Help Guide

FastLocations Platform

Your expert guide to
intelligent site selection

Learn how to navigate the data layers, engage AI-powered economic development experts, and find the right location — fast.

01

Welcome to FastLocations.ai. This platform combines powerful real estate and demographic data with direct access to the actual experts who know each region best.

Think of the app as walking into a convention center filled with Economic Developers. As you move from one booth to another, the person you're speaking with changes. When you select a specific Economic Developer, the Assistant automatically updates to "become" that person's digital aide — loaded with their specific knowledge, incentive programs, and regional data.

Real Data, Real Experts

Every AI assistant in FastLocations is trained on a specific Economic Developer's actual resources — not generic information.

Context-Aware Intelligence

The assistant automatically shifts its knowledge base when you select a new region or economic development agency.

02

Before you engage the Assistant, you need to set your target area. The map is built in layers — each one revealing a different dimension of a location's profile.

Workforce

Industry clusters & labour supply

Education

Schools & post-secondary access

Population

Demographics & growth trends

Utilities

Power, water & broadband

Transportation

Highways, rail & ports

Directory

Comprehensive corporate Listings

FastLocations Assistant

Pro tip: Use the Location Search in the top right corner to quickly filter the types of Economic Development +Plus Agencies you want to view.

The Magic layer — Economic Development Agencies +Plus — overlays the map with Local, Regional, State, and Utility Economic Developers as interactive icons. Clicking one activates that developer's AI assistant.

03

The Assistant is context-aware. By default, the FastLocations Assistant is docked on the left side of the screen (desktop) or at the bottom on mobile. It can help with general economic development queries or guide you around the platform.

1

Click an Economic Development Agency +Plus

Tap any Economic Developer icon from the +Plus layer on the map. Each icon represents a distinct agency with its own knowledge base.

2

Watch the handoff

The chatbot panel updates to who you now want to speak with — for example, "REDI Cincinnati Economic Development Assistant."

3

Ask anything about that region

The Assistant instantly has access to that developer's specific knowledge — no need to provide background context.

Once an expert is selected, the knowledge base available to the Assistant. Ask us anything:

What state and local incentives might we qualify for with a $50M investment and 150 jobs?
Do you have any industrial buildings around 100,000 SF on Monroe?
Compare Pittsburgh to Cinncinati.
Which metros have the labor profile for advanced manufacturing?
Tell me about workforce skills and commute sheds.
What are the utility rates like?
FastLocations Assistant
04

Every Economic Development Agency on the FastLocations map has an Ai+Plus Dashboard — a comprehensive, data-rich profile page that goes well beyond the AI chat. Once you've selected an agency, the dashboard gives you a structured snapshot of the region across workforce, economics, housing, education, incentives, and more.

Use the Dashboard Locator to find and open a dashboard by state and organization, or jump straight to an example to see what's available.

Open Dashboard Locator View Example Dashboard
Ai+Plus Dashboard — Overview

At-a-Glance Key Stats

The top of each dashboard surfaces the region's most critical site-selection metrics at a glance: total population, unemployment rate, average commercial electricity cost (¢/kWh), and a count of available state incentive programs.

Integrated AI Assistant

The dashboard includes a live AI Assistant panel pre-loaded with the selected agency's knowledge. Suggested prompts are built in — or type your own question and the assistant responds with region-specific answers alongside the data you're already viewing.

Workforce & Education

Charts covering educational attainment, workforce concentration by industry, and Industry Location Quotients (LQ) show at a glance how well the regional labor pool aligns with your sector — and where the region is nationally specialized.

Economic Indicators

Business tax rate comparisons, housing market metrics, major employer lists, and nearby colleges and universities round out the picture — giving you the full location context that feeds a confident site decision.

Ai+Plus Dashboard — Workforce Charts
Ai+Plus Dashboard — Employers, Education & Incentives

Pro tip: Open the Dashboard alongside the map to have the regional data and the AI Assistant in view at the same time. Use the Economic Incentives section at the bottom of the dashboard to identify programs before asking the assistant to go deeper on specific qualifications.

Compare

Side-by-side market comparisons

Every dashboard includes a Compare button that opens a side-by-side analysis panel. Search across all 389+ organizations by name, city, state, or category and select one to compare against the current region instantly.

The comparison table surfaces the data points that matter most in a site decision — category, population, unemployment breakdown, commercial electricity rates, tax rates, Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) designations, Opportunity Zones, TIF activity, and STEM workforce output — all in a clean field-by-field layout.

