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Scan/US, Inc. Announces DataXPT(tm) with MicroGrids(tm)

Article Editor: Christopher Simmons

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - December 10, 2004 /Send2Press Newswire/ -- Scan/US, Inc. (www.scanUS.com) announces DataXPT(tm), a demographic software system which combines innovative cartography and population databases. Now, for the first time, people using standard Geographic Information System (GIS) software can make maps using current-year Scan/US MicroGrids(tm).

A mainstay of retail trade area analysis since the early 1990's, Scan/US MicroGrid maps are designed to capture the distribution and density of residential and business development throughout the United States. MicroGrid cartography for the United States is composed of some 2.2 million latitude-longitude based cells. In urban areas grids are packed tight, ideal for informative shaded maps. New development means new grids.

Using the simple DataXPT(tm) data selection tree and geographic cross-reference contained in the software, GIS map makers can tailor databases for export. Available Scan/US databases include current-year demographic updates, business data, standard Census2000 data, consumer expenditure, and Scan/US' MicroGrid cartography in shapefile format. These files load into products such as MapInfo Corp's MapInfo Professional, ESRI's ArcGIS.

"Up to now the only people who could use fine-grained MicroGrids for site selection have been subscribers to our Scan/US subscription edition," says Scan/US president Ken Needham. "Thousands of existing users of GIS software will finally be able to zoom in closer than the Census blockgroup maps they're used to. With results from the next U.S. Census six or seven years away, they'll be able to use current-year MicroGrids to show exactly where new growth has occurred."

MicroGrids and MicroGrid-linked data sets are produced exclusively by Scan/US, and are updated each year at the same time, to match the time of year used by the U.S. Census. The entire MicroGrid database product line includes over 2000 available variables from Census2000, annual demographic update, 5-year projection, and business data. MicroGrids are released annually in order to show changes in the population and business landscape.

DataXPT is a software application in which users specify the data variables and the geographic areas to be exported. Users may select variables from any Scan/US database installed on their computer. The data can be generated for MicroGrids as well as census cartography, ZIP codes, carrier routes, and MSAs. All data can be exported nationwide or for user specified locales. Selections can be tailored to specific projects and can be subset for states, MSAs, 3-digit ZIP areas or for any combination of counties or Census places. The created data files can then be imported into GIS applications and linked with existing cartography. On the other hand, MicroGrid cartography is exported directly from DataXPT, along with all the matching data records for each grid.

Economy of Scale vs. Economy of Scope.

"Why can we release a high-quality detailed neighborhood database which even our largest competitors do not match? Scan/US takes advantage of an economy which is not available to them: the economy of scope. When you buy or produce goods in large quantity, you enjoy an economy of scale. However, when you maintain control over all aspects of production, as Scan/US does, then you enjoy the advantage of an economy of scope. This means that techniques which Scan/US has developed in several disciplines can be applied in a combined manner to focus on a new problem: we can produce fine-grained demographic datasets that really cannot be arrived at in any other way."

Those interested in Scan/US methodology can read the white paper 'Tracking Residential Growth After The 2000 Census: The Scan/US MicroGrid(tm) Difference,' which is posted on the Scan/US website at www.scanUS.com

The Scan/US database of current-year demographics and five-year projections costs $3,995, and includes MicroGrid map file generation for any portion of the United States, with each current-year grid containing a full range of current-year demographic data, including population, household counts, income, vehicles available, breakdowns by age, sex, race, family size and composition, and key indicators of change. A summary file is also created at the same time. It shows summary or 'benchmark' values for all variables in the new database, across the selected geographic scope. Single-state or single-county pricing is available.

Scan/US, Inc. launched the desktop market mapping revolution in 1993 with the Scan/US Streets and Data CD-ROM and continues to be the premier data/cartography provider of updated demographics and cartography for site selection in the United States.

Scan/US is located at 1919 Santa Monica Boulevard, Santa Monica, California, at the center of a one-half mile radius area of population and business growth (and, increasingly restricted-permit parking) which in 2004 contains 16,213 people employed in 1,472 businesses, as well as 9,230 people living in 4,664 households with an aggregate (total) annual household income of 344.75 million dollars*.

DataXPT requires a computer running MS Windows, with DVD-ROM drive to install.

More information: www.scanUS.com

*Data source: Scan/US 2004/2009 Demographic Update.

Organization Website: www.scanUS.com
Source of News: Scan/US, Inc.

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