Maps and other geolocation-based features of a Fintech product may seem less critical than automated billing or analytics. But don’t underestimate the possibilities of locating individuals, companies—and opportunities—in space. In this article, find out how to leverage geolocation for Fintech products and services.
How fintechs leverage geolocation (with examples)
Most fintech and financial services companies leverage geolocation for security, compliance, and fraud prevention. If you use Revolut, you get notifications if your card is used in a location different from your current one. This way the system checks if it’s your spouse shopping or your financial data has been stolen. Banks follow the same trend and adopt geolocation technologies to get insights into user behavior and detect unusual activity. For instance, transactions occurring in disparate locations within short time frames often signal fraud. Companies like GeoComply provide such geolocation solutions to fintech companies to help verify users' real locations beyond IP addresses and accurately confirm user identities.
Geolocation is also another key to elevating user experiences. Many fintechs offer location-based services. Take Dozens: it looks at Google Maps Platform from a different banking angle to help its customers map all of their spending in any place on the globe. By locating the points where they spend more, customers can rethink their budget and save more money.
ReBase and Lost Worlds take geolocation a few steps closer to gamification. Both offer location-based NFTs. To get this type of NFT, a collector has to travel to a specific location or event and mint the NFT there, not from their smart contract. Sometimes, this NFT will be linked to a particular person, and in some cases, you’ll need to find a QR code somewhere in the city. Anyway, one has to reach a physical destination to get the desired digital collectible.
Use case: a map of companies for a B2B customer data platform
For one of our clients, we developed a solution where a map was the core feature. Using this map, one could position and find companies in a selected location based on specific criteria. This is something companies targeting small and local businesses could use; for instance, Square with its point-of-sale (POS) systems, payment processing, and business analytics tools, or Kabbage, which provides flexible funding solutions for small and local businesses.
.png?width=2400&height=1444&name=banner3%20(18).png)
The functionality of the described B2B customer data platform
The main difficulty in creating this map, from the backend perspective, was clustering the thousands of companies. On the left side of the image below, you see an example of how poor clustering of such a number of items looks like in real life. Such a map would be impossible to operate on. To the right is the map illustrating proper clustering: you zoom through several layers, each with a particular set of clusters based on your total addressable market. On every zoom layer, you see a different number of clusters, adapted to the current scale. As you zoom in, you select a cluster of the companies you need. 
To build such a layered map, we needed something more than just standard clustering algorithms. If we had used the standard ones, the companies in specific special geographical units, say a state or a city, couldn’t be spread against more than one cluster, resulting in an incorrect view.
So, in terms of implementation, we had the following:
- An input of about 20 million companies
- Cluster configuration per every zoom layer
- Offline reprocessing
- AI-powered data management platform
- A file with cluster definitions we use for map rendering
These clusters, definitions, and companies are stored in the database, which uses its own functions to find clusters in a special geographical unit or area.
Tap our years of expertise in Fintech solution development.
→ Discover INSART
A couple of words on Fintech engineering
The case above is the recipe for a digital map with superb usability that can enhance many Fintech products. This is just one example of a data solution you can build with INSART Startup Studio & Innovation Lab for Fintech companies of all stripes.
We can help you create blueprints, build an MVP, enhance the existing solution, and even help in raising funding. Your business can leverage secure, scalable, and intuitive financial products that meet the current needs of consumers and businesses, from mobile banking and payment systems to investment platforms and financial management tools. Tell us about your company, and let’s see what we can achieve together.