Search Any Organization

The search covers the full database of organizations on FastLocations. Filter by name, city, state, or agency category to find your comparison target quickly — then click to generate the table.

Key Comparison Fields

Population, unemployment rate, electric rates, business tax structure, FTZ & Opportunity Zone status, TIF activity, and STEM credential output — the exact fields that move site decisions.

Ai+Plus Dashboard — Compare Feature

Pro tip: Use Compare early in a shortlist review — open the dashboard for your leading market, then compare it directly against your next-ranked alternative. The structured table makes it easy to spot the decisive differences in tax structure, utility costs, or workforce supply without switching between pages.

05

The AI +Plus assistants in FastLocations are trained on real regional data — but the quality of the answer you receive depends heavily on the quality of the question you ask. A well-crafted prompt gives the assistant the context it needs to skip the generic and go straight to the specific.

Be Specific About Your Project

Include your key project parameters upfront: investment size, number of jobs, industry sector, and any site requirements such as acreage, building size, rail access, or utility loads. The more the assistant knows, the more targeted its response will be.

Bundle Your Questions

Rather than asking one thing at a time, combine related queries into a single prompt — for example, asking about available sites, workforce supply, and relevant incentive programs together. This gives the assistant the full picture and often surfaces connections you might not have thought to ask about.

Ask for Comparisons

The assistant can compare locations, programs, or trade-offs directly. Try prompts like "Compare the labor market here to the Columbus metro" or "What are the pros and cons of this site versus a greenfield option?" to get structured, side-by-side insight.

Follow Up and Refine

Think of the conversation as iterative. Start with a broad question, then drill in — ask for more detail on a specific incentive, request a different framing, or push back on an answer. The assistant retains context throughout the session with each expert.

Sample Prompt: Download the Site Consultant Prompt below as a starting point. Open it, review the structure, and edit it to match your specific project before copying or dragging it into the assistant's prompt box. It's designed to work with any of the AI +Plus assistants across the platform.

Prompting the Assistant
07

The Notes tool gives you a persistent scratch pad that stays open while you explore the map. Access it from the toolbar — it looks like a pencil icon — and use it to jot down key facts, incentive details, or follow-up questions as you move from one region to another.

Copy & Paste Freely

Paste in responses from the AI assistant, demographic figures, or any text you want to keep handy. The Notes panel doesn't auto-clear when you switch experts, so your running record stays intact throughout your session.

Copy All

Hit Copy All to place everything in your clipboard in one click — ready to paste into a report, email, or site-selection brief. Clear the panel with the Clear button when you're ready to start fresh.

Pro tip: As you chat with different Economic Development Assistants, copy the most useful responses directly into Notes. When you're done researching, hit Copy All and paste into your preferred document to build a first draft instantly.

FastLocations Notes
08

Bookmarks let you save a named snapshot of your current map position — zoom level, center point, and visible layers — so you can return to it instantly. Click the bookmark icon in the toolbar to open the panel, and use the + button to add your current view.

Named Locations

Each bookmark can be given a descriptive name — for example, FastFacility / Area Development Offices — so it's easy to identify at a glance. Create as many as your project requires.

Instant Return

Click any saved bookmark to jump back to that exact map view. This is especially useful when comparing multiple candidate markets: bookmark each one and toggle between them without re-navigating the map each time.

Pro tip: Bookmark each shortlisted market before your client meeting. During the presentation, you can jump between cities instantly rather than panning and zooming live — keeping the conversation focused on the data, not the navigation.

FastLocations Bookmarks
09

FastReads are curated, state-level intelligence briefings — concise summaries covering business climate, workforce highlights, infrastructure strengths, key industries, and quality of life. They give you a quick narrative overview of a market without having to ask the AI multiple questions.

When you select an Economic Development Agency on the map, look for the FastReads pill button labeled with the state name. Click it to open the full briefing in a dedicated page.

Curated Regional Intelligence

Each FastRead is written and structured around the data FastLocations has for that state — business tax environment, major industry clusters, workforce pipeline, utility infrastructure, and livability metrics that matter to relocating employees.

Articles & Resources

Beyond the briefing overview, FastReads surfaces relevant articles, research reports, and shifting resources specific to that state — giving you the narrative context behind the numbers on the map.

Pro tip: Use FastReads to get oriented in a new state before activating a specific agency's AI assistant. The briefing primes you with the right vocabulary and regional context so your prompts land with more precision.

