Geranium Geospatial Solutions is ready to blossom in Fayetteville and elevate how the local government and business communities think about data-driven decision-making. 

Founder and CEO Austin Erron Joseph, a young entrepreneur born at Fort Bragg, returned to Fayetteville to sow the seeds for his new business, which he opened in 2024. Geranium, Joseph said, is an innovative geospatial intelligence, data analytics and AI-driven solutions company.

The company empowers organizations to make informed, data-driven decisions by providing precision mapping, investigative analytics and tailored training services. These services translate into the enhancement of urban planning to support public safety and operational intelligence. Geranium combines cutting-edge technology with expertise to deliver impactful solutions for businesses, government agencies and communities. 

Some of the company’s previous partnerships include the United Way of Greater Atlanta in Georgia, as well as the local Real Estate Maximums (RE/MAX) of Henry County, Georgia. 

“We helped their regional office with some surveying on that side,” Joseph said.

The company is looking to grow its local customer base, Joseph said. Geranium has three main pillars where it can truly use its mastery of data and digital operations; urban planning, real estate and logistics and operations.

“We provide crime and risk analysis, that would be like heat maps, predictive crime modeling, and urban safety planning for public safety,” Joseph said of some of the applications of Geranium’s services. “For public safety or neighborhood crime we use instruments to help show and tabulate the statistical data of burglaries, robberies and all those types of things.”

On the real estate side, the company helps with development mapping. “This would be like site selection analysis, property insights and then land use planning,” Joseph said. “That’s different from the architect/ engineering side of surveying where they actually do parceling.” 

For logistics and operations streamlining, Geranium helps with transportation optimization. “That’s more so like route planning, supply chain geospatial intelligence,” Joseph said. “And a big piece that we’re working towards is our drone survey and aerial intelligence. That’s just high resolution aerial imagery, and terrain analysis using drones that have light detection and ranging capabilities.” 

Clients in the public sector can also take advantage of Geranium’s data optimization and infrastructure planning.

“We tap into the environmental infrastructure for mapping, so helping with parks and recreation and things like that,” Joseph said. “We want to do outreach and programming, being bigger players within the community involved in GIS.”

Joseph believes that Fayetteville could be a more automated city using the resources already available locally. 

“This is something the average resident would be able to see and benefit from with relative ease,” Joseph said. “Just access to more services and things that the city provides via apps on your phone, or being able to have more georectified things in the city, QR codes on lamp posts or things like that, to pull information on certain areas of the city,” he said. “This would help easily find businesses and services that the city offers.” 

Outside of commercial applications, the company currently contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.

Joseph shared that the story of Geranium, much like his story, is a story about Fayetteville. 

“I was born on Fort Bragg. My parents were both military, so I spent a good portion of my time here. Then my parents retired. I came back here after college and worked for a bit before joining the military,” Joseph said. 

He shared that he originally enlisted with hopes of becoming a linguist. 

“I wanted to be a linguist, because I studied German in school. German is my second language,” he said. “I came to the recruiter and geospatial analyst was the only job that met my criteria for what I wanted for a job. I didn’t know anything about it. But I always liked maps and history growing up. My career just took off from there once I learned the job and I fell in love with it.” 

Now, Joseph said, he wants to grow his business. He said he hopes it germinates at the same time as Fayetteville continues to grow. 

“Just like the military cycle people come and go and leave Fayetteville, but a lot of us, we always wind up back here,” Joseph said. “So with us being back here, we also have to keep our money here as well. I see Fayetteville as a good starting point.” 

He also noted that Fayetteville has the perfect population size “for business in a market.” 

“But also the city is small enough that a small company like ours can take on the challenge of trying to make smarter solutions and aspects of how things are run, and it would be a great model to the rest of North Carolina and the region as a whole, if we’re able to implement some of our things,” Joseph said.

The team at Geranium Geospatial Solutions is always looking for their next opportunity to help shape a more sustainable, efficient and resilient future. Learn more about the company and its mission at www.gerniumgeospatial.com.