Market Trends of KSA Location-based Services Industry
The development of Smart City Projects in The Country is Driving the Market Growth
- The growth of urbanization in the country through intelligent city development has supported the adoption of the Internet of Things and other digital technologies to enhance the quality of life of the residents to promote sustainable development and improve the efficiency of urban services, creating an opportunity for the market growth of location-based services in the country because it can be used in enhancing the delivery of public services in the cities.
- In addition, location-based services' application in creating detailed maps and visualizations of urban areas can help city planners and decision-makers better understand the spatial distribution of various resources, services, and infrastructure, which would increase during the forecast period due to the infrastructural growth in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
- The location-based services can be used to identify patterns of land use, transportation networks, and population density, which can inform the development of more efficient and sustainable urban designs, and the country's investment in urban planning through smart city construction would fuel market growth.
- For instance, in January 2023, the Saudi Arabia General Authority for Survey and Geospatial Information stated that Esri, a market vendor for location-based services, has partnered to deliver its solutions across the country's intelligent city projects, such as NEOM, AMAALA, the Red Sea Project, the Diriyah project and AlUla project, among others in the country.
- Furthermore, location-based services can promote social inclusion by providing personalized and context-aware services to the vulnerable populations of the KSA, such as low-income residents. For instance, LBS can help address the specific needs and challenges these groups face and ensure equal access to urban resources, creating a growth opportunity for the market in the country due to the country's priority in economic development through urban planning in line with the country's Vision 2030.
Transportation and Logistics Sector Contributes Significantly to the Market Growth
- Location-based services are being increasingly used in the country's companies that want to optimize their fleet management efforts. These solutions can track drivers' location and estimate their arrival time at the designated spot, thereby monitoring travel times. For instance, in January 2023, the country's public transportation authority partnered with Wasl, an e-platform to track and control light vehicles and trucks and land transport operations, which has integrated its solution to a cloud platform named Wialon for better monitoring, showing the demand for location-based tracking solutions in the logistics and transportation sector in the country.
- In addition, advanced location-based solutions can measure the current traffic levels along indicated routes to help businesses find alternative ways for their logistics, which would create an opportunity for market growth, supported by the country's priority to become the logistics hub during the forecast period.
- For instance, in August 2023, the government of Saudi Arabia announced the master logistics centers plan to construct 59 centers with a total area exceeding 1 billion square feet, which would include 12 logistics centers for the Riyadh region, 12 for the Makkah region, 17 for the Eastern Province, and 18 across the remaining areas of the kingdom by 2030, which would increase the demand for location-based services market in the transportation and logistic segment of the country.
- The country has been registering significant traction in the development of a logistic hub through partnerships among the global logistic players to support the growth of the country's logistic sector, which would create an opportunity for the market vendors due to the application of location-based services, such as asset tracking and geotagging in the logistics sector.
- For instance, in March 2023, Aramco, the country's integrated energy and chemicals companies, and DHL, the international contract logistics provider, announced their collaboration for a joint venture that aims to be operational in 2025, which would provide reliable integrated logistics services for various industries in the country, fueling the growth of the market in the future.