FastReads
10

The Incentives Explorer is a searchable database of economic incentive programs drawn from states and provinces across North America. Filter by state, program type, or organization to surface the grants, tax credits, and financing tools that match your project profile.

2,379+ Programs

The database spans cash grants, tax credits (job creation, investment, R&D), property tax abatements, sales tax exemptions, workforce training funds, utility rate discounts, and participation loans — across all 50 states and Canadian provinces.

Filter & Find Fast

Use the search bar to match programs by name or description, then narrow by State/Province, Type of Incentive, and Organization. Each result links directly to the administering agency's program page.

Pro tip: Once you've identified programs in the Explorer, bring the program names into the AI assistant and ask it to assess your project's likely eligibility — the assistant can cross-reference its training data against the specific criteria you've found.

Incentives Explorer
11

The Property Explorer gives you direct access to available industrial and commercial sites and buildings listed by Economic Development Agencies across the platform. Rather than searching property databases separately, FastLocations aggregates EDO-listed properties in one searchable, map-based view.

Search by Requirements

Filter available properties by building size, acreage, property type, and location. Each listing is tied to the sponsoring EDO — so when you find a promising site, you can immediately activate that agency's AI assistant for a deeper conversation about the property and its region.

EDO-Verified Listings

Properties in the Explorer are sourced directly from Economic Development Agencies, not commercial brokerages — meaning listings often come with additional context on utility capacity, zoning, site certification status, and available incentives for that specific parcel.

Pro tip: Use the Property Explorer early in your search to anchor your shortlist to real, available sites — then layer on the AI assistant conversations to evaluate workforce, incentives, and infrastructure for each location.

Open Property Explorer
Property Explorer
12

My Project is a structured intake form that captures the key parameters of your site selection project in one place. Completing it takes just a few minutes and produces a project profile that sharpens every conversation you have with the AI assistants across the platform — whether you're evaluating markets in the US, Canada, or both.

Project Profile

Define your industry type, capital investment, job creation targets, average wages, facility requirements, and key location drivers. This becomes your project's source of truth — the context behind every AI prompt you send, whether you're speaking with a US state agency or a Canadian provincial EDO.

Sharper AI Conversations

With your project profile in hand, you can paste or reference it directly when prompting any AI+Plus assistant. Instead of explaining your project from scratch each time, the assistant has everything it needs to give you a targeted, program-specific response — immediately.

Location Criteria

Capture your must-have and nice-to-have location factors — proximity to interstates or major highways, rail access, port proximity, broadband requirements, utility load, and workforce skill sets. Works equally for US and Canadian market searches where infrastructure and regulatory drivers may differ.

Ready to Share — US & Canada

Your completed project intake can be shared with Economic Developers on both sides of the border, giving them everything they need to respond with relevant sites, incentive programs, and workforce data before your first call — whether that's a state EDO, a Canadian provincial agency, or a regional development corporation.

Pro tip: Complete My Project before your first AI assistant conversation. A filled-out project profile, combined with the Site Consultant Prompt in Section 5, gives the assistant the full context it needs to deliver a comprehensive, incentive-specific response from the very first message — across any US state or Canadian province.

Start My Project
My Project — intake form
My Project — project details
13

Moving from one region to another — for example, clicking from REDI Cincinnati to a different Economic Development Agency — resets the Assistant to the new developer's knowledge base automatically.

Important: When you switch Economic Developers, the previous conversation history is archived so the new AI isn't confused by old context. You are starting a fresh conversation with each new expert. This is intentional — it keeps answers accurate and regionally specific.

If the assistant seems off-topic

Confirm you've selected the correct Economic Developer icon on the map. The panel header will always show who you're currently speaking with.

If the handoff doesn't trigger

Try clicking directly on the agency icon rather than the surrounding region. On mobile, tap the icon and wait for the assistant panel to animate its update.

FastLocations Videos

See the platform
in action

Watch how FastLocations works — and how it puts your community's story in front of the right people at exactly the right moment.

Platform Overview

FastLocations.ai Introduction

Welcome to FastLocations.ai — Everywhere in One Place. The next-generation GIS platform built for the future of site selection, helping Economic Development agencies turn static maps into interactive, 24/7 AI-powered conversations.

Feature Walkthrough

FastLocations.ai Tools

Discover how our AI-based GIS application streamlines site selection and regional research. Whether evaluating an industrial site or researching workforce data across regions, localized intelligence is right at your fingertips.