Data Centers Need To Go Somewhere. AI-Powered Maps Show Where.

Data centers need to go somewhere. But they need to be built with care. Any potential site requires heavy consideration around impacts on local people and on resources like water and energy.

It’s today’s thorniest site selection issue, with a few thousand data centers already operational in the United States and over 1,500 more planned.

The search for viable locations is as much about stewardship as it is about meeting demand. In the process of finding the right locales, developers must consider many variables at once:

• Ample access to electricity, preferably the clean kind, without straining the local grid
• Enough water or low temperatures for cooling
• Proximity to fiber-optic cables
• A nearby workforce
• Assessment of environmental and safety hazards
• Genuine local support, not just favorable zoning

Often the answers are buried in volumes of spreadsheets and charts. Alternatively, analysts have found a way to map all the variables together and surface a shorter list of possible sites.

Using location technology and AI, analysts are visualizing site factors on a map. They can see the pros and cons of multiple sites and model various scenarios. Once the right site is carefully selected, they’re using the same approach to fine-tune designs that fit the location and to address community concerns before they escalate.

THIS GEOGRAPHIC APPROACH helps one engineering and environmental services firm advise major financial firms and colocation developers on data center projects.

The firm’s analysts have carved out a niche in the industry, shortening the time spent researching with maps that eliminate unsuitable locations and highlight promising ones. These smart maps can show whether a proposed site is in a flood zone or an opportunity zone and whether there are protections governing land-use.

Data-driven maps sift through thousands of sites and rank a list of properties that meet all their client’s needs. Analysis that once took hours now takes minutes.