Open source GIS based strategies for firms: a spatial analysis application to the inland terminal of Livorno

The paper explores the use of open source geographic information system (GIS) applied to firms. Most data available in a company have a spatial dimension and even decisions in marketing and management often have a spatial dimension. The paper is focus on illustrating the variegated opportunities for an open source GIS based strategy for firms. We argue that open source GIS are today as good as its proprietary competitors, and under certain circumstances, they are a superior alternative to their proprietary counterparts. A GIS based strategy for firms, as any other new application of geographical knowledge, it is a prospect of a new area for geography studies. This paper can be considered an initial essay on the role that geographers can play in spatial analysis applied to business strategy. The application is an example of applied geography supporting firm strategies and it has the purpose to identify spatial customer potentials for a specific infrastructure, the inland terminal of Guasticce (Italy).