Location intelligence software: AI search visibility ranking (2026)

What we observed in this category

HERE leads the location intelligence software category with a 37.5% visibility score, more than 12 points ahead of Esri and Mapbox, both at 25.0%. That gap is significant because HERE holds rank 1 despite a 50-point visibility drop from its previous 87.5%, indicating a sharp contraction rather than a stable lead. The category average visibility sits at just 6.2%, meaning the top three brands account for nearly all of the AI-generated surface area across the tracked queries.

The visibility-to-citation divergence is pronounced here. HERE appears in AI responses frequently but carries a 0.0% citation rate, meaning it is named but its domain is not linked or sourced. Esri is the only top-three brand where visibility and citation are aligned at 25.0% each, suggesting AI treats it as both a recognized and trusted reference. Brands like Precisely, Unacast, Targomo, and Buxton achieve citation rates of 12.5% each with zero visibility, meaning they appear as sources but are not described as category players.

Google AI Mode is the top engine for every brand in this dataset, indicating the audit is entirely concentrated on that single surface. The top cited sources in the category are third-party sites including g2.com, growthfactor.ai, and caliper.com, none of which are the primary brand domains of the leading vendors. This pattern suggests Google AI Mode anchors its category descriptions on review and directory content rather than on the vendors' own documentation or product pages.