Each month, we take a look at what our channel partners are writing about, and what is in the news that impacts our industry, and we come up with a list of can’t miss articles that we call the Monthly Round Up. To start out 2024, we wanted to look back at what our team thinks were the best of the best this year, both from our channel partners and our own blog. In case you missed it, here is the 2023 best of Round Up.
Channel Partners:
Placer.ai
Digital first brands are taking to brick and mortar, and Placer has all of the data to show you why retail is the best route for expansion.
Digitally Native and Direct-to-Consumer Brands Take to the Streets (placer.ai)
Sites USA
As people head back to the office, it is no surprise that restaurants are trying to get more breakfast business. How can they use data to optimize their potential reach?
Sites USA – Breaking Down Breakfast
Kalibrate
ChatGPT is all the rage, but how accurate is it? Dave Huntoon at Kalibrate asks the AI bot a series of questions relating to site selection and rates the responses.
Chat GPT’s approach to site selection | Kalibrate Global
SiteSeer
In today’s environment, making the best site selection is critical. The team at SiteSeer runs through a scenario that shows why having the data you need can save you money, time and headaches.
What’s the True Cost of Selecting a Poor Retail Location? (siteseer.com)
GIS Geography
Sure, there is a periodic table of elements, but did you know there was a periodic table for spatial analysis? The terms are all defined on the GIS Geography website.
The Periodic Table for Spatial Analysis – GIS Geography
Vox
Remember when going to the mall was an activity, something that you did for fun? For the sake of retail, we need to get back to that time. Retail theft is a driving culprit for what angers shoppers, especially if they need to find someone to unlock a cabinet to get things like formula or razor blades. Vox has some steps to make shopping fun again, and a lot of it has to do with staffing.
Shopping in stores like Target, Macy’s has become a miserable experience – Vox
CARTO
We love a good chat about data visualization and best practices, so this article from CARTO is right up our alley.
Pie Charts: An Effective Data Visualization Tool? (carto.com)
SafeGraph
Data used for good? Now that is what we love to see. After the tragedies in Turkey at the beginning of 2023, SafeGraph partnered with OpenStreetMap to support rescue and recovery efforts.
SafeGraph Data Used to Support Turkey Disaster Response
AGS Blog:
Only Fools Rush In
We recently cautioned users to avoid becoming overly rambunctious about using the release without thorough analysis and modification, since the same procedures for disclosure avoidance (DA) were used as for the 2021 PL-94. Those DA techniques result in serious issues for demographic modeling and projections for small geographic areas, as has been well documented by AGS. Once again, we are cautioning people from using this data without mitigation that requires serious time to complete.
Only Fools Rush In – Applied Geographic Solutions
Suburbanization of Renters
With mortgage rates on the rise, people are turning to renting homes, as it can actually be more cost effective. How has this changed the suburbs?
The Suburbanization of Renters – Applied Geographic Solutions
Data for the Greater Good
What makes data and statistical analysis wonderful is the ability to optimize your research or business and take it to the next level. But what about using data to optimize non-profit organizations and enhance the work that they do? A little data can go a long way to increase the impact of these organizations.
Data for the Greater Good – Applied Geographic Solutions
Retail Employment Change
The restrictions imposed on retail oriented businesses during the COVID pandemic had substantial effects on retail employment. At a local level, the effects were very much dependent upon the particular type of retail and the specific policies enacted at local and state levels. As a case study, largely because of familiarity, we chose to look at the retail environment in Thousand Oaks, California between January 2020 and January 2023 using our BusinessCounts database at the census block level.
Retail Employment Change – Applied Geographic Solutions
Targeting Retail Loss with Kalibrate Location Intelligence
There is no shortage of organized retail crime going on these days; turn on the news and you will see stories of mass theft all across the country. However, it was still shocking when Target recently announced that they expect their inventory loss will surpass $1B, approximately a 65% increase from 2022 loss totals. Understanding crime around your store, or potential retail site, is now a critical component of a retail business plan. Using Kalibrate’s Location Intelligence platform, we analyze Target locations in Houston relative to our CrimeRisk database.
Managing CrimeRisk in the Site Selection Process – Applied Geographic Solutions
The Columbus Districts Project
Occasionally, we get an odd request via the contact us form on our website. Most of the time, nothing comes of it; people find what they need elsewhere, or we don’t have what they are looking for. So, when we got a request for a research project that needed CrimeRisk for just one city, it piqued our interest. By far, this was one of the coolest projects we worked on all year.
The Columbus Districts Project – Applied Geographic Solutions
U-Haul Growth States: A Deeper Look
Each year, U-Haul releases a list of states experiencing growth based on their own data for equipment demand for one-way trucks which they call the “U-Haul Growth Index” (U-Haul Growth States of 2022: Texas, Florida Top List Again | U-Haul (uhaul.com)). The 2022 list looked a lot like the 2021 list, following pandemic trends of moving to the Southeast and Southwest of the US. But what does the growth, or the decline, look like in these states?
U-Haul Growth States: A Deeper Look – Applied Geographic Solutions
Independence Day in Troubled Times
In a musing right before the 4th of July, Gary looked at the state of the country today. There is no doubt that we live in increasingly troubled times. The news is an endless stream of negativity: crime, homelessness, drug abuse, border issues, gender politics, inflation, interest rates, and international tensions. Many of us, on both sides of the aisle, are legitimately concerned for the future of the nation.
Independence Day in Troubled Times – Applied Geographic Solutions
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