territory. The map layer above shows clearly that utility territory borders are unique, and that electric prices can swing dramatically across small distances.

As a huge consumer of electric power, data centers are increasingly measured by their carbon footprint. Carbon footprint can be reduced through the use of green energy, or electricity supplied by power plants with lower carbon emissions.

In this map layer, we analyzed the carbon emissions of the nation’s power plants according to fuel type. By displaying carbon emissions relative to annual energy generation, the regional carbon intensity of each utility territory becomes clear.

“Green” Power (Carbon Footprint per MWh)

Clean

Dirty

Population Density

Source Data from ESRI

<450400–450350–400300–350250–300200–250150–200100–15050–1000–50

Redundancy and ReliabilityLong Haul Fiber Optic Networks

Fiber Optic Redundancy and Reliability: Long Haul Fiber Optic Networks

Analysis (above) of the same data shows distance to long haul network capacity in a specific region.

Population DensityMetropolitan Areas

Metro areas are typically the source of demand for IT services, nodes for infrastructure connectivity, and the source of IT professionals.

In this map layer, we used population density statistics by county to highlight the major metro areas in the U.S. Any demographic data can be used as a basis for a similar mapping layer, such as workforce composition, unemployment rates, or average hourly pay.

NetworksFiber Connectivity

Second in importance only to electricity, data centers require access to reliable, redundant, and high capacity fiber connections.

In this map layer, we used data of long haul fiber to show the redundancy of major fiber routes. The map layer to the left shows which areas in the U.S. have access to redundant long haul network resources. Other or more specific network criteria and/or geographic reach are also possible.

Best

Worst

About IDC ArchitectsIDC Architects is an integrated, multidisciplinary planning and design firm focused on science and technology, with a global presence and a singular vision: to discover better ways for people, technology, buildings, and the environment to work together. Our integrated method of architectural and engineering design produces sound master plans, functional and flexible spaces, reliable building systems, and sustainable solutions, achieved through a highly collaborative process that fully engages all project stakeholders.

As a CH2M HILL company, IDC Architects has access to the resources of a global leader in full-service consulting, design, design-build, operations, and program management for public and private clients. With US$6.3 billion in revenue and more than 30,000 employees worldwide, CH2M HILL delivers innovative, practical, sustainable solutions—helping clients develop and manage infrastructure and facilities that improve efficiency, safety, and quality of life. The firm has long been recognized as a most-admired company and leading employer. CH2M HILL is an industry-leading program management, construction management, and design firm as ranked by Engineering News-Record (2011).

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