CARTOs

CARTO is a technology company that provides a cloud-based location intelligence platform for creating maps, performing geospatial analysis, and building location-enabled applications. The platform is designed to help users visualize spatial data, run spatial queries, and share interactive maps with colleagues or customers.

The project began as CartoDB, an open-source tool released in the early 2010s to simplify mapping data stored in PostgreSQL and PostGIS. It evolved into CARTO, transitioning from a primarily open-source focus to a cloud-native platform that offers data processing, analytics, and visualization capabilities in an integrated environment. Over time, CARTO expanded its user base to include government agencies, businesses, and developers, making geospatial tools more accessible across industries.

Key features and capabilities include data ingestion from common formats such as GeoJSON, CSV with coordinates, and other GIS data sources, a scalable data storage layer, and a set of analytics tools for spatial operations. The platform provides an online map editor, programmatic APIs, and connectors to data warehouses and BI tools, enabling custom workflows and application development. Collaboration features allow teams to share maps, analyses, and dashboards.

Common use cases for CARTO include urban planning and policy analysis, logistics optimization, market and customer analytics, asset tracking, and risk assessment. By combining geospatial visualization with analytical capabilities, CARTO supports decision-making and geospatial storytelling in a variety of organizational contexts. See also location intelligence and geographic information systems.