> Source: https://www.k-stra.com/product/ai-assistant/ > Updated: 2026-10-09 Product · AI assistant # What can the K-Stra AI assistant do for a location analysis? Describe the question in your own words. The assistant does the setting up, and stops at the price. In short The K-Stra AI assistant is part of the app: describe what you want in plain English and it sets up the analysis, quotes the price, runs it only after your yes and explains the result. The first 2 answers are free without an account; after that each answer costs 0.5 credits with a free account. [Open the app](https://www.k-stra.com/a/?src=product-ai-assistant) 2 free answers without an account · then 0.5 credits each Inside the app ## What happens when you ask the assistant a question? 1. 1 You write the question in the assistant panel of an analysis. 2. 2 The model picks among K-Stra’s own actions — the same ones behind the panels. 3. 3 Free steps run at once: the catchment is drawn and the Where panel is filled, marked “filled by AI”, with Undo. 4. 4 Paid steps are only quoted: the price appears in the chat, and the run starts when you reply yes. K-Stra / assistant Opens in the app Questions people ask - - - An example, as it unfolds in the app: - Catchment drawn · 10 min by car · filled by AI - People & Economy · Families, Wealth indices - Quoted 4 credits · waiting for your “yes” - 2 free answers without an account, then 0.5 credits each. - Paid analyses are prepared and priced; they run with a free account (40 credits). - Questions and the analysis on screen go to Google Gemini (US). [Details](https://www.k-stra.com/product/coverage/#where-your-data-lives) Write your question from a computer: the app is designed for desktop screens. [Open the app](https://www.k-stra.com/a/?src=product-ai-assistant) Two roles ## Does the assistant explain the analysis or run it? Both. It explains when you need guidance and acts when you ask it to — and it says which of the two it is doing. ### Assistant Explains what an indicator means and how it is calculated, suggests what to look at next, and reads the results on screen back to you in plain language — from the numbers of your analysis, not from general knowledge. ### Operator Draws catchments and fills the setup panels, opens the free dashboard of an area, and prepares the same paid analyses you run from the panels — People & Economy, Markets & Brands, site comparison, Real Estate, Sales and Customer Loyalty — each with its price. Examples ## What does a request look like, and what does it produce? Three requests of the kind people write in the app, and the steps the assistant takes for each. Prices are the current tariff. Example 01 ### “Who lives within a 15-minute drive of 576 Chapel Street, South Yarra? Set up the analysis with the main population figures, families and income.” What it does in the app - Draws the 15-minute catchment and fills the Where panel, free - Quotes three People & Economy topics: 6 credits - Runs them after your “ok” and puts the results in the data panel *[Image: K-Stra with the AI assistant: the 15-minute drive-time catchment around 576 Chapel Street, South Yarra filled in by the assistant, the confirmed quote and the reply in the chat, and the population by band and by locality in the results panel.]* Example 01: a 15-minute catchment and the KPI panel set up by the assistant, recorded in the K-Stra test account. Example 02 ### “Compare the three best locations of this analysis as sites for a new supermarket and tell me which catchment looks strongest.” What it does in the app - Reads the candidate sites and the comparison already in the sector analysis you have open - Answers for 0.5 credits: the comparison is already there, so nothing else is charged - Ranks the sites on spend captured, affluence and competitors, and flags the two that would share the same customers *[Image: The K-Stra AI assistant in full view over a supermarket sector analysis in Melbourne: it ranks the candidate sites on spend captured, income and competitors, and notes that two of them share 93.1% of their residents.]* Example 02: three candidate sites compared side by side, recorded in the K-Stra test account. Example 03 ### “Show me which sales rep covers each postcode and where their territories overlap.” What it does in the app - Reads the sales analysis you have open: the reps, their clients and the postcodes each one leads - Answers for 0.5 credits: the territories are already there, so nothing else is charged - Names the rep that leads each postcode and lists the postcodes shared by the most reps *[Image: K-Stra sales territories in Sydney with sample data: nine reps, 20 postcodes coloured by their leading rep and the clients on the map; the AI assistant lists the leading rep of each postcode and the most contested ones.]* Example 03: a sales territory map with postcodes coloured by rep, recorded in the K-Stra test account. Under the hood ## How does the assistant work behind the scenes? ### Every step is an app action The assistant calls the same registered actions as the panels. It is offered only the actions your role could run from the interface, so it cannot do anything you could not do yourself. ### No direct database access It never queries the database. Each call is checked by the server — membership, permissions, organisation boundaries, balance and spending limits — exactly as if you had clicked. ### Spending waits for your yes A paid action is quoted in one message and can run only after your reply, within 15 minutes and never at a higher price. ### Open to your own agents The same actions are exposed through the public API and an MCP server, so an agent you already use can work in K-Stra with your API key — quoting before it runs, like the assistant. [API and MCP documentation for developers](https://www.k-stra.com/developers) Limits ## What can’t the assistant do, and what does it send outside Australia? - It works on the data K-Stra has: Australia today, with New Zealand and the Pacific islands being mapped. - It can only do what the app does. It does not invent indicators, sources or figures that are not in your analysis. - Without an account it gives 2 free answers and runs free steps such as drive-time areas, but analyses that cost credits are only prepared and priced: they run with a free account, which starts with 40 credits. - It is not available through an API key. External agents use the API or the MCP server instead. - Like the rest of K-Stra, it is designed for desktop screens 1280 pixels wide or more. ### One of three steps that can carry your data K-Stra runs on a dedicated server in Sydney, and your datasets, analyses and results are stored there. The assistant is one of the three steps that can send content outside Australia: with each question, Google Gemini in the USA receives the conversation, the analysis on screen with a summary of its results — including column names and values from your datasets — and an image of the current map view. Attaching the map view with the paperclip makes the model look at it on purpose. [Every external step, listed](https://www.k-stra.com/product/coverage/#where-your-data-lives) FAQ ## Questions about the AI assistant ### How much does the AI assistant cost? Each answer costs 0.5 credits; the first 2, without an account, are free. Analyses it prepares cost exactly what they cost from the panels, and you see that price before they run. If the model does not answer or you press Stop, the answer is not charged. ### Which AI model does the assistant use? Google Gemini, in its Flash version, called through Google’s API in the USA. The model decides which K-Stra action to use; the figures always come from K-Stra’s data and your analysis, never from the model itself. ### Can I undo what the assistant did? Yes, for anything free: a panel it filled carries the “filled by AI” badge and an Undo. Nothing paid runs without your reply, and every paid run is saved as a version, so earlier results stay in the history. ### Can the assistant spend my credits without asking? No. A paid action is first quoted in the chat, and the server accepts the run only after a later message from you, at the same price or lower. Text inside a dataset that tries to trigger a run cannot do it, because quote and run can never happen in the same turn. ### Are my questions to the assistant stored? Yes. The text of each request, the answer and the actions taken are kept in the activity log for 180 days and then deleted. The image of the map is not stored; only the fact that one was attached. Related pages - [Product overview](https://www.k-stra.com/product/) - [Where your data lives](https://www.k-stra.com/product/coverage/#where-your-data-lives) - [The data catalogue](https://www.k-stra.com/product/data/) - [How credits work](https://www.k-stra.com/pricing/how-credits-work/) - [What is free](https://www.k-stra.com/pricing/free-trial/) - [Developer documentation](https://www.k-stra.com/developers) Ask away ## Ask K-Stra about your next location. Sign up free, open an analysis and write your first question in plain English. The assistant shows the price before it acts. [Open the app — free to explore](https://www.k-stra.com/a/?src=product-ai-assistant) 0.5 credits per answer · analyses always ask first