PCensus™ Desktop
SiteScan
Scanning an Area for Potential Sites
The SiteScan feature allows us to search for potentially favorable sites (for retail outlets or other businesses or public services that require a local user base). SiteScan quickly analyses a large number of sites to find the locations that best meet specific criteria (e.g. a minimum population or sufficient households with a specified income level, education, children or dwelling types) within a specified distance or drive time.
When we do not have a specific candidate business location, it is desirable to be able to create profiles for a large number of locations, which we can rank according to demographic criteria and display in a “hot spot” map that will indicate the areas where we should look for potential business locations.
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SiteScan lets us to define a “Market Area” as a rectangle of any size. Within this area, a regular grid of sample points is established, using a spacing specified by the operator, for example 0.5 mile. |
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Each point is used to generate a circle or drive time of specified size (representing a potential Trade Area), for example 1 mile radius. |
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Each circle is searched, and the demographic results for each circle are used to generate a thematic “hotspot” map using grid squares centered on each point. |
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Note that this thematic map is very different than a standard “boundary thematic” map (e.g. using block group boundaries). |
In the SiteScan hotspot map, each region is colored according to its “accessible population” (in this case population within one mile of the cell’s center), whereas in a conventional thematic the colors represent data within the block group itself.
It is quite possible for a grid cell to have a large accessible population even though the cell itself is situated in vacant land (which could make it an ideal site for a new business location!)