With support from the SBA, the University of Redlands’ School of Business is developing a Small Business GIS Program to provide education, training and services to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), with the goal of enabling them to apply GIS to improve their competitiveness and success. Despite strong adoption by government and larger corporations, GIS has been underutilized by small businesses. SMEs can use this technology to increase efficiencies, to understand their environment, and to make better decisions.

Under this program, the School of Business is working with the Redlands Institute to develop a digital, online portal that demonstrates the value of a spatial approach to small businesses in the Inland Empire. This portal serves as both a resource and demonstration project, providing SME users with access to case studies, management reports, training materials, research papers, and spatial data. The web portal hosts an online resource library, as well as two virtual atlases: the Inland Empire Business Atlas, and the Global Trade Atlas.

The Inland Empire Business Atlas will help Southern California business owners explore and understand the basic economic, demographic, and physical characteristics of our region. With generous support from ESRI, we hope that the Inland Empire Business Atlas will become a valuable resource to help our local businesses navigate the transition to a more stable economy -- one that will power the sustainable communities of our